What does the word noun mean

A noun (from Latin nōmen ‘name’)^[1] is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.^{[2][note 1]}

Lexical categories (parts of speech) are defined in terms of the ways in which their members combine with other kinds of expressions. The syntactic rules for nouns differ between languages. In English, nouns are those words which can occur with articles and attributive adjectives and can function as the head of a noun phrase. «As far as we know, every language makes a grammatical distinction that looks like a noun verb distinction.»^[3]

History [edit]

Word classes (parts of speech) were described by Sanskrit grammarians from at least the 5th century BC. In Yāska’s Nirukta, the noun (nāma) is one of the four main categories of words defined.^[4]

The Ancient Greek equivalent was ónoma (ὄνομα), referred to by Plato in the Cratylus dialog, and later listed as one of the eight parts of speech in The Art of Grammar, attributed to Dionysius Thrax (2nd century BC). The term used in Latin grammar was nōmen. All of these terms for «noun» were also words meaning «name».^[5] The English word noun is derived from the Latin term, through the Anglo-Norman noun.

The word classes were defined partly by the grammatical forms that they take. In Sanskrit, Greek and Latin, for example, nouns are categorized by gender and inflected for case and number. Because adjectives share these three grammatical categories, adjectives are placed in the same class as nouns.

Similarly, the Latin nōmen includes both nouns (substantives) and adjectives, as originally did the English word noun, the two types being distinguished as nouns substantive and nouns adjective (or substantive nouns and adjective nouns, or short substantives and adjectives). (The word nominal is now sometimes used to denote a class that includes both nouns and adjectives.)

Many European languages use a cognate of the word substantive as the basic term for noun (for example, Spanish sustantivo, «noun»). Nouns in the dictionaries of such languages are demarked by the abbreviation s. or sb. instead of n., which may be used for proper nouns or neuter nouns instead. In English, some modern authors use the word substantive to refer to a class that includes both nouns (single words) and noun phrases (multiword units, also called noun equivalents).^[6] It can also be used as a counterpart to attributive when distinguishing between a noun being used as the head (main word) of a noun phrase and a noun being used as a noun adjunct. For example, the noun knee can be said to be used substantively in my knee hurts, but attributively in the patient needed knee replacement.

Examples[edit]

• The cat sat on the chair.
• Please hand in your assignments by the end of the week.
• Cleanliness is next to godliness.
• Plato was an influential philosopher in ancient Greece.
• Revel the night, rob, murder, and commit/The oldest sins the newest kind of ways? Henry IV Part 2, act 4 scene 5.

A noun can co-occur with an article or an attributive adjective. Verbs and adjectives cannot. In the following, an asterisk (*) in front of an example means that this example is ungrammatical.

• the name (name is a noun: can co-occur with a definite article the)
• *the baptise (baptise is a verb: cannot co-occur with a definite article)
• constant circulation (circulation is a noun: can co-occur with the attributive adjective constant)
• *constant circulate (circulate is a verb: cannot co-occur with the attributive adjective constant)
• a fright (fright is a noun: can co-occur with the indefinite article a)
• *an afraid (afraid is an adjective: cannot co-occur with the article a)
• terrible fright (the noun fright can co-occur with the adjective terrible)
• *terrible afraid (the adjective afraid cannot co-occur with the adjective terrible)

Definitions[edit]

Nouns have sometimes been defined in terms of the grammatical categories to which they are subject (classed by gender, inflected for case and number). Such definitions tend to be language-specific, since nouns do not have the same categories in all languages.

Nouns are frequently defined, particularly in informal contexts, in terms of their semantic properties (their meanings). Nouns are described as words that refer to a person, place, thing, event, substance, quality, quantity, etc. However, this type of definition has been criticized by contemporary linguists as being uninformative.^[7]

There are several instances of English-language nouns which do not have any reference: drought, enjoyment, finesse, behalf (as found in on behalf of), dint (in dint of), and sake (for the sake of).^[8][9][10] Moreover, there may be a relationship similar to reference in the case of other parts of speech: the verbs to rain or to mother; many adjectives, like red; and there is little difference between the adverb gleefully and the noun-based phrase with glee.^{[note 2]}

Linguists often prefer to define nouns (and other lexical categories) in terms of their formal properties. These include morphological information, such as what prefixes or suffixes they take, and also their syntax – how they combine with other words and expressions of particular types. Such definitions may nonetheless still be language-specific since syntax as well as morphology varies between languages. For example, in English, it might be noted that nouns are words that can co-occur with definite articles (as stated at the start of this article), but this would not apply in Russian, which has no definite articles.

