Noun
A noun is a word for a person, place, or thing. (You might like to think of nouns as "naming" words.) Everything we can see or talk about is represented by a word that names it. That "naming" word is called a noun.
Often a noun will be the name for something we can touch (e.g., lion, cake, computer), but sometimes a noun will be the name for something we cannot touch (e.g., bravery, mile, joy).
Everything is represented by a word that lets us talk about it. This includes people (e.g., man, scientist), animals (e.g., dog, lizard), places (e.g., town, street), objects (e.g., vase, pencil), substances (e.g., copper, glass), qualities (e.g., heroism, sorrow), actions (e.g., swimming, dancing), and measures (e.g., inch, ounce).
Kinds of Nouns
1. Common Nouns name people, places, or things that are not specific.
- man, mountain, state, ocean, country, building, cat, airline
2. Proper Nouns name specific people, places or things.
- Walt Disney, Mount Kilimanjaro, Minnesota, Atlantic Ocean, Australia, Empire State Building, Fluffy, Sun Country
3. Compound Nouns are made up of two or more words.
- tablecloth, eyeglasses, New York, photograph, daughter-in-law, pigtails, sunlight, snowflake
4. Collective Nouns refer to things or people as a unit.
- bunch, audience, flock, team, group, family, band, village
5. Singular Nouns name one person, place, thing, or idea.
- cat, sock, ship, hero, monkey, baby, match
6. Plural Nouns name more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
- cats, socks, ships, heroes, monkeys, babies, matches
7. Possessive Nouns show ownership.
- Mom's car, Beth's cat, the student's book
8. Abstract Nouns are things you cannot see or touch.
- love, wealth, happiness, pride, fear, religion, belief, history, communication
9. Collective Nouns are words that denote groups.
- bunch, audience, flock, team, group, family, band, village
10. Concrete Nouns are things you can see or touch.
- house, ocean, Uncle Mike, bird, photograph, banana, eyes, light, sun, dog, suitcase, flowers
11. Countable Nouns name nouns that you can count.
- bed, cat, movie, train, country, book, phone, match, speaker, clock, pen, David, violin
12. Non-Countable Nouns are things you cannot count.
-milk, rice, snow, rain, water, food, music
13. Verbal Nouns are nouns derived from verbs. (Verbal nouns have no verb-like properties.
- a good building, a fine drawing, an effective attack
14. Gerunds are nouns that end-ING and that represent actions (Gerunds have verb-like properties).
-happily building a tower, quickly drawing the scene, suddenly attacking the enemy
15. Gender-Specific Nouns are nouns that are definitely male or female.
- king, vixen, actress
Gender of Nouns
Grammatical gender is a system of classification. A common gender classification includes masculine and feminine categories. Masculine nouns are words for men, boys and male animals. Feminine nouns are words for women, girls and female animals.
