Common noun examples word

The term common noun is an indefinite name of any place, person, thing object, or idea which is used commonly in place of the proper noun.

What is a Common Noun?
A common noun is a particular name of any person, place, or object.

While writing a common noun in place of a noun (proper noun) no need of capitalizing the first sentence. Common nouns are either written or singular identity or a plural one by adding ‘ or es’ to the suffix.
It may be countable or uncountable concerning their size, quantity, or mass.

Examples of common noun

Place: country, state, city, continent, town, village, island, etc.
Person: mother, father, son, sister, friend, baby, child, doctor, etc.
Things: book, desk, water, clothes, toy, car, etc.
Idea: anger, loyalty, memory, honesty, etc.

Examples of Common Noun are in Sentences

1. This dress suits her perfectly.
2. He is the husband of one of your female classmates.
3. Better you bring your father to school tomorrow to meet me.
4. Switch ON another engine from the engine.
5. He took his bike by performing a stunt at the shooting site.
6. She has scored 93% aggregate in the exam.
7. This woman is neither coming nor going inside the hall.
8. Children are playing games in recess time.
9. He has spread a perfume in the entire house.
10. A tunnel is going to be started very soon.            
11. Mother’s milk is very good for the baby’s health.
12. The lady teacher is going to teach a few subjects in the class.
13. Tigers are the only predator from the cat family.
14. The entire city is suffering from power failure.
15. Nation’s love is bigger than the girlfriend’s love.
16. He is coming with us to mountain trekking.
17. Your teacher meets me at the market.
18. The clerk of this office is very rude in behavior,  
19. The delivery boy delivers the Pizzas to the destination on time
20.  Someone’s daughter is caught in an accident.

more examples of common noun

List of Common Noun Words

1. Person
2. Picture
3. Pen
4. Pencil
5. Park
6. Party
7. Oil
8. Painter
9. Nest
10. News
11. Mountain
12. Movie
13. Morning
14. Name
15. Mobile
16. Money
17. Market
18. Mirror
19. Life
20. Magazine
21. Land
22. Law
23. Leaves
24. Letter
25. Jewelry
26. Job
27. Industry
28. Island
29. Hospital
30. Idea
31. Yesterday
32. Hill
33. Year
34. Health
35. Women
36. Gas
37. Wood
38. Group
39. Garden
40. Week
41. Water
42. Game
43. View
44. Future
45. Train
46. Food
47. Trade
48. Flowers
49. Tractor
50. Floor

More Types of Noun

• Concrete noun
• Abstract noun
• Countable noun

When you engage with English grammar, at some point, you will face the confusion of what is a common noun. It is very important to realize that nouns can be classified into two types. One is a proper noun, and the other is common.

To state the basics, a common noun is a word for generic items, while a proper noun is a word for specific items. Today, we will try to focus on common nouns and understand how and where they can be applied.

A common noun is not very complex. It is rather easy to be recognized.

What is Common Noun?

A common noun is basically a generic name. It is a word that we use to name general items that are present everywhere surrounding us. It can be a generic name for a person, thing, or place. It can be anything that we can see through our eyes.

For instance, you are in your kitchen, and you see a table and chair. Those objects are all common nouns. Common nouns are basically names for all the general items we regularly engage with.

Common vs Proper nouns

To understand better, it is best to differentiate it from the other classification. That is a proper noun.

Now, like mentioned earlier, a common noun is a generic name. So, we need to understand that it is used to name general items and not specific ones like a proper noun. A proper noun is a noun that is used to name something specific.

Let us understand with an example;

If you see a pair of shoes and you say that you want it, you would say;

“I want a pair of shoes.”

Here, “shoes” is a common noun. What kind or what brand is not specifically mentioned.

Now, if you use a particular brand name such as;

“I want a pair of Jordan.”

Here, “Jordan” is a proper noun. It is specifically mentioned, and hence, it cannot be a common noun.

Common nouns are lowercase words

In the above examples, we noticed that the common noun was not capitalized whereas the proper noun was. So, it becomes a simple rule to recognize a common noun.

Common nouns are mostly lowercase words as they refer to general items and not definite something. They are only capitalized when used to begin a sentence. Unless that is the case, common nouns are generally lowercase words, unlike proper nouns that are capitalized.

Use of common nouns

Common nouns are used to name a class of person, place, or thing. It can be anything as long as it is a general reference and not a definite or specific classification of an object or a concept.

For example;

with a person;

• I saw my teacher coming this way.
• The lawyer is very busy.

With an object;

• I lost my cup last night.
• I am reading the book right now.

So we see, these words are common nouns. Had it been a brand name or a specific name such as “Runi teacher” or “Anne Frank,” it would have been a proper noun.

We can conclude that common nouns are nouns that are used to refer to general items. They are mostly lowercase words. We use them every time, even if we do not realize it.

