Nouns

Contents

Nouns

Nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, place or thing.

Types of Nouns

Common Noun
Proper Noun
Abstract Noun
Collective Noun
Countable Noun
Uncountable Noun
Compound Noun
Possessive Noun

Common Noun

A common noun names any person, place, or thing. Examples: teacher city dog etc.
A common noun does not begin with a capital letter.
A common noun does not name a particular person, place, or thing.
Example: Boy, girl, cat, chair
The boy made a boat.
The brothers went to the park.
A girl was with her grandmother.
In above sentences boy, brothers, park , girl and grandmother all these indicate a caste, hence they are common nouns.

Proper Noun

A proper noun names a particular person, place, or thing.
Examples: Ms. Brown San Francisco Atlantic Ocean.
A proper noun begins with a capital letter.
Some proper nouns contain more than one word. Each important word begins with a capital letter. Examples: Statue of Liberty Boston Red Sox
The name of a day, month, or holiday begins with a capital letter.
Example:
My cousin Karen is the best pitcher I know
I like to play baseball with my brother.
In these sentences Karen and baseball are proper noun, Karen is the cousin’s name and baseball is the game’s name.

List of Common nouns & Pronouns

Category Common Noun Proper Noun

People girl, teacher, artist Riya, Mr. John, Doremon

Places city, country, school Delhi, India, Vibgyor

Organizations company, team, brand Google, Cricket, Duke

Days/Months day, month, holiday Monday, January, Diwali

Books/Movies book, film Harry Potter, Titanic

Animals cat, dog, bird Felix, Lassie, Tweety

Events festival, war Olympics, World War II

Abstract Nouns

An abstract noun is the name of a quality, action or state which we cannot see or touch.

Quality: kindness, goodness, honesty, wisdom, bravery, politeness, truth

Action: laughter, hatred, movement, theft, judgement

State: childhood, boyhood, manhood, youth, slavery, freedom, sickness, poverty, death

The names of the arts and sciences (music, painting, chemistry, physics, etc.) are al abstract nouns.

Abstract nouns are formed:

From adjectives:

Goodness from good
Bravery from brave
Honesty from honest

2. From verbs:

Obedience from obey
Pleasure from please
Punishment from punish

3. From common nouns:

Childhood from child
Slavery from slave
Kingdom from king

Common Noun- Practice worksheet click here

Proper Noun- Practice worksheet click here

Collective Noun

When we refer to a collection of persons or things taken as a whole, we use a collective noun.

A muster of peacocks
A bunch of keys
A gang of elks
A crowd a collection of people
A sloth of bears
A fleet a collection of ships or aircraft
A team of players
A string of ponies
A pod of dolphins
A constellation of stars
A flight of doves
A board of directors
A herd of cranes
An army a collection of soldiers
A colony of bats
A fleet of cars
A host of sparrows
A string of pearls
A nest of rabbits
A chain of islands
A clutch of eggs
A host of angels
A bundle of papers
A pride of lions
A troop of monkeys

Key Features of Collective Nouns:

Singular Form: A collective noun is usually treated as singular, even though it refers to multiple members

Examples:

The team is winning.
The audience was captivated by the performance
The family lives in a big house in the city.
The flock is grazing in the meadow.

2. Plural Form: It can be treated as plural if focusing on individuals within the group.

Examples:

•The team are arguing among themselves.

•The audience are leaving their seats slowly.

(Refers to individual audience members.)

The family are sharing their opinions about dinner.

(Focus on individual family members.)

•The flock were scattered by the loud noise.

(Emphasis on individual birds or sheep.)