What is a noun?
Of all the parts of speech, nouns are perhaps the most important. A
noun is a word that identifies a person, animal, place, thing, or idea.
Person as a noun
·
John started to run.
·
Plato was an influential Greek philosopher.
·
Sharon admires her grandfather.
·
My mother looks a lot like my grandmother, and I
look very much like them.
Animal as a noun
·
The dog barked at the cat.
·
Elephants never forget.
·
Sophie is my favorite horse.
Place as a noun
·
The restaurant is open.
·
Let’s go to the beach.
·
Look over there.
·
Harvard and Yale are two famous universities.
·
Look! There’s the Eiffel Tower.
Thing as a noun
·
Throw the ball.
·
Please close the door and lock it.
·
Use words properly to be understood.
·
The lamp sits on a table next to the sofa.
·
Money doesn’t grow on trees.
Idea as a noun
·
Follow the rules.
·
The theory of relativity is an important
concept.
·
Love is a wonderful emotion.
Functions of nouns
·
Nouns are subjects. Every sentence has a
subject, which means a noun tells us what that sentence is all about.
Ex: John swung the baseball
bat.
·
Nouns are direct objects. These nouns
receive action from verbs.
EX: John swung the baseball
bat.
·
Nouns are indirect objects. These nouns
receive the direct object.
EX: Brad threw John the ball.
·
Nouns are objects of prepositions. These
nouns follow the prepositions in prepositional phrases.
Ex: John swung the baseball
bat at Greg.
·
Nouns are predicate nominatives. These
nouns follow linking verbs and rename the subject.
EX: John is a baseball player.
·
Nouns are object complements. These nouns
complete the direct object.
EX: They named their dog Max.
Common Noun vs Proper Noun
|
COMMON NOUN |
PROPER NOUN |
|
Common nouns are words used to name general items
rather than specific ones. |
Proper nouns have two distinct features: They name
specific one-of-a-kind items, and they begin with capital letters, no matter
where they occur within a sentence. |
EXAMPLES
·
Common noun: I want to be a writer.
·
Proper noun: Agatha Christie wrote many books.
·
Common noun: I’d like to adopt a cat.
·
Proper noun: Cleopatra is the cutest kitten
ever.
·
Common noun: Would you like a cookie?
·
Proper noun: I’m craving Oreos.
·
Common noun: Let’s go to the city.
·
Proper noun: Let’s go to San Francisco.
·
Common noun: My teacher starts work before
sunup.
·
Proper noun: Mr. Bell seems to understand what
students need.
TYPES OF NOUNS
·
Countable and Noncountable Nouns
·
Gerund Phrases
·
Plural Nouns
·
Compound Nouns
·
Collective Nouns
·
Abstract Nouns
·
Gerund and Infinitives
|
COUNTABLE |
UNCOUNTABLE |
|
Countable nouns are individual people, animals, places,
things, or ideas which can be counted. |
Uncountable nouns are not individual objects, so they cannot
be counted. |
Countable Nouns
·
Anything that can be counted, whether singular –
a dog, a house, a friend, etc. or plural – a few books, lots of oranges, etc.
is a countable noun.
Examples
·
There are at least twenty Italian restaurants in
Little Italy.
·
Megan took a lot of photographs when she went to
the Grand Canyon.
·
Your book is on the kitchen table.
·
How many candles are on that birthday cake?
·
You have several paintings to study in art
appreciation class.
·
There’s a big brown dog running around the
neighborhood.
UNCOUNTABLE
·
Anything that cannot be counted is an
uncountable noun. Even though uncountable nouns are not individual objects,
they are always singular and one must always use singular verbs in conjunction
with uncountable nouns.
Examples
·
here is no more water in the pond.
·
Please help yourself to get some cheese.
·
I need to find information about Pulitzer Prize
winners.
·
You seem to have a high level of intelligence.
·
Please take good care of your equipment.
·
Let’s get rid of the garbage.
·
Uncountable nouns can be paired with words
expressing plural concept. Using these words can make your writing more
specific. Here are some examples of how to format interesting sentences with
uncountable nouns.
·
Garbage – There are nine bags of garbage on the
curb.
·
Water – Try to drink at least eight glasses of
water each day.
·
Advice – She gave me a useful piece of advice.
·
Bread – Please buy a loaf of bread.
·
Furniture – A couch is a piece of furniture.
·
Equipment – A backhoe is an expensive piece of equipment.
·
Cheese – Please bag ten slices of cheese for me.
Is the underlined word countable
or uncountable?
·
The children fell asleep quickly
after a busy day of fun.
·
Be careful! The water is deep.
·
The parade included fire trucks and police cars.
·
We like the large bottles of
mineral water.
·
My mother uses real butter in the
cakes she bakes.