At some point, everyone has the same question: What is a common noun? Here, we’ll take a look at common nouns and provide some common noun examples so you can easily recognize common nouns when you see them. Don’t worry, this will be painless.

What is a Common Noun

A noun is a word that names a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. All nouns can be further classified as a proper or common noun. Common nouns are words used to name general items rather than specific ones. Go into your living room. What do you see? A lamp, chair, couch, TV, window, painting, pillow, candle – all of these items are named using common nouns.
Common nouns are everywhere, and you use them all the time, even if you don’t realize it. Wherever you go, you’ll find at least one common noun. Street, closet, bathroom, school, mall, gas station, living room; all of these places are things, and thus they are common nouns.

What is the difference between common and proper nouns?

When we look at the two main types of noun – proper and common – we can differentiate between the two by saying that a common noun is a general way of classifying something, and a proper noun is a specific way of classifying something, So, for example, the word dog is a common noun; but if your dog was called Fido, the word Fido is a proper noun:

• Dog = common noun
• Dog’s name (Fido, in this case) = proper noun

More examples of the difference between common and proper nouns:

• My favorite newspaper (common noun) is the Washington Post (proper noun).
• Her husband (common noun) is called Frank (proper noun).
• The award-winning Babe Ruth (proper noun) is the greatest baseball player (common noun) in history.

You may have noticed from the examples that common nouns are not usually capitalized, unless they begin a sentence, whereas proper nouns are normally capitalized. You will also notice that both types of nouns can be more than a single word.

When to use common nouns?

We use common nouns to denote a class of objects or a concept. Consider the word star, as in the stars we see in the sky. Star is used as a common noun, used to denote the class of objects that we view in the night sky, i.e. the luminescent bodies that are spread across the universe, twinkling overhead. The Sun, however, is a proper noun, used to describe the specific star that is at the center of our solar system.

So, anything that is a thing can be generally classified as a common noun:

Professions: lawyer, doctor, teacher, nurse, politician, football player.

People: People in general are named using common nouns, though their official titles in certain cases or given names are proper nouns. When we refer to people using common nouns, we use words like teacher, clerk, police officer, preacher, delivery driver, boyfriend, girlfriend, grandma, cousin, and barista.

For example, when talking about your mother, mother is a common noun.

• My mother is an actress.
• Barbara’s mother was the best cook in the city.

But when speaking to your mother, or using mother as her name, mother is used as a proper noun.

• “Mother, can you bake your brownies for the party?”
• I asked Mother Thompson to join us at dinner.

Objects: car, newspaper, boat, potato chip, shoe, house, table, sword.

However, common nouns can also be more abstract concepts, not things but ideas, emotions and experiences, for example:

Abstract ideas: Culture, love, democracy, time, hatred, peace, war, empathy, anger, laughter.

How to recognize a common noun?

Considering what we have laid out above, it should be pretty easy to recognize a common noun. However, there are some cases when it can be tricky. Consider these sentences:

• Queen Elizabeth II welcomed President Donald Trump to Buckingham Palace.
• Donald Trump visited many queens and palaces during his tenure as the president of the United States.

In the first sentence, Queen Elizabeth II, President Trump and Buckingham Palace are proper nouns. They are specific titles for a specific person. In the second sentence, queens, palaces and president are common nouns. Queens and palaces refer to queens and palaces in general, and president refers to the job title and not the specific person.

We mentioned earlier that job titles and general titles fall under the category of common nouns – attorney, actor, comedian, truck driver, sergeant, officer, secretary. However, if these become specific titles referring to a specific person, they sometimes become proper nouns as in  the examples above. Normally, this means the words are capitalized when placed directly in front of that person’s name:

• Attorney General William Barr was appointed by President

But look how we can use the same words with common nouns:

• Each US president must appoint an attorney general while in office.

So, you can recognize the common noun by the fact it is not capitalized. But remember that common nouns can also be identified because they are referring to non-specific things or classifications.

The takeaway is this: common nouns are general names and unless they are part of a title like Postmaster General or begin a sentence, they’re not usually capitalized.

Common Noun Examples

The following common noun examples will help you to recognize common nouns. In the sentences that follow, common noun examples are italicized. Notice that the examples providing proper nouns name specific versions of the same type of person, animal, place, thing, or idea.

1. Common Noun: You broke my favorite mug. Proper Noun: I can’t believe you broke my Snoopy mug.
2. Common Noun: I really want a new pair of jeans. Proper Noun: I really want to buy a new pair of Levis.
3. Common Noun: I wish I could remember the name of that painter. Proper Noun: I really love art by Van Gogh.
4. Common Noun: They’re all waiting for us at the restaurant. Proper Noun: Everyone else is at Bill’s Burgers.
5. Common Noun: I really want to live in the city Proper Noun: Of all the places I’ve lived, Denver was best.
6. Common Noun: Let’s go to watch a live game at the stadium. Proper Noun: Let’s try to get good seats at Wrigley Field