Noun is easily the first and primary thing you will come across while learning Grammar rules. Usually, the first page of a grammar book tells you about nouns. In this topic we will learn about Noun Definition and Types of Noun.
Noun Definition - Noun is a word used as the name of person, place or thing. Nouns give names of concrete or abstract things in our lives
Types of Noun and Definition
- Common Noun
- Proper Noun
- Collective Noun
- Abstract Noun
- Gender Noun
- Number Noun
- Possessive Noun
Common Noun
Definition – A Common Noun can be defined as a name given commonly to every person or thing of same class or kind.
Common Noun Example – The girl went to School. In this sentence ,the word “girl” is a common Noun since it is a name common to all girls. Country, Ocean,Man are all examples of Common noun as they are not directed to any thing in particular.
More Examples of Common Noun
Proper Noun
Definition – Proper Noun can be defined as the name of some particular person or place. Proper noun are always written with a capital letter at the beginning.
Proper Noun example – Joy is a brave boy. ( In this sentence Joy is Proper Noun and boy is a common noun) . Pacific is the biggest Ocean of all. ( here pacific is the Proper Noun and Ocean is common noun.)
More examples of Proper Noun
Collective Noun
Definition – Collective Noun is the name of a number or collection of persons or things taken together and spoken as a whole. For example Crowd, Mob, Herd, Nation, Flock etc.
- A fleet – Collection of vessels – The fleet sailed went unnoticed through Atlantic
- A crowd – Random gathering of people – The police dispersed the crowd
- The mob – Gathering of hooligans – The mob vandalized the palace
More examples of Collective noun
Abstract Noun
Definition – Abstract Noun is usually the name of quality,action or state considered apart from the object to which it belongs to.
- Quality – Honesty,bravery, wisdom,kindness,goodness etc
- Action – Movement,Judgement,hatred
- State – Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, Slavery, Sickness
Brave soldier, Strong man,beautiful girl, heinous crime are all example of Abstract noun.
Names of Arts and Science are also abstract Nouns , ex Grammar, Music, Physics
Noun Gender
Gender Noun can be masculine ( Boy, lion, father, Bull) , Feminine (Lioness, Girl, Cow, Mother), Common gender ( parent, friend, pupil,student,Orphan) or Neutral gender (Book, pen, Room)
Ways of forming feminine of Noun
By using an entirely different word –
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Brother | Sister |
| Buck | Doe |
| Drone | Bee |
| Earl | Countess |
| Gander | Goose |
| Hart | Roe |
| Son | Daughter |
By adding a syllable ( -ess,-ine, -a etc)
| Author | Authoress |
|---|---|
| Count | Countess |
| Heir | Heiress |
| Lion | Lioness |
| Steward | Stewardess |
| Viscount | Viscountess |
| Signor | Signora |
| Executor | Executrix |
Noun Number
A noun that denotes one person or thing is called Singular Noun, for example Boy,Cow, Bird,tree , book etc.
A noun that denotes more than one person or thing is called as Plural Noun, for example Cows,Boys,Girls,Students etc.
How to form Plural Noun
- Plurals are generally formed by adding suffix -s to the end of singular word, for example Boy, Boys: Girl,Girls : desk,desks etc
- By adding suffix -es to the end of singular nouns ending with -s,-sh,-ch,-x . For example Class,Classes: match,matches: Dish,dishes: Tax,taxes:
- By adding -es to the singular noun ending with -o for example Mango,mangoes: hero,heroes: cargo,cargoes: etc
- Noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant, form their plural by changing -y into -i and adding -es for example baby,babies: lady,ladies: city,cities: army,armies: story,stories
- A few nouns form their plural by changing the inside vowel of the singular ,for example man:men, woman:women, foot:feet, goose:geese,
Possessive Noun
The possessive case does not always denote possession. It is used to denote authorship,origin, kind etc for example
- A mother’s love
- Solomon’s temple
- The court’s decree
When the Noun is singular, the possessive case is formed by adding ‘s to the Noun, for example the boy’s book, the king’s crown.
When the Noun is plural and ends in -s, the possessive case is formed by adding only an apostrophe, for example Boys’ school, girls’ school , horses’ tail
When two nouns are in apposition, the possessive sign is put to the latter only, for example That is William the carpenter’s house.
When a noun or a title consists of several words , the possessive sign is attached only to the last word as, I saw it at Asquith and Lord’s.
For More Grammar lessons, please refer here