Nouns

Nouns:

Nouns are simply the names we give to everything around us, whether it be a person, an event, a place or an object, etc. Every particular name used to define something is a noun. E.g. : Amsterdam, Anita, Blackberry, Honesty, Waiter, etc.

The names given to a group of noun to identify them as a whole are called Collective Nouns. E.g.: pride of lions, gaggle of geese etc.

Nouns or pronouns can also modify themselves to show possession of another noun, usually by attaching 's' to the end of the noun. These nouns that show possession are called Possessive Nouns.

Sometimes nouns have different forms for different genders, although this practice has been largely abandoned by the people who prefer to use the same noun for both genders. For example - Actor (male) - Actress (female), but people nowadays refer to women who act as female actors rather than actresses.

Most nouns can be converted into plural forms by adding ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ at the end of the word. E.g.: box-boxes, cat-cats, echo-echoes , etc.

But some nouns require the last consonant to be modified before adding ‘-es’. For example: the ‘Y’ in ‘city’ changes to ‘I’ to form cities, kitty to kitties and ‘f’ to ‘v’ in dwarf to dwarves, wharf to wharves, etc.

Some nouns become plurals irregularly by changing the entire word: mouse- mice, ox - oxen, etc.

You can learn more about Plurals here: How to make Plurals : Making Plurals-Easy Guide

Grammarians have divided nouns into different categories based on their use and purpose. Learning these divisions within the nouns will help in sentence construction and vocabulary. The different types of Nouns are -

PROPER NOUNS

These nouns are the names of specific people and places. These nouns also refer to the names of the days of weeks and months, and also the various names for religions, organizations, institutions, etc. Proper nouns basically refer to the names that are specific to that particular noun. These nouns are always capitalised as they need to be distinct from other nouns.

William Shakespeare was a playwright. - Proper noun that is the name of a specific person.

I will be visiting New York next month. - Proper noun that is the name of a specific place.

Everyone dislikes Monday mornings. - The names of days are proper nouns.

The holy book of Islam is the Koran. - Name of a religion and religious text.

COMMON NOUNS

These are the nouns that are used to denote a general category of people, places or things. They are capitalized only when they are at the beginning of a sentence. Common Nouns don’t refer to something specific rather they are a general term used for every noun of a particular kind or type.

The boys went to play cricket. - Both boys and cricket are common nouns as they can refer to any boy or any cricket match. There is nothing specified by these nouns.

This neighbourhood is one of the best in the area. - Here neighbourhood is the common noun as there are innumerable neighbourhoods all over the world. She was trying to answer her phone while buying coffee. - Here we see phone and coffee that both are general indicators of the object and the drink.

ABSTRACT NOUNS

These nouns are the names of things that we cannot perceive through our five senses of touching, smelling, seeing, hearing and tasting. These nouns can also refer to medical conditions related to the mind and are also used to express thoughts.

She screamed with great delight. - Delight is an abstract noun as it tells about the state of a person’s mind and any actual physical thing. His bravery in the war won him a medal. - The abstract noun bravery is used to name the motivation behind certain actions made by people. One should learn to be as independent as possible. – Here, independent describes a state or a way of being, hence it is an abstract noun.

COUNTABLE NOUNS

The nouns that fall under this category are the ones that have both singular and plural forms. They can be counted either relatively or completely, and form plurals to associate with plural verbs in a sentence. They can also be expressed in numerical terms

I need to buy four new suitcases for my trip. - Suitcase (s) is a countable noun as adding ‘s’ to it makes it plural. Does anyone want some oranges? - Here some is being used to count the noun orange(s).

She had a pet dog. - Dog is also a countable noun as its plural is dogs.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

These nouns are the exact opposite of Countable Nouns. These nouns are the names of things that cannot be counted and have only a singular form. These nouns use singular verbs in a sentence.

The furniture was damaged in moving out. - Furniture is an uncountable noun and therefore, we use the singular ‘was’ in referring to it. Is 250gms of sugar enough? - Here, sugar is an uncountable noun as sugar itself cannot be counted. It can only be weighed. He always answers questions with honesty. - Honesty is an uncountable noun as it has no plural and cannot be counted in physical terms either.

List of Nouns, Noun Examples: 

Actor

Advertisement

Afternoon 

Airport 

Ambulance 

Animal

Answer 

Apple 

Army

Australia 

Balloon 

Banana 

Battery 

Beach 

Beard 

Bed 

Belgium 

Boy 

Branch 

Breakfast 

Brother

Camera 

Candle 

Car 

Caravan 

Carpet 

Cartoon 

China

Church

Crayon

Crowd

Daughter

Death

Denmark 

Diamond

Dinner

Disease

Doctor 

Dog

Dream

Dress

Easter 

Egg

Eggplant

Egypt

Elephant

Energy

Engine

England

Evening

Eye 

Family

Finland 

Fish

Flag

Flower

Football

Forest

Fountain

France

Furniture

Garage

Garden

Gas 

Ghost

Girl

Glass

Gold

Grass

Greece

Guitar

Hair

Hamburger

Manchester

Helicopter

Helmet

Holiday

Honey

Horse

Hospital

House

Hydrogen

Ice 

Insect 

Insurance

Iron 

Island 

Jackal 

Jelly 

Jewellery 

Jordan 

Juice 

Kangaroo 

King 

Kitchen

Kite

Knife 

Lamp

Lawyer

Leather

Library

Lighter 

Lion 

Lizard

Lock 

London 

Lunch   

Machine

Match

Magazine

Magician

Market

Microphone

Monkey 

Morning

Motorcycle

Nail 

Napkin 

Needle

Nest 

Nigeria 

Night

Notebook 

Ocean

Oil 

Orange 

Oxygen 

Oyster

Painting 

Parrot

Pencil

Piano 

Pillow

Pizza 

Planet 

Plastic 

Portugal

Potato

Queen

Quill 

Rainbow 

Raincoat

Rain

Refrigerator 

Restaurant

River

Rocket 

Room 

Rose

Russia

Sandwich

School

Scooter

Shampoo

Shoe

Soccer

Spoon

Stone

Sugar

Sweden

Teacher

Telephone

Television

Tent

Thailand

Tomato

Toothbrush

Traffic

Train

Truck

Uganda

Umbrella

Van

Vase