A functional approach defines a noun as a word that can be the head of a nominal phrase, i.e. a phrase with referential function, without needing to go through morphological transformation.^[11][12]

Classification[edit]

Nouns can have a number of different properties and are often sub-categorized based on various of these criteria, depending on their occurrence in a language.

Gender[edit]

In some languages, genders are assigned to nouns, such as masculine, feminine and neuter. The gender of a noun (as well as its number and case, where applicable) will often entail agreement in words that modify or are related to it. For example, in French, the singular form of the definite article is le for masculine nouns and la for feminine; adjectives and certain verb forms also change (with the addition of -e for feminine). Grammatical gender often correlates with the form of the noun and the inflection pattern it follows; for example, in both Italian and Russian most nouns ending -a are feminine. Gender can also correlate with the sex of the noun’s referent, particularly in the case of nouns denoting people (and sometimes animals). Nouns arguably do not have gender in Modern English, although many of them denote people or animals of a specific sex (or social gender), and pronouns that refer to nouns must take the appropriate gender for that noun. (The girl lost her spectacles.)

Proper and common nouns[edit]

A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing unique entities (such as India, Pegasus, Jupiter, Confucius, or Pequod), as distinguished from common nouns, which describe a class of entities (such as country, animal, planet, person or ship).^[13]

Countable nouns and mass nouns[edit]

Count nouns or countable nouns are common nouns that can take a plural, can combine with numerals or counting quantifiers (e.g., one, two, several, every, most), and can take an indefinite article such as a or an (in languages which have such articles). Examples of count nouns are chair, nose, and occasion.

Mass nouns or uncountable (or non-count) nouns differ from count nouns in precisely that respect: they cannot take plurals or combine with number words or the above type of quantifiers. For example, it is not possible to refer to a furniture or three furnitures. This is true even though the pieces of furniture comprising furniture could be counted. Thus the distinction between mass and count nouns should not be made in terms of what sorts of things the nouns refer to, but rather in terms of how the nouns present these entities.^[14][15]

Many nouns have both countable and uncountable uses; for example, soda is countable in «give me three sodas», but uncountable in «he likes soda».

Collective nouns[edit]

Collective nouns are nouns that – even when they are inflected for the singular – refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity. Examples include committee, government, and police. In English these nouns may be followed by a singular or a plural verb and referred to by a singular or plural pronoun, the singular being generally preferred when referring to the body as a unit and the plural often being preferred, especially in British English, when emphasizing the individual members.^[16] Examples of acceptable and unacceptable use given by Gowers in Plain Words include:^[16]

«A committee was appointed to consider this subject.» (singular)

«The committee were unable to agree.» (plural)

* «The committee were of one mind when I sat in on them.» (unacceptable use of plural)

Concrete nouns and abstract nouns[edit]

Concrete nouns refer to physical entities that can, in principle at least, be observed by at least one of the senses (for instance, chair, apple, Janet or atom). Different schools of philosophy and sciences may question the assumption, but, for the most part, people agree to the existence of something (e.g., a rock, a tree, universe). Abstract nouns, on the other hand, refer to abstract objects; that is, ideas or concepts (such as justice or hatred). While this distinction is sometimes exclusive, some nouns have multiple senses, including both concrete and abstract ones: for example, the noun art, which usually refers to a concept (e.g., Art is an important element of human culture.) but which can refer to a specific artwork in certain contexts (e.g., I put my daughter’s art up on the fridge.)

Some abstract nouns developed etymologically by figurative extension from literal roots. These include drawback, fraction, holdout and uptake. Similarly, some nouns have both abstract and concrete senses, with the latter having developed by figurative extension from the former. These include view, filter, structure and key.

In English, many abstract nouns are formed by adding a suffix (-ness, -ity, -ion) to adjectives or verbs. Examples are happiness (from the adjective happy), circulation (from the verb circulate) and serenity (from the adjective serene).

