NOUN

Prof. de limba engleză Păunescu Liliana

 What is a noun?
A noun is a naming word. It is a part of speech and can be defined as a name
of a person, place, animal, bird, feeling or a thing.
○ Person – the name of a person: Dinesh, Sagar, Jacob, Sheetal
○ Animal/ Bird – the name of an animal/ bird: lion, cat, dog,
○ Place – the name of a place: Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Paris.
○ Thing –the name of a thing: orange, laptop, table, book
○ Feeling – the name of an idea: devotion, superstition, happiness,
excitement, etc.
Based on their properties nouns can be classified into:

○ Proper Noun
○ Common Noun
○ Abstract Noun
○ Concrete Noun
○ Countable Noun
○ Uncountable Noun
○ Collective Noun
○ Compound Noun
 Proper Nouns
A proper noun is a unique name that refers only to a single person,
place, or thing. While writing, a proper noun always begins with a
capital letter, even in the middle of the sentence.

Example of Proper Noun:

○ I live in Mumbai. (Here Mumbai is the name of a unique place.)
○ My name is Sharad. (Here Sharad refers to a unique name.)
 Common Nouns
A common noun is a generic or common name for something that can
refer to many things, person, or places. So, a Common Noun and a
Proper Noun are opposite in nature.
Example of Common Noun:
○ It is a big tree. (Here tree can commonly refer to all trees on
earth.)
○ There are many flowers in the garden. (Here it is commonly
referred to all types of flowers.)
 Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is a noun for something that is intangible. It cannot be
seen but it exists like ideas, qualities, and conditions.

Examples of Abstract Noun:

○ Please speak the truth. (Here truth cannot be seen but exists.)
○ What an idea! (Here the idea cannot be seen but exists.)

Article for Abstract Noun

Normally no article is used before an Abstract Noun.

 Concrete Nouns
A concrete noun is a noun for something tangible. It is exactly the
opposite of the Abstract Noun. So, it refers to everything that we can
see and touch physically.

Examples of Concrete Noun:

○ We cannot see air. (Here air cannot be seen but its existence is
proved physically. Hence, it is a concrete noun)
○ Pass me the salt, please. (Salt is a concrete noun.)
 Countable Nouns
The noun that can be counted to represent a definite number is called
Countable Noun/ Finite Noun. Countable nouns need an article in prefix: a,
an, the.

Examples of Countable Noun or Finite Noun:

○ There are three mangoes in the basket. (Here mangoes can be
counted to a finite number three)
○ There are 1000 rupees in the purse. (Here thousand rupees is a
definite amount)
 Singular and Plural Nouns
Exception and special cases

Foreign Words Some Collective

Erratum- Errata, Nouns
Hypothesis- Hypotheses —Team, Committee,
F Compound Words—Son-in-Law Jury, etc. are
1 form of plural— Brothers/Brethren (a Singular /Plural
member of the same society); according to context
Many fish/Fishes (different variety of Different meaning in
fish) the plural—
>1 meaning for same plural—Quarters ‘Kindnesses’ is plural
may be plural of quarter i.e. fourth parts, but is not plural
or it may mean living place. These of kindness;
rather plural of the
act of kindness;
‘woods’ is plural but
means forest The
letter, nos., symbols
are made plural by
 Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable Noun/ Infinite Noun are nouns that cannot be counted to

represent a definite number. Uncountable Noun/ Infinite Noun is exactly
opposite to Countable Noun/ Finite Noun.

Examples of Uncountable Noun or Infinite Noun:

○ The seawater is blue in colour. (Here, seawater cannot be counted).
○ We can see stars at night. (There are infinite stars in the sky.) Abstract
nouns and Proper nouns are always uncountable nouns. Common nouns
and Concrete nouns can be either countable and uncountable nouns.
 Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a word that refers to a group of things, people, or
animals, etc. Collective nouns can be plural or singular.

