What is a Noun?
Noun is an important part of speech which is used a lot in written as well as spoken English.
A noun is a word that names a place, a person, a thing, an animal or an idea.
Examples: ‘table, chair, New York, book, cup, boy, computer, Newton, hospital, garden, room, Paris, man, doctor, engineer, glass, dog, cat, rabbit, hen’ are all nouns because each of them is a name of a person, an animal, a place or a thing.
A noun can also be a name of an abstract feeling or an idea such as ‘love, anger, happiness etc’.
Examples:
Names of persons: David, Newton, Stephen, Einstein, girl, boy, man engineer, teacher, doctor
Names of animals: Cat, dog, hen, rabbit, penguin, bird, horse, peacock, nightingale
Names of places: London, Paris, New York, Toronto, college, cinema, hospital, garden
Names of things: Book, table, chair, camera, cup, picture, bottle, computer
Nouns in Sentences
Names of persons:
David will come today.
He is laughing.
This woman has three sons.
My brother never tells a lie.
My father is a decent man.
The dog is barking at a stranger.
He is riding a horse.
She has two cats.
The dog is barking at a stranger.
A parrot is flying in the air.
I saw an elephant in the zoo.
He lives in London.
They were playing in a garden.
She works in a hospital.
The shop opens at 10 A.M.
They are sitting in a room.
We will go to a zoo.
Names of things:
I bought a book.
He repaired his camera.
I have two computers.
She opened a bottle.
He made a chair.
Sincerity in friendship leads to happiness.
Never go against the law.
Frustration is usually the cause of anger.
His love for his country was remarkable.
Nouns can be divided into following types:
- Common and Proper Nouns
- Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Common Noun & Proper Noun
A noun is a word that names a person, an animal, a place, or a thing.
Examples: ‘chair, New York, book, cup, boy, computer, college, room, garden, London, girl, doctor, engineer, dog, cat, rabbit, hen’ are all nouns because each of them is a name of a a person, an animal, a place, or an object or thing
There are two major types of nouns:
- Common Noun
- Proper Noun
1. Common Noun
A common noun is a name of non-specific or a common thing, place or a person.
Examples: “book, pen, room, garden man, girl, road, camera, month, day, chair, school, boy, car” are common nouns because each of them is a common thing, place or person.
Common noun refers to a group of items. It does not refer to any specific item.
Example-1
He eats an apple daily.
In the above sentence, the noun ‘apple’ is used as a common noun. The noun ‘apple’ points to a group of fruits. It does not refer to a specific apple; and it can be any apple. In this sentence the term apple is not specified but used as a common noun which refers to a common apple and not any specific apple.
Example-2
She bought a camera.
In the above sentence, the noun ‘camera’ is a common noun. This noun ‘camera’ is used as a generalized term that does not refer to any specific camera but it can be simply any camera.
2. Proper Noun
A name of a specific or a particular thing, person or place, is called a proper noun.
Examples: “Oxford University, Limousine Car, New York, America, David, Newton, Einstein, June, Friday” are some proper nouns because each of them refers to a specific thing, place or person.
The above nouns does not refers to common things, but to a particular thing. The word ‘month’ is a common noun because it can be any month of the year. But the word ‘April’ is a proper noun because it refers to only one (specific) month of year. Similarly, the word ‘car’ is a common noun as it is a generalized word and can be any car. On the other hand, BMW car is a specific noun because it refers to one specific car.
The first letter of a proper noun is always capitalized.
Examples:
They live in London.
She loves David.
He studies in the University of Glasgow.
He will come here in August.
The meeting will be held on Friday.
The owner of Microsoft Company is Bill Gates.
Other examples:
He lives in Paris.
She studies in Oxford University.
Author of this book is John Stephen.
Laws of motion were presented by Newton
The richest person of the world is Bill Gates.
Rules for using article “THE” before a Proper Noun:
- Article ‘the’ is never used before the names of cities and countries. e.g. “Paris, London, New York, Canada, America, Mexico”. But if the name of country refers to a group of places (lands or states), the article ‘the’ will be used. e.g. the United States, the Netherlands, the Philippines.
- Article ‘the’ is not used before the names of universities. e.g. Yale University, Oxford University, Columbia University. But if the name of university is written in an order that it includes the word ‘of’, the article ‘the’ will be used. e.g. the University of Oxford, the University of Toronto.
- Article ‘the’ must be used before names composed of both common noun and proper noun. e.g. the New York city, the river Nile, the Dominion of Canada.
- Article ‘The” used by the name of ocean, sea, river, dessert or forest (except lakes and fall). e.g. the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Sahara, the Black Forests.
- Article “The” is used before the name of a geographical region and points on globe, for example: the Middle East, the West, the Equator, the North Pole
- Article “The” is usually used before the names of organizations for example: the Association of Chartered Accountants, the World Health Organization,
Countable Noun & Uncountable Noun
There are two types of nouns:
- Countable Nouns
- Uncountable Nouns
1. Countable Noun
Countable noun is a noun that can be counted.
For instance, ‘book is a countable noun because it can be counted. We can say: one book, two books, or three books.
Examples: chair, pen, cup, room, dog, car, bottle, car, table, book, bag.
A countable noun can exist in both form: singular form and plural form.
For singular nouns, article ‘a / an’ is used. If a singular noun starts with a consonant letter (or vowel sounding like consonant), article ‘a’ will be used before it. e.g. a book, a pen, a university.
If a singular noun starts with a vowel letter (or consonant sounding like vowel), article ‘an’ will be used before it. e.g. an apple, an onion, an hour.
The plural of a noun is made according to the following rules:
- A plural of a noun is formed by adding –s or –es to it. e.g. pen – pens, book – books, box – boxes. If a noun ends with ‘y’, the ending ‘y’ is changed into ‘i’ and –es is added for making its plural. e.g. lady–ladies, country–countries.
- A few plurals are formed differently. e.g. child–children, wife–wives, man–men, basis–bases, toot–teeth, foot–feet, datum–data.
- A few nouns remains same in plural and singular form. e.g. swine–swine, deer–deer, sheep–sheep.
2. Uncountable Noun
A noun that cannot be counted is called an uncountable noun.
For instance, ‘water’ is an uncountable noun because it cannot be counted. It cannot be said: one water, two waters, or three waters. Such nouns that cannot be counted in numbers are known as uncountable nouns.
Examples: rain, honey, milk, bread, furniture, wheat, information, news, honesty, pleasure, warmth, excitement, love, weather.
Article ‘a /an’ is mostly not used before an uncountable noun, except in some special cases. The article ‘the’ can be used before an uncountable noun if refers to a specific thing.
He is drinking a water. (Wrong)
He is drinking water. (Correct)
Money gives you a power. (Wrong)
Money gives you power. (Correct)
The word such as, ‘some, more, too much’ can be used to modify the amount of an uncountable noun.
Examples:
Please give me some water.
Add some milk to the tea.
They had no information about the criminal.
Though uncountable noun refers to things in its collectivity, it is mostly treated is as a singular in a sentence.
Other examples:
The sea water are polluted. (Wrong)
The sea water is polluted. (Correct)
The information are helpful. (Wrong)
The Information is helpful. (Correct)
Changing an uncountable noun into a countable noun
Some of the uncountable nouns can be changed into countable form by adding a measuring unit to it. For instance, ‘water’ is an uncountable noun but it can be used as countable by saying: one glass of water, two glass of water. Similarly, ‘tea’ can be used as one cup of tea, or two cups of tea.
Here are some ways of converting uncountable into countable:
Wheat to a grain of wheat
Bread to a piece of bread
Milk to a glass of milk
Information to a piece of information
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