Alienable vs. inalienable nouns[edit]

Some languages, such as the Awa language spoken in Papua New Guinea,^[17] refer to nouns differently, depending on how ownership is being given for the given noun. This can be broken into two categories: alienable possession and inalienable possession. An alienably possessed noun is something that can exist independent of a possessor: for example ‘tree’ can be possessed (‘Lucy’s tree’) but need not be (‘the tree’), and likewise for ‘shirt’ (‘Mike’s shirt’, ‘that shirt’) and ‘roads’ (‘London’s roads’, ‘those roads’) . Inalienablly possessed nouns, on the other hand, refer to something that does not exist independently of a possessor; this includes kin terms such as ‘father’, body-part nouns such as ‘shadow’ or ‘hair’, and part-whole nouns such as ‘top’ and ‘bottom’.

Noun phrases[edit]

A noun phrase is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like words (nominal) optionally accompanied by modifiers such as determiners and adjectives. A noun phrase functions within a clause or sentence in a role such as that of subject, object, or complement of a verb or preposition. For example, in the sentence «The black cat sat on a dear friend of mine», the noun phrase the black cat serves as the subject, and the noun phrase a dear friend of mine serves as the complement of the preposition on.

Nouns in relation to other word classes[edit]

Pronouns[edit]

Nouns and noun phrases can typically be replaced by pronouns, such as he, it, she, they, these which, and those, in order to avoid repetition or explicit identification, or for other reasons. For example, in the sentence Gareth thought that he was weird, the word «he» is a pronoun standing in place of the person’s name. The word one can replace parts of noun phrases, and it sometimes stands in for a noun. An example is given below:

John’s car is newer than the one that Bill has.

But one can also stand in for larger parts of a noun phrase. For example, in the following example, one can stand in for new car.

This new car is cheaper than that one.

Nominalization[edit]

Nominalization is a process whereby a word that belongs to another part of speech comes to be used as a noun. This can be a way to create new nouns, or to use other words in ways that resemble nouns. In French and Spanish, for example, adjectives frequently act as nouns referring to people who have the characteristics denoted by the adjective. This sometimes happens in English as well, as in the following examples:

This legislation will have the most impact on the poor.

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the powerful.

The Socialist International is a worldwide association of political parties.

See also[edit]

• Description
• Grammatical case
• Phi features
• Punctuation
• Reference

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Lester, Mark; Beason, Larry (2005). The McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-144133-6.
• Borer, Hagit (2005). In Name Only. Structuring Sense. Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Gowers, Ernest (2014). Gowers, Rebecca (ed.). Plain Words. Particular. ISBN 978-0-141-97553-5.

Further reading[edit]

• Laycock, Henry (2005). «Mass nouns, Count nouns and Non-count nouns», Draft version of entry in Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics Oxford: Elsevier.

For definitions of nouns based on the concept of «identity criteria»:

• Geach, Peter. 1962. Reference and Generality. Cornell University Press.

For more on identity criteria:

• Gupta, Anil. 1980, The logic of common nouns. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

For the concept that nouns are «prototypically referential»:

• Croft, William. 1993. «A noun is a noun is a noun — or is it? Some reflections on the universality of semantics». Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, ed. Joshua S. Guenter, Barbara A. Kaiser and Cheryl C. Zoll, 369–80. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.

For an attempt to relate the concepts of identity criteria and prototypical referentiality:

• Baker, Mark. 2003, Lexical Categories: verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

External links[edit]

• Nouns – Nouns described by The Idioms Dictionary.

Nouns make up the largest class of words in most languages, including English. A noun is a word that refers to a thing (book), a person (Noah Webster), an animal (cat), a place (Omaha), a quality (softness), an idea (justice), or an action (yodeling). It’s usually a single word, but not always: cake, shoes, school bus, and time and a half are all nouns.

There are a number of different categories of nouns.

There are common nouns and proper nouns. A common noun refers to a person, place, or thing but is not the name of a particular person, place, or thing. Examples are animal, sunlight, and happiness. A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing; it usually begins with a capital letter: Abraham Lincoln, Argentina, and World War I are all proper nouns.

A collective noun is a noun that names a group of people or things, such as flock or squad. It’s sometimes unclear whether the verb for a collective noun should be singular or plural. In the United States, such nouns as company, team, herd, public, and class, as well as the names of companies, teams, etc., are treated as singular, but in the United Kingdom they are often treated as plural: (US) «The team has been doing well this season.» vs. (British) «The team have been doing well this season.»

Gerunds are nouns that are identical to the present participle (-ing form) of a verb, as in «I enjoy swimming more than running.«

An attributive noun is a noun that modifies another noun that immediately follows it, such as business in business meeting. These nouns look like adjectives but they’re not.

