What Is a Noun?
Noun is a word used to comprise or denote name of people, places, animals, object and
ideas. It is one of the parts of speeches playing significant role in articulating eminence
in a sentence as each sentence will definitely contain a noun usually. Nouns play
different role in a sentence and sometimes act as subject too besides functioning as
direct as well as indirect object, a subject and also an object complement in a set of
compound and complex sentences.
The following are some of the examples of Nouns:
People – Kannan, Robert, Abdul Rahaman, Mrs. Ann , Rahul, The Chief
Minister, The Prime Minister, men, women
Places – Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Volley Ball Court, Tennis ground, London,
Africa, Class Room, Swimming Pool
Animals/Birds/Aquatic Animals/Reptiles – Tiger, Monkey, Snake, Bear, Deer,
Sparrow, Crow, Fish, Dolphin, Fish, Dolphin, Lizard, Crocodile
Ideas – Evolution, Invention, Extinction, Argument, Destruction
Objects/Things – By-cycle, car, pen, paper, pencil, eraser, Mobile, Printer, black
& white boards
Types of Noun:
Proper Noun
Common Noun
Abstract Noun
Concrete Noun
Countable Noun
Non-countable Noun
Collective Noun
Compound Noun
PROPER NOUN
A proper noun is a name that refers to a single person, place, or thing and does not
have a common name. Proper nouns in written English always begin with capital letters.
Examples:
His name is Mr. Rahman (Name of a particular person)
My name is Robert (Name of a particular person)
This is my cat, Cutie (Name of a specific pet animal owned by someone)
This is my dog, Tony (Name of a specific pet animal owned by someone)
Mr. Kannan returned from Japan (Name of a specific place)
Raymond is one of the famous brands of Men’s clothing. (Name of a particular
clothing brand)
COMMON NOUN
A common noun is a name for something that is common to many different things,
people, or places. It refers to a specific type of thing, person, or location.
Examples:
I bought a pencil yesterday. (Common Object)
I am going to college (Common Place)
There are twenty employees working in this company (common group)
The bus is out of fuel. (Common items)
ABSTRACT NOUN
An abstract noun is a word that refers to something that cannot be seen but is present.
It does not have a physical existence. It generally refers to concepts, qualities, and conditions.
For instance, truth, lies, happiness, sorrow, time, friendship, humour, patriotism, and so
on
Examples:
Anger is a strong emotion.
Generosity is the best policy.
It requires a lot of courage to fight against corruption and social Injustice..
People should utilize the freedom to develop their career
CONCERATE NOUN
A concrete noun is the inverse of an abstract noun. It refers to things that we can see
and have a physical existence.
For instance, a chair, a table, a bat, a ball, water, money, sugar, and so on.
Examples:
The computer is on the table.
I drank a mug of cold-drink.
Ms. Priya opened the Doors
Mr. Anand drives bus for the last 15 years
COUNTABLE NOUN
Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted. Countable nouns can be followed by
an article: a, an, the.
Chair, table, bat, ball, and so on (you can say 1 chair, 2 chairs, 3 chairs – chairs are
countable).
Examples:
Janet brought five sachet of washing liquid. (specific number – five)
Robert brought a dozen eggs from a shop. (specific – dozen means twelve)
We saw a Helicopter or a Chopper around ten this morning. (specific – a means
one)
UN-COUNTABLE NOUN
Un-countable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted.
Water, sugar, oil, salt, and so on (you can’t say “1 water, 2 water, 3 water” because
water isn’t countable).
Examples:
My son has a lot of homework to do today. (Not specific)
Tom has a cup of tea every morning. (Cannot count)
We are experiencing bad weather today. (Cannot count)
COLLECTIVE NOUN
A collective noun is a word that refers to a group of things, people, or animals, for
example. As an example, consider the following: family, team, jury, cattle, and so on.
Collective nouns can be singular or plural. On the other hand, Americans prefer to use
collective nouns as singular, but both usages are correct in other parts of the world.
Examples:
Collective nouns for groups of animals
A pride of lions
A flock of sheep
A swarm of bees
A herd of elephants
Collective nouns for groups of people
A band of musicians
A board of directors
A crew of sailors
A company of actors
Collective nouns for a number of things/objects
A pair of shoes
A chain of mountains
A fleet of ships
A bunch of grapes
NOUNS ALSO CAN BE USED AS DIFFERENT COMPONENTS IN A SENTENCE
Nouns Used as a Subject
In this context, the noun usually appears at the beginning of the sentence. This noun
normally becomes the answer for questions with who, which etc.
Examples:
Augustine played on the playground.
The Lecturer asked questions to the students.
The Bengal Tigers were captured after 12 hours of search.
Nouns Used as an Object
Normally, the nouns appear in the second part or in the latter part of a sentence. The
object noun is identified as an answer for the question ‘what’.
Examples:
I bought a few books.
Where did you leave your box?
They did not deliver today’s newspaper.
Nouns can be used as a direct object and an indirect object
Nouns Used as a Direct Object
Nouns when used as direct Object are generally identified by a direct question ‘What’
Examples:
Do you like Ice-cream? (What do you like? – Ice-cream)
I wore my pink-dress. (What did you wear? – my pink dress)
Nouns Used as an Indirect Object
The noun used as an Indirect Object can be identified as the question ‘for whom’
Examples:
Kingsly allocated his sister a separate house. (For whom did Kingsly allocate
a house? – his sister)
Sathya baked Jolene a cake and some cookies. (For whom did Sathya bake a
cake and some cookies? – Jolene).