What is Noun? Types of Nouns, Definition and Example Sentences
Table of Contents
Nouns
Nouns, which are responsible for expressing a person, place, thing, or any idea, are the elements that make up the subject, direct objects, or indirectly mentioned objects in a sentence. Nouns in sentences can refer to living things like a famous person or cat, places like beaches or cities, things like a telephone or a president, and ideas like socialism or communism.
Common nouns refer to general things such as parks or seas, while proper nouns refer to one specific and one thing. As an example of proper names, we can say, New York, there is only one New York in the world that we know. Nouns, which can be described as plural or singular according to their number, can be categorized as countable plural nouns and uncountable plural nouns according to their usage in their plural form.
Although there are usually the, a or an articles in front of a noun used in a sentence, there is no rule that nouns will always have these articles. It is also possible to see adjectives such as some, this, these, or many before nouns. You may also come across a name without any words in front of it. These names usually start with a capital letter and are the proper name of any place or any person.
What Are the Types of Nouns Used in English?
There are two types of nouns in English: proper nouns and generic nouns. Proper nouns are words that we use to describe a place, thing, or person that is only customary. Examples of these words are Paris, Big Ben, or Alice. Genus nouns, on the other hand, describe any person, place, or thing, and where these words are used, nouns are general nouns, not denoting anything specific. So words like cat, building, beach, and sofa are generic nouns.
It is possible to divide the genus names into six different categories.
- Abstract Nouns: These are the names we give to concepts that we cannot touch or see with our eyes. They can indicate emotion or anything abstract. For example, joy, knowledge, and beauty.
- Collective Nouns: These names refer to a community with more than one person and this community has a unique name. For example, delegation, school choir, band, and football team.
- Compound Nouns: These are the names that are formed by the combination of more than one name and have their meanings. Examples of these names are volleyball, boyfriend, and dry cleaning.
- Concrete Nouns: The names of objects that we can see in real life or that we can perceive with any of our five senses fall into the categories of concrete nouns. For example, phone, bed, and pillow.
- Countable Nouns: These are the names given to the objects that you can count with your finger. For example, you can calculate how many tables there are with your fingers or with math calculation.
- Uncountable Nouns: Names given to objects that are real but you cannot count. For example, although it is possible to calculate the mass of air with physics, you cannot say one air or two airs.