For learners of English, the most important feature of a noun is whether it can be counted. A count noun is a noun that can be used after a or an or after a number (or another word that means «more than one»). Count nouns have both singular and plural forms and can be used with both singular and plural verb forms, as with the word letter in «A letter for you is on the table. Letters for you arrive regularly.» Sometimes the plural form of a count noun is the same as its singular form, as in «I saw a deer in my yard yesterday. There are a lot of deer in the woods near my house.»

A mass noun (or noncount noun) refers to something that cannot be counted. Mass nouns are normally not used after the words a or an or after a number. They have only one form and are used with singular verb forms, as in «Portuguese is one of the languages they speak,» and «The information was unclear.»

Some nouns are not count or mass nouns. Nouns which only ever refer to one thing are called singular nouns: «Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun,» «We heard a terrible din in the alley.» And a plural noun refers to more than one person or thing, or sometimes to something that has two main parts. Plural nouns have only one form and are used with plural verb forms: «Townspeople are invited to a forum on the project,» «These scissors are dull.»

A particular noun can have any or all of these kinds of uses.

(count) I’ve read that book several times.

(mass) Time seemed to stop when I saw him for the first time.

(singular) The time is 3:22.

(plural) Fuel costs three times as much as it did five years ago.

What do we mean by noun?

The part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action and can function as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or an appositive. noun

Any of the words belonging to this part of speech, such as neighbor, window, happiness, or negotiation. noun

In grammar, a name; a word that denotes a thing, material or immaterial; a part of speech that admits of being used as subject or object of a verb, or of being governed by a preposition. noun

A word used as the designation or appellation of a creature or thing, existing in fact or in thought; a substantive. noun

A word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English. noun

To convert a word to a noun. verb

A content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action noun

The word class that can serve as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or in apposition noun

(grammar, narrow sense) A word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.

(grammar, now rare, broad sense) Either a word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality or idea, or a word that modifies or describes a previous word or its referent; a substantive or adjective, sometimes also including other parts of speech such as numeral or pronoun.

A term referring to a person, a place, or a thing; essentially something that exists.
Such nouns include:
*me (Dave)
*George W Bush
*Microsoft (the place)
*Nintendo (the place)
*Nintendo Gamecube
*Microsoft Xbox
*Sony Playstation 2
*The Pentagon
*US Army
*La-La Land
*Mushroom Kingdom
*Dreams
*Money
*Food
*Controller
….among MANY others.
Supposedly this term also refers to sexual intercourse, as well as the word «verb» does too. Urban Dictionary

A word used right after someone says «word». You say it to make them look dumb! Urban Dictionary

A thing Urban Dictionary

Verb: all-purpose word similar to usage of «smurf» in the tv show of the same name. Urban Dictionary

Similar to «plote« that means a vagina or a slut! Urban Dictionary

Word to designate the female reproductive system. Used only in the province of Quebec in Canada, by french-canadians. It’s another way to say »vagina» but more childish. Urban Dictionary

The act of changing words that are not typically nouns into nouns. Urban Dictionary

Many people are not remembered because they are insignificant and do not exist
Be noun
Be a person place or thing
Be remembered Urban Dictionary

The process of turning a word into a noun. Technically, the process is different than gerunds because the results are slang, not real words. It’s also possible to noun things that are already nouns.
See also verbing Urban Dictionary

A girl who likes to take advantage of guys,goes for a guy who has some nice things like a nice sports car, in which the guy stole that girl from you, when he is about to hit rock bottom on his life, then she comes back at you like a boomerang. Urban Dictionary

What does the word noun mean?

English Language Learners Definition of noun : a word that is the name of something (such as a person, animal, place, thing, quality, idea, or action) and is typically used in a sentence as subject or object of a verb or as object of a preposition.

Is fearsome a noun?

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfear‧some /ˈfɪəsəm $ ˈfɪr-/ adjective very frightening a fearsome weaponExamples from the Corpusfearsome• Great big and fearsome Dimetrodon, a species of dinosaur, was the most powerful creature.

What is the noun form of enemy?

noun, plural en·e·mies. a person who feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against, or engages in antagonistic activities against another; an adversary or opponent. an armed foe; an opposing military force: The army attacked the enemy at dawn.

Is Enemize a word?

(Verb) To make an enemy of someone or something. Usage: He expressed her wrongdoings in an attempt to enemize her.

What is the full meaning of enemy?