·
How many politicians does it take
to pass a simple law?
·
Most kids like milk, but Joey
hates it.
·
Most pottery is made of clay.
·
Michael can play several different musical instruments.
·
I was feeling so stressed that I ate an entire
box of cookies.
GERUNDS
·
Gerunds are words that are formed with verbs but
act as nouns. They’re very easy to spot, since every gerund is a verb with ing
tacked to its tail. There are no exceptions to this rule.
Examples
·
Swimming in the ocean has been Sharon’s passion
since she was five years old.
·
Let’s go dancing at the club tonight.
·
Holly decided that flying above the clouds was
the most incredible experience she’d ever had.
IFINITIVES
Infinitive phrases – normally
referred to as infinitives – are formed with the word to in front of a verb.
Examples of infinitives
Infinitives are prefaced with the
word “to”. For example:
•
To think
•
To act
•
To walk
Gerund Phrase vs Infinitive Phrases
Examples
Gerund: Blowing
bubbles on a windy day is a fun activity for children.
Infinitive: To blow
bubbles on a windy day is a fun activity for children.
Gerund: Piling too much
laundry into a washing machine will cause it to malfunction.
Infinitive: To pile too
much laundry into a washing machine will cause it to malfunction.
Plural Nouns
•
Plural nouns are words used to indicate that
there is more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea.
Examples
•
The boys were throwing baseballs back and forth
between bases.
•
Our horses are much happier wearing lightweight
English saddles.
•
Those cats never seem to tire of chasing one
another in and out of those boxes.
•
You stole my ideas and didn’t give me any
credit.
•
Our moms are going to be upset that we stayed
out all night going to parties.
Compound Nouns
Compound nouns are words for
people, animals, places, things, or ideas, made up of two or more words.
Compound nouns are sometimes one
word, like toothpaste, haircut, or bedroom. These are often
referred to as closed or solid compound nouns.
Sometimes compound nouns are
connected with a hyphen: dry-cleaning, daughter-in-law, and well-being
are some examples of hyphenated compound nouns.
Sometimes compound nouns appear
as two separate words: full moon, Christmas tree, and swimming pool are
some examples of compound nouns that are formed with two separate words. These
are often referred to as open or spaced compound nouns.
Examples
Compound nouns can be made with
two nouns:
•
Let’s just wait at this bus stop.
•
I love watching fireflies on warm summer nights.
Compound nouns can be made with
an adjective and a noun:
•
Let’s watch the full moon come up over the
mountain.
•
Please erase the blackboard for me.
Compound nouns can be made with a
verb and a noun:
•
Be sure to add bleach to the washing machine.
•
Let’s be sure to stay somewhere with a swimming
pool.
Compound nouns can be made with a
noun and a verb:
•
He always gets up before sunrise.
•
I really could use an updated hairstyle.
Collective Nouns
•
Collective nouns are words for single things
that are made up of more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea. You
can’t have a team without individual members; even so, we discuss a team as a
single entity.
Collective Noun Examples
•
Our class took a field trip to the natural
history museum.
•
The herd of bison ran across the prairie,
leaving a massive dust cloud in its wake.
•
We waited anxiously for the jury to come to a
verdict.
•
This year’s basketball team includes three
players who are over six feet tall.
•
Napoleon’s army was finally defeated at
Waterloo.
•
The town council has approved plans to create a
new park.
•
He comes from a huge family: he’s the oldest of
eleven kids.
•
The rock group has been on tour for months.
•
Everyone in the audience applauded loudly when
Elvis appeared on stage.
Abstract Nouns
Abstract nouns are words that
name things that are not concrete. Your five physical senses cannot detect an
abstract noun – you can’t see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, or touch it. In
essence, an abstract noun is a quality, a concept, an idea, or maybe even an
event.
Examples
•
Love, fear, anger, joy, excitement, and other
emotions are abstract nouns.
•
Courage, bravery, cowardice, and other such
states are abstract nouns.
•
Desire, creativity, uncertainty, and other
innate feelings are abstract nouns.
More examples
•
I want to see justice served.
•
I’d like the freedom to travel all over the
world.
•
Joe felt a nagging sense of doom.
•
Love is a kind of irresistible desire; it’s hard
to define.
•
When Sarah jumped into the lake to rescue a
drowning cat, her bravery astonished onlookers.
Exercises
Instructions: Identify the nouns
in the following sentences and state their kind.
1. The
book was lying on the table.
2. Love
begets love.
3. We
cannot live without water.
4. The
jury has given its verdict.
5. The
Hindus regard Krishna as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
6. Alcohol
is injurious to health.
7. Smoking
is a bad habit.
8. Wild
animals live in forests.
9. The
childhood of Peter was full of misery.
10. All the
girls were singing.