Parts of Speech: Noun and its types

Dear Gradians,

English Grammar is very basic but most important part of the English Language. Nouns are an important part of speech in English, probably second only to verbs. It is difficult to say much without using a noun.

Nouns are used as subjects of the sentence. Without nouns, you can't understand what the sentence is about. So nouns (and their substitutes) play a very important role in English sentence patterns. So let's understand nouns in this module of the series.

Parts of Speech: Noun and its types

A noun is a word for a person, place, or thing or idea. Everything we can see or talk about is represented by a word that names it. That "naming" word is called a Noun. Everything we can name is a noun. It includes people (e.g., boy, Rita), animals (e.g., cat, cockroach), places (e.g., street, Banglore), objects (e.g., Table, Wire), substances (e.g., Gold, glass), qualities (e.g., Happiness, sorrow), and measures (e.g., inch, pound) etc.

A noun can be classified into 7 types, which are as follows :

1. Common Noun
2. Proper Noun
3. Collective Noun
4.Abstract Noun
5. Material Noun
6.Countable Noun
7. Uncountable Noun

Now let's understand each of the Noun one by one.

1. Common Noun

A common noun is also known as Generic Noun. The general name given to a person, place, item or thing is a common noun or we can say Common Noun is the name given in common to person or thing of the same class or kind. We use common nouns everywhere. Common nouns start from Capital word only while appearing at the beginning of a sentence

For Example :
We are planning to go to a restaurant.
Boys love to do adventures things.

As we can see, in the above examples, we are not talking about any specific restaurant or any specific boy. We have named both these nouns as a common class. Hence these are the common nouns.

2. Proper Noun

Proper Noun is the opposite of Common Noun. A proper noun refers to the Specific name given to any person, place or thing. A proper noun always begins with capital letters, no matter where they occur within a sentence. Go through the below examples to get a clear idea :

Example :
We are planning to go to Pizza Hut.
Raman Loves to do adventures things.

Now, in these sentences, we are specifically naming a restaurant and a boy. Here 'Pizza Hut' and 'Raman', both are proper Noun. Through the below table, you can depict differences between the Proper noun and common noun :

Common Noun	Proper Noun
boy	Raman
girl	Rita
bridge	Mahatma Gandhi Setu
city	Kanpur
book	War and Peace
tower	Eifel Tower
Jeans	Levis

3. Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are the name given to a group of people of a similar kind, a collection of things of the same type. When we want to name a group or collection of similar individuals as a whole, we use collective nouns. In simple words, A collective noun is a word used to represent a group of people, animals, or things. For example :

A bunch of Grapes
A pride of Lions
A class of students
A flock of birds
A series of events
A herd of cattle

Bold words in the above examples are acting as a Collective Noun.

4.Abstract Noun

The name given to quality, action, idea, concept or feeling is termed as Abstract Noun. Something which you can’t see, taste, hear or touch.

For example :

Love, fear, anger, joy, excitement, and other emotions are abstract nouns.
Courage, bravery, cowardice, and other such states are abstract nouns.
Desire, creativity, uncertainty, and other innate feelings are abstract nouns.

5. Material Noun

The material noun is the name given to the material, substance or things made up of something. Material nouns are not generally countable means we cannot count them because they are in the forms of liquid, semi-liquid or solid. Nouns in this class are materials like cloth, air, metal, gold, salt, iron, silver, steel, brass, bronze, copper, aluminium, lead, coal, coral, gem, diamond, glass, fibre etc.

For example :

Cotton dresses are very cheap and comfortable.
My mom purchased a gold ring for me.
I drink milk in the silver.

6. Countable Noun

A countable noun is a noun that names the things which are countable and occur in both single and plural forms. The nouns which can be modified by numerals are countable nouns. Simply if we can count something like one, two, three .... that comes under Countable Noun.