1 : one that is antagonistic to another especially : one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent. 2 : something harmful or deadly alcohol was his greatest enemy. 3a : a military adversary. b : a hostile unit or force.

What is another word for enemy?

enemy

• adversary,
• antagonist,
• foe,
• hostile,
• opponent.

What makes someone an enemy?

«Enemy» is a strong word, and «emotions associated with the enemy would include anger, hatred, frustration, envy, jealousy, fear, distrust, and possibly grudging respect». As a political concept, an enemy is likely to be met with hate, violence, battle and war. The opposite of an enemy is a friend or ally.

What’s up with the spider in enemy?

Just a thing to note here is that Adam doesn’t like blueberries but his mother insists that he does. Right after this, a large spider is shown walking past town. This spider is a representation of his mother. Anthony feels trapped in the web of expectations that his mother has for him – job, work, health, etc.

Can your friend be friends with your enemy?

Your friend can be friends with whoever they want. You either deal with it by being civil in their presence ( until your enemy is not), or avoid the situation by not attending the same events. If your enemy chooses to deal with it you may end up putting your differences behind you for your friends sake.

How do you know if someone is your enemy?

Signs that say your friend is actually your enemy. Sometimes, you can even be the centre of their gossip. 2- They may always try to show the negative side of yours and can never appreciate something good about you. 3- They may seem to be unexpectedly happy or excited about your win.

How do you tell if someone is competing with you?

With that said, here are 8 signs someone is trying to compete with you:

1. They’re boastful. …
2. They modulate your success. …
3. They gossip. …
4. They always want to know how you‘re doing. …
5. They celebrate your failures. …
6. They imitate you. …
7. They heap false praise. …
8. They engage in sabotage.

How do you spot a frenemy?

9 Ways to Spot a Frenemy

1. They talk about you behind your back. …
2. They’re always asking for favors. …
3. Their emotional needs consistently outweigh yours. …
4. They only want to talk about themselves. …
5. They aren’t happy about your achievements. …
6. They’re passive aggressive. …
7. They pass off cruel criticism as helpful feedback.

Why do friends suddenly turn on you?

If they turn on your suddenly (or so you feel), it may have been building for quite some time. It’s very likely that something or several things you‘re doing or saying are rubbing them the wrong way, but instead of confronting you, they swallow hard and try to keep the relationship going.

How do you know if a friend is jealous of you?

2. They frequently try to outdo or one-up you. If you share something positive from your life, a friend dealing with jealousy might respond by sharing something similar, only bigger or better. In other words, you may notice a pattern of behavior where they not only imitate you, but also try to go one step farther.

Why do I attract clingy friends?

These reasons are: As a person,you are a natural giver; you love giving your time and energy to others which means you are going to attract takers. Also, you feel like you need to fix or rescue people when you see them in negative situations. You have very low or no boundaries.

What are the signs of envy?

Signs of envy include:

• You aren’t happy for others when they achieve success.
• Another person’s success makes you feel unhappy.
• You feel the need to diminish someone else’s success.
• You judge others negatively.
• You’re happy when others face setbacks.

What are haters?

What is a «Hater?» «Hater» is a label used to refer to people who use negative and critical comments and behavior to bring another person down by making them look or feel bad. These hurtful and negative comments can be delivered in person, online, or in texts and apps./span>

How do you kill haters?

1. Make criticism your fuel, not your kryptonite. …
2. Take it as a compliment. …
3. Get engagement by trolling back. …
4. Remember that successful people don’t need to put others down. …
5. Kill them with kindness. …
6. Don’t react, be grateful. …
7. Take the opportunity to check in with yourself. …
8. Ask whether you can learn something.

What do you say to haters?

Don’t like me, acquire some taste. Do you always act like an idiot or do you just show off when I’m around? Grab a straw because you suck. I don’t hate you but let’s put it this way…, if I had a bucket of water and you were on fire, I’d drink the water.

How do you deal with hate on social media?

Here are a few tips:

1. Always challenge the message, never the person who spread it.
2. Use facts and data to call out generalisation and inaccuracies.
3. Display the harm of hate speech by showing a different perspective. …
4. Be polite in your reply, don’t become abusive yourself.
5. Take a breath.

A Noun is the name of a Place, Person, or thing. It comes under Parts of Speech, which we have studied in the syllabus of English Grammar. As we all know that Noun plays an important role in the formation of any sentence.

In simple words, we can also say Nouns or a word that is the name of something (as a person, animal, place, thing, quality, idea, or action) and that is typically used in a sentence as the subject or object of a verb or as an object of a preposition. It plays the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective.  

