Nouns: Thing - Hing Dog Sam, We, Love, Phone Chicago Courage Spaceship

Nouns
What is a Noun?
The simplest definition of a noun is a thing and nouns are the basic building blocks of
sentences. These things can represent a person, animal, place, idea, emotion – almost
anything that you can think of. Dog, Sam, we, love, phone, Chicago, courage and spaceship are
all nouns. The more nouns you know in a language, the better you will be able to communicate
your ideas. Here, we’ll take a closer look at what makes a noun a noun, and we’ll provide some
examples of how nouns are used.
Noun examples: respect, faith, apple, seashore, peanut, motorcycle
Noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
1. The boy and girl were holding hands as they crossed the bridge to on
the way to town.
2. I love watching my cat play with the pink yarn.
3. It is raining! Everyone, grab your umbrella and rain hat and watch out for the puddles!
Categories of Nouns
There are several categories of nouns, and there can be an overlap across the categories. For
example, there are common and proper nouns, and concrete and abstract nouns, yet some
nouns are both concrete and common, or concrete and proper. It will become clear as you read
on.
Common nouns are the words that refer to most general things: country, evening, laughter,
puppy, and umbrella
Common noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
 Cathy loves the weekends in the country.
 We enjoy swimming after breakfast.
 The cup fell and broke.
Proper nouns are the name that identifies someone or something, a person or a place. Proper
nouns are capitalized. John is a proper noun, since the word John represents a particular, single
example of a thing, John.
Proper noun examples: Mary, Jimmy, Aunt Audrey, Honda, Philadelphia
Proper noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
 Emily loved spending time with her Aunt Nancy in Paris.
 Buick and Jeep are two important carmakers.
 We visited Lake Erie, which separates the United States and Canada.
Concrete nouns represent a thing that is real and tangible: pig, person, rock, smell, air, soup,
Larry are all concrete nouns.
Concrete noun examples: cup, computer, diamond, rollercoaster, shampoo, Debby
Concrete noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
 The person threw the rock across the yard.

 My dog, Oreo, jumped in the air and caught the ball!
 Can you smell the soup, John?
An abstract noun represents a thing that is more like a concept or idea: love, integrity,
democracy, friendship, beauty, knowledge are examples of abstract nouns.
Abstract noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
 Love and friendship are equally important.

 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 Your mind can know a million things.
Nouns can also be categorized as countable or uncountable.
A countable noun is a thing can be numbered or counted: airplane, sock, bowl, noodle,
teacher, as in two airplanes, three socks, 1000 noodles
Countable noun examples: peach, horse, shirt, telescope
Countable noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
 There are five dogs in the street.
 I bought three tons of coal.
 Margaret has six pairs of blue sandals.
Uncountable nouns can have a quantity or amount but cannot be actually counted: water,
music, clothes, understanding. In the second example above, tons is a countable noun,
but coal is not. Coal is referred to as an uncountable noun.
Uncountable noun examples: hate, confidence, attractiveness, wisdom
Uncountable noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
 Love is in the air.
 The four elements are air, earth, fire and water.
 Her humor knows no bounds.
Collective nouns refer to a group of people or things: audience, team, bunch, family, class.
When speaking of collective nouns, Americans consider them as singular, using singular verbs
with them, such as the group dances happily. When speaking British English, both singular
verbs and plural verbs might be used, as in the group dance crazily before the Queen.
Collective noun examples: government, jury, team, bunch, school, class, and room (the people
in the room or building)
Collective noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
 The team threw confetti when it was over.
 Steve buys the band some sandwiches.
 Meredith told the class she was getting married.
As mentioned above, when we talk of categories of nouns, some nouns can be described as
being in more than one category. Some nouns are concrete and countable, for example, such
as raindrops and wedding rings, while some are proper and uncountable, such as the Atlantic
Ocean and Alaska.

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Nouns

Noun examples: respect, faith, apple, seashore, peanut, motorcycle

2. I love watching my cat play with the pink yarn.

 Cathy loves the weekends in the country.

 We enjoy swimming after breakfast.

 The cup fell and broke.

Proper noun examples: Mary, Jimmy, Aunt Audrey, Honda, Philadelphia

 Buick and Jeep are two important carmakers.

Concrete noun examples: cup, computer, diamond, rollercoaster, shampoo, Debby

 The person threw the rock across the yard.

 Love and friendship are equally important.

Countable noun examples: peach, horse, shirt, telescope

 There are five dogs in the street.

 I bought three tons of coal.

 Margaret has six pairs of blue sandals.

 Love is in the air.

 The four elements are air, earth, fire and water.

 Her humor knows no bounds.

 The team threw confetti when it was over.

 Steve buys the band some sandwiches.

 Meredith told the class she was getting married.

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