For example:
There is one chair in this room (in this example, the word 'chair' is singular and countable)
There are 10 chairs in the house. (in this example, the word 'chair' is plural and countable).

7. Uncountable Noun

An uncountable noun is a noun that names the things which are not countable. It cannot take the plural form. An uncountable noun is also called as mass nouns as we cannot count it.

For example

There is no more milk in the kitchen.
Please take good care of your furniture.
I need some Water

Important Rules for Noun

Now let's go through some important rules of Noun through examples given below:

Rule 1:

Incorrect: He gave me very important informations.
Correct: He gave me very important information.

There are some nouns which do not take the plural form. They are always used in the Singular number. These nouns are uncountable nouns. Following nouns are always used in Singular number :
Machinery, Information, Poetry, luggage, Jewellery, Knowledge, Percentage etc.

Rule 2:

Incorrect: My trouser is dirty.
Correct: My trousers are dirty.

There are some nouns, which are only used in Plural Form. Also, these nouns take Plural Verb with them always. Following nouns are always used in Plural number and takes Plural verb with them :
Spectacles, Tongs, pincers, scissors, goggles, gallows, fangs, alms, amends, trousers, pants, particulars, proceeds, regards, riches, savings, troops, thanks, braces, wages, belongings, etc.

Rule 3:

Incorrect: Mathematics are an easy subject.
Correct: Mathematics is an easy subject.

There are some forms of the noun, which look like a Plural form, but actually, they are Singular and hence take Singular verb with them. Following words are singular and take singular verb with them :
Mathematics, Politics, News, Politics, Physics, Economics, Athletics, Innings Etc.

Rule 4:

Incorrect: Cattle is grazing in the field.
Correct: Cattle are grazing in the field.

Some collective nouns, which are Singular in form ( they do not take 's' or 'es' at the end), but With them always Plural verb is used.
For example Cattle, People, Police. Poultry, gentry, peasantry. These words always take Plural verb with them.

Rule 5:

If in a sentence, if Noun+Preposition + the same noun is given, then this noun will be in singular form. We will not take plural form of them.
For example :

Matches after matches were played between India and Pakistan (Incorrect)
Match after match were played between India and Pakistan. (correct)

Rule 6:

To make compound nouns Plural, always add 's' or 'es' to the main word only.
For example :
1.Mother-in-laws (Incorrect)
Mothers-in-law (Correct)

2.Commander-in-chiefs (Incorrect)
Commanders-in-chief (correct)

Possessive Noun:

Possessive nouns are the nouns which show ownership. Possessive nouns refer to something which you own.

In Singular Possessive nouns, Add apostrophe 's' to the singular word to show possession.
For example :
1. Car's Engine, Here we are talking about one car.
2. Boy's Book, Here we are talking about one boy.
3. Sheetal's Dress, Here we are talking about one girl i.e. Sheetal.
If a singular word ends in s, it is still necessary to add 's.
For example,
Bus's Tires, here we are talking about one bus only The plural form of a bus is buses.
Lens's colour, here we are talking about one lens only The plural form of the lens is lenses.

For Plural Possessive nouns,

When a plural word ends in 's' or 'es', then do not use 's' after apostrophe in that word. In such words, add only the apostrophe to the end of the word.
For example,
Cars' engine, Here we are talking about more than one car.
Boys' book, Here we are talking about more than one boy.
But if a plural word is not ending with 's' or 'es', use apostrophe 's' after the word (Just like singular words)
For example :
Children's play, Here we are talking about more than one child. Still, we are using apostrophe s.
The apostrophe is not used with possessive pronouns.
Your's Faithfully (Incorrect)
Yours Faithfully (Correct)
In the case of compound nouns, apostrophe comes only at the end of compound nouns :
Sister's-in-law birthday (Incorrect)
Sister-in-law's birthday (correct)
The double apostrophe is not used in a sentence :
I decorated my daughter's book's page. (Incorrect)
I decorated the page of my daughter's book (Correct)