Noun Definition:-

“A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, state, or quality. It can be singular or plural. Nouns are a part of speech“

Noun Examples

Here are some examples of nouns:-

• Place– Goa, Tajmahal, Sea, River, Planet, Farmhouse, Tourist place, etc. 
• Person– John, Biographer, Cardiologist, Cameramen, Actress, Politicians, etc.
• Things–  Grains, Rocks, Trees, Forest, Paper, Glass, Metals, Plastic, etc.
• Ideas– Revolution, Resolution, Invention, Conclusion, Argument, etc.

How are Nouns Used in Sentences?  

Nouns can be used as a subject and a verb. The subject in a sentence refers to the person, place, or thing, while the verb describes an action that is being performed by the subject.

Nouns as Subjects

The subject of a sentence is the noun or pronoun that acts as an action of the verb.

For Example, in this sentence “The lion chased the goat,” 

• “lion” is the subject of the verb “chased.”

Nouns as Objects

Nouns and pronouns act as a role of objects in a sentence, and both can also be direct and indirect objects in a sentence.

For Example, in this sentence “Raghav is a brilliant student”

• Raghav is a Subjective Noun and Student is an objective Noun. 

Objects can be Direct or Indirect:

Nouns as a Direct Object

Noun or Pronoun as a direct object receives the action of the verb. 

For Example, in this sentence

• “He gave the keys to her mother,” “keys” is the direct object of the verb “gave.”

Nouns as an Indirect Object

Noun or Pronoun as an indirect object is indirectly affected by the action of the verb, usually placed before the direct object. 

For Example, in this sentence 

• “He gave flowers to his mother,” “mother” is the indirect object of the verb “gave.”

Nouns as Subject and Object Complements

An object complement is a word or phrase that follows a direct object or renames it. Names, Professions, and Positions act as a role of an object complement. 

For Example,

• “I painted the room, Green.” 

In this sentence, “Green” is the object complement because it follows the direct object “the room” and describes it.

When a noun is used to describe another type of noun. A subject complement can be a noun or noun phrase. 

For Example, 

• “The cookies taste delicious.” 

In this sentence, “delicious” is used as a subject complement because it follows the linking verb “taste” and describes the subject “Cookies.”

Types of Nouns

There are several types of Nouns in English grammar, here are some of the most common types:-

     1. Proper Noun
     2. Common Noun
     3. Collective Noun
     4. Material Noun
     5. Abstract noun
     6. Singular Noun
     7. Plural Noun
     8. Compound Noun
     9. Countable Noun
    10. Uncountable Noun

Let us discuss these types of Nouns in detail with examples:

Proper Noun

A Proper noun is a noun that indicates a specific person or thing that does not require a limiting modifier and is frequently capitalized. It denotes the name of a person, place, or thing.

Examples:

• “John” is a proper noun as it is the name of a specific person
• “Sydney” is a proper noun as it is the name of a specific place
• “Samsung” is a proper noun as it is the name of a specific brand
• “Lassie” is a proper noun as it is the name of a specific pet animal
• “The Eiffel Tower” is a proper noun as it is the name of a specific landmark
• “The New York Times” is a proper noun as it is the name of a specific newspaper

Facts:

• It’s always written in uppercase
• We never use a/an before it
•  It has genders: Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

Common Noun

The common noun can be used with a limiting modifier to name a group of people or things, or any individual within that group. It denotes the quality possessed by all.

Examples: 

• “Tree” – The tree in the front yard is over 100 years old.
• “Book” – I am reading a book about the history of India.
• “Dog” – My dog likes to chase after tennis balls.
• “City” – The city is planning to build a new park.
• “Lake” – We went swimming in the lake last weekend.
• “Person” – That person over there is my friend from college.
• “Car” – The car’s engine makes a strange noise when it starts up.

Facts:

• Common nouns are divided into countable and uncountable 
• We always use a/ an before singular countable noun

Collective Noun

It denotes the collection of people, things, or animals.

Examples:

Collective nouns for groups of animals:

• A herd of cattle
• A flock of birds
• A pack of wolves
• A school of fish

Collective nouns for groups of people:

• A crowd of people
• A group of friends
• A team of athletes
• A gang of thieves

Collective nouns for things/objects:

• A pile of rocks
• A stack of books
• A bundle of sticks
• A cluster of grapes

Material Noun

A material noun refers to a material or substance that is used to make things. It denotes the base features of the materials.

