A Noun is a naming word. A noun is a word used to name something: a person/animal, a place, a thing, or an idea. For example, all of the following are nouns.
👉A Noun is a word is used as the name of a person, place or thing Wren and Martin.
👉J.C. Nesfield shows that nouns are of 5 different kinds of Proper, Common, Collective, Material and Abstract but Wren and Martin shows that nouns are of four kinds: Proper, Common, Collective and
Abstract.
Look at some more examples of nouns
Names of people and profession: Peter, Rosy, teacher, doctor
Names of animals: rat, zebra, lion, tiger
Names of places: house, Dhaka, factory, school
Names of objects: table, camera, printer, computer
Names of materials: lead, nitrogen, water, ice
Names of qualities: kindness, beauty, bravery, faithfulness
Names of actions: rowing, cooking, driving, reading, listening
Names of measures: minute, second, day, month, litre
There are five kinds of nouns in English. They are:
1. Proper nouns
2. Common nouns
3. Collective nouns
4. Material nouns
5 Abstract nouns
1. Proper Nouns: A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or thing. For example, “London” is the name of a particular city and “History” is the name of a particular subject. Think of the other proper nouns in the passage. A proper noun usually begins with a capital letter. A proper Noun is usually singular but some proper nouns are plural in form.
2. Collective Noun: These are nouns that refer to a group of things. Army, Council, Audience, department, minority, board, faculty, navy, crowd, family, senate, class, farm, society, committee, group etc.
3. Common Noun: A common noun refers to every person, place or thing of the same class or kind. It does not refer to anything in particular. For example, the noun ‘boy’ may mean any boy in the world. A common noun can be both singular and plural. For example, London is a big city. There are many big cities in the world. Note: A proper noun can be used as a common noun. Look at the following examples: He is called the Shakespeare (= the greatest dramatist) of U.S.A. There are two Johns in this class.
4. Collective Nouns: A collective noun is the name of a collection or group of people or things taken together. For example, an army is a group of soldiers and a team is a group of players. Think of the other nouns in the passage as a group of persons spoken of as one whole. A collective noun can take both singular and plural verbs after it. For example, The governments has/have decided on a new pay scale. The committee was/were in favour of my proposal.
5. Material Noun: A material noun names a thing that has weight but cannot be counted. It is a kind of mass noun which is considered uncountable. It refers to any material or substance. The substance may be solid, liquid or gaseous. “Oxygen” is also a material noun.
Material Nouns From nature: Water, Air, Silver, Gold, Iron, Copper, Sand, Coal, Rock, Sunlight, Rain, Earth, Salt, etc.
Material Nouns From Animals: Egg, Meat, Honey, Milk, Silk, Leather, Wool, etc.
Material Nouns From Plants: Cotton, Food, Oil, Wood, Jute, Coffee, Medicine, Tea, Rubber, Perfume, etc.
Man-Made Material Nouns: Acid, Alcohol, Asphalt, Brick, Cement, Butter, Chalk, Ghee, Cheese, Dacron, Ebony, Enamel, Felt, Gelatin, Paraffin Cloth etc.
Material Nouns From Animals: Egg, Meat, Honey, Milk, Silk, Leather, Wool, etc.
Material Nouns From Plants: Cotton, Food, Oil, Wood, Jute, Coffee, Medicine, Tea, Rubber, Perfume, etc.
Man-Made Material Nouns: Acid, Alcohol, Asphalt, Brick, Cement, Butter, Chalk, Ghee, Cheese, Dacron, Ebony, Enamel, Felt, Gelatin, Paraffin Cloth etc.
6. Abstract Noun: An abstract noun is the name of a quality, state or concept. It has no material form, shape or size. For example, Hassan is s a kind man. He has love and sympathy for the poor class of people.
1. Countable Noun
2. Uncountable Noun
1. Countable Noun: Countable nouns are words that represent things we can count. For example, the word song is a countable noun. Here are some more examples:
Example:
i. An old song, two new songs, etc.
ii. A collection of 100 songs.
ii. A collection of 100 songs.
2. Uncountable Noun: Uncountable nouns are words that represent things we do not count. For example, the word music is an uncountable noun. Here are some examples:
i. A lot of music
ii. The music of the 70s.
Now, let's look at countable and uncountable nouns in more details.
1. Countable Noun: Countable nouns are either singular or plural. They can be counted and expressed in numbers.
ii. I want five oranges? - Here five is used to count the number of oranges.
Example:
i. I need to buy four new suitcases. - Suitcase (s) is a countable noun as adding’s’ to it makes it plural.ii. I want five oranges? - Here five is used to count the number of oranges.
Countable nouns are easy to recognise. They are things that we can count. For example: 'pen'. We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Most countable nouns become plural by adding an “s” at the end of the word. We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:
i. A good book
i. A good book
When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:
i. I want an orange. (Not I want orange.)
ii. Where is my watch? (Not where is watch?)
iii. We can use some and any with countable nouns:
iv. I've got some coins.
v. Have you got any pens?
We can use a few and many with countable nouns:
i. I've got a few coins.
ii. I haven't got many pens.
Now, in the above examples you must have noticed the way plural nouns are formed.
B. Plural
i. The furniture was new. (Furniture is an uncountable noun and therefore, we use the singular 'was' in referring to it.)
ii. Is 250gm of sugar enough (Sugar is an uncountable noun as sugar itself cannot be counted. It can only be weighed.)
iii. He is praised for his honesty. - Honesty is an uncountable noun as it has no plural and cannot be counted in physical terms either.