Examples: 

• “The desk was made of solid oak.” (oak is a material noun)
• “She wore a gold necklace to the party.” (gold is a material noun)
• “The bridge was constructed with steel girders.” (steel is a material noun)
• “He built a fire using dry branches and twigs.” (branches and twigs are material nouns)

Facts:

• We never use a/an before it because it is uncountable
• We never make the plural of it by adding s/es

Abstract Noun

A noun expressing anything immaterial and abstract defines an abstract noun. Another prevalent interpretation of abstract nouns is that they refer to entities that are not visible to the naked eye. It denotes mental state, feelings, and emotions. Abstract nouns cannot be seen, smelled, heard, tasted, or touched. Intangible entities that do not exist as physical objects are referred to as abstract nouns.

Examples:

• Love: She felt a deep love for her family.
• Courage: His courage in the face of adversity was admirable.
• Intelligence: She has a high level of intelligence.
• Success: His success in business was due to his hard work.

Facts: 

• We never use a/an before it because it is uncountable
• We never make the plural of it by adding s/es
• Abstract nouns can be made from the conversion of verbs and adjectives

So, this was everything about the basic kinds of Nouns. However, the concepts related to Nouns have been discussed in a different article. Do refer to that article for a complete understanding of the topic.

Singular Noun 

Singular Nouns are those Nouns that denote a single or one person, one place, or one thing. Let us understand it with some examples. 

Examples: 

• “The cat slept on the windowsill.” (Singular noun “cat” refers to one animal)
• “She read a novel before bed.” (Singular noun “novel” refers to one book)
• “He took a single cookie from the jar.” (Singular noun “cookie” refers to one baked good)
• “The apple was red and shiny.” (Singular noun “apple” refers to one piece of fruit)
• “The car needs an oil change.” (Singular noun “car” refers to one vehicle)
   

Facts: 

• We use a/an before the Singular Noun.
• We can make the plural of it by adding s/es

So, Singular Noun is all about the quantity of Place, Person, or Thing, which counts will always be one. In other words, we can say that Singular Nouns mean only one Person, Place, or Thing.  

Plural Noun

A Plural noun is a noun that indicates more than one Person, Place, or Thing that can be easily made Plural by adding easily s, es or making changes in the spelling of a Singular Noun.

Examples:

• “The dogs barked loudly.” (dogs is a plural noun)
• “She bought a dozen eggs.” (eggs is a plural noun)
• “The children played in the park.” (children is a plural noun)
• “We saw several deer in the woods.” (deer is a plural noun)

Facts:

• It’s always written in uppercase
• We never use a/an before it
•  It has genders: Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

Compound Noun

A compound noun is simply made up of two or more word that comes together to form a noun i.e. Policeman, Greenhouse, Bluebird, Smartphone.

Examples:

• “Bookshelf” – The bookshelf was filled with old books.
• “Raincoat” – I am going to wear my raincoat because it’s going to rain.
• “Haircut” – He got a new haircut.
• “Bedroom” – I am going to sleep in my bedroom tonight.

Facts:

• It is not necessary that both words are Nouns.
• It is formed with the help of more than one part of speech.

Countable Noun

Countable Nouns are those nouns that can be easily counted. These nouns can be singular or plural. 

Examples:

• “I have two cats.” (cats – countable noun)
• “She bought a loaf of bread.” (loaf – countable noun)
• “He owns several cars.” (cars – countable noun)
• “We need to buy some eggs.” (eggs – countable noun)
• “The class has only five students.” (students – countable noun)

Facts:

• We can use words like some, any, a few, many, and a number of, with countable Nouns.
• It can be singular and plural too.
• It can be preceded by the indefinite article a or an.
• It can also be preceded by a number.

Uncountable Noun

Uncountable Nouns are those Nouns that can’t be counted. These nouns are always in singular form but can’t be counted. Nouns like sugar, rice, water, hair, and stars.  

Examples:

• “Information” – Can you provide me with more information about the project?
• “Water” – Water is essential for human survival.
• “Furniture” – The furniture in the room needs to be rearranged.
• “Luggage” – I can’t find my luggage at the baggage claim.

Possessive Noun

A possessive noun is a noun that shows ownership or possession of something. It is formed by adding an apostrophe + “s” to the noun. 

Examples:

• The dog’s bone (shows that the bone belongs to the dog)
• The children’s toy (shows that the toy belongs to the children)
• The company’s profits (shows that the profits belong to the company)
• The teacher’s desk (shows that the desk belongs to the teacher)

Facts:

• Possessive nouns are formed by adding an apostrophe and the letter “s” to the noun, or just an apostrophe if the noun is already plural and ends in “s”.
• Possessive nouns can be singular or plural, and they can indicate possession by one person or thing or by multiple people or things.
• Possessive nouns can be used to indicate a relationship between two nouns, such as “the dog’s ball” (showing that the dog possesses the ball)
• Do not use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns such as “its”, “hers”, “yours”, “theirs”, “ours”, and “mine”.

Noun Phrases

A Noun Phrase means a group of words that acts as a Noun. There are 4 types of Noun phrases-

• Determiners: A, my, the, his, her, etc.
• Possessive Determiners: Your, My, His, Her, etc.
• Quantifiers: Some, More, All, Few, etc.
• Numerals: One, Two, Three, Four, etc.

Examples:

• “The red sports car” – The noun phrase is “the red sports car” and it is used as the subject of the sentence “The red sports car is fast.”
• “The little girl with the curly hair” – The noun phrase is “the little girl with the curly hair” and it is used as the subject of the sentence “The little girl with the curly hair is singing a song.”
• “My favorite book” – The noun phrase is “my favorite book” and it is used to indicate possession in the sentence “I am reading my favorite book.”
• “The city of Paris” – The noun phrase is “the city of Paris” and it is used as the subject of the sentence “The city of Paris is known for its art and culture.”

Proper Noun vs. Common Noun

S.NO	Proper Noun	Common Noun
1.	Proper Nouns include Specific People, Places, or Things.	Common Noun means generic place, person, or things.
2.	Proper Nouns are Specific.	Common Nouns are Non-specific.
3.	Proper Noun is often capitalized.	Common Nouns are usually not capitalized.
4.	For Example- Japan, Salman, Satluj River, Parker Pen, etc.	For Example- River, Grandfather, Tree, Pen, Pencil, etc.

FAQs on Noun

Q1. What is the definition of a noun?

Answer: 

A Noun can be defined as a Place, Person or Thing. For Example– City, Sea, Paper, Wood, Laptop, Plastic, Iron etc. are known as Noun.

Q2. How many types of nouns are there?

Answer: 

There are Ten Types of Nouns, which are-

     1. Proper Noun – Agra, Abhinav, Aluminium etc. 
     2. Common Noun – Priest, People, Girls, Boys, Metals, Capitals etc.
     3. Collective Noun – Common People, Analog watch, Gold ring, etc.
     4. Material Noun – Sugar, Sand, Fertilizers, Honey, Cardboard etc.
     5. Abstract noun – Love, Hate, Compassion, Forgiveness, etc.
     6. Singular Noun – Woman, Child, Boy, Girl, Man, Wife, Knife etc.
     7. Plural Noun – Women, Children, Boys, Men, Wives, Knives etc.
     8. Compound Noun – Paperweight, Milkman, Tennis court etc.
     9. Countable Noun – Eyes, Sun, Gifts, Papers, Floors, rods, etc.
    10. Uncountable Noun – Hairs, Stars, Water, Milk, Feelings like Love, Hate etc.

Q3. What is the main function of Nouns?

Answer: 

A Noun can also act as a verb and as an adjective too. For Example- Money is a Noun while Money-minded is an adjective.

Q4. What are the examples of Abstract Nouns?

Answer: 

Improvement, Quality, Courage, Optimism, etc.

Q5. What’s the difference between a noun and a pronoun?

Answer: 

A noun is a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea, while a pronoun is a word that replaces a noun.
Examples:

• Noun: “The cat” (cat is a noun)
• Pronoun: “it” (it is a pronoun that replace the noun cat)
• Noun: “The boy” (boy is a noun)
• Pronoun: “He” (he is a pronoun that replaces the noun boy)

Q6. What is the basic difference between a Countable and an Uncountable Noun?

Answer: 

Countable Nouns can be Singular or Plural while Uncountable Nouns can’t be counted. 

Q7. How do you identify a noun in a sentence?

Answer: 

Nouns are words that represent people, places, things, or ideas. They can be identified by their role in a sentence, being preceded by articles or determiners, or by having a plural form. 

Examples: “dog” in “The dog barked,” “John” and “store” in “John went to the store,” “book” in “She read an interesting book.”