Examples:
○ A bevy of girls (Here, bevy refers to a group of girl).
○ The classroom is full of students. (Here classroom is a singular term
used to refer to a group of students.
Usually, a collective noun is used as a singular. They can be used as
plural if there is a division among the members of the collective noun or
the members are being talked about.
 Collective Nouns
Example of plural collective noun:
● The jury were divided on the verdict.
● The jury unanimously gave the verdict there was no division.
● The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
● Our class took a field trip to the natural history museum.
● The herd of bison ran across the prairie, leaving a massive dust
cloud in its wake.
● We waited anxiously for the jury to come to a verdict.
● This year’s basketball team includes three players who are over
six feet tall.
 Collective Nouns
EXCEPTION:
Example:
The jury was divided in their opinion.—WRONG
The jury were divided in their opinion.—CORRECT
‘Were’ is used because individual members of the jury all have a different opinion
which is why they are divided in their opinions. Since everyone in the group is being
considered as an individual, we can’t take the group as a single unit. So the noun will
take the plural form of the verb with it.
Example:
The team have not arrived yet.—WRONG
The team has not arrived yet.—CORRECT
Here the team is all arriving together as a single unit. There is no individual being
considered here. So it will take the singular form of the verb with it.
 Frequently Used Collective Nouns:
○ A band of musicians.
○ A board of directors, etc.
○ A bevy of girls, women, officers etc.
○ A bunch of grapes, keys, etc.
○ A bundle of sticks and hay.
○ A caravan of merchants, pilgrims, travellers.
○ A chain/range of mountains or hills.
○ A choir of singers.
○ A class of students.
○ A retinue of servants/ attendants.
○ A fleet of ships or motorcars.
○ A flock of geese, sheep and birds.
○ A gang of robbers, labourers.
Frequently Used Collective Nouns:
○ A garland/bunch/bouquet of flowers.
○ A heap of ruins, sand, stones.
○ A herd of cattle.
○ A litter of puppies.
○ A pack of hounds, cards.
○ A pair of shoes, scissors, compasses, trousers.
○ A series of events.
○ A sheaf of corn, arrows.
○ A swarm of ants, bees or flies.
○ A train of carriages, followers etc.
○ A troop of horses (cavalry) scouts; etc.
○ A volley of shots, bullets
○ A forum of people (discussing issues)
○ A congregation of people (discussing religious issues)
 Compound Nouns
Sometimes we have to combine two or more words to create a new word
of compound nature. They are also called idiomatic compound nouns.
These compound nouns behave as a single unit to convey the unit.

Example:
○ This toy is for five-year-olds. (Here, five-year-olds is not a legitimate
word but a group of three words conveying the same meaning.)
○ She is my daughter-in-law. (Here, the daughter-in-law is a compound
noun).
 Compound Nouns
Nouns and Prepositions

Noun + Preposition + Noun – This Will be followed by a

singular verb.
Example:
○ Town after town was devastated.
○ Row upon row of marble looks beautiful.
○ He enquired from door to door.
○ Ship after ship is arriving.
 Possessive Nouns
Itdenotes possession of a thing and is used in a limited manner for living beings or
personified objects, stereotyped phrases and nouns of space or time denoting an amount
of something.

Use of Apostrophe to express Possessiveness

Use apostrophe twice, once with each possessive noun, when individual possession is to
be shown and once with later when joint possession is to be shown.

Example:
○ Shyam’s bat and Ram’s ball is needed to start the game.
○ Karan and Arjun’s brotherhood will be remembered till eternity.
○ For goodness’s sake take this wet towel out of the room.
○ This is my friend, Rahul’s car.
 Singular and Plural Nouns
Nouns are categorized on the basis of numbers. Singular and Plural refer to the
number of nouns. Singular refers to one entity. Plural refers to more than one. (Two or two
onwards is plural). There are certain words whose meaning changes when “s” or “es” is added to
them.
Singular and plural distinct Singular and plural not distinct

Different Words Same Words Only Singular Only Plural

Apple—Apples A Sheep—Many News, Mathematics, Trousers, Scissors,

Story—Stories Sheep A Deer— Politics, Innings, Spectacles, Measles,
Man—Men Many Deer A Fish Riches, Alms, Advice, Assets, Poultry,
Wolf—Wolves —Many Fish Etc. Air, Wood, People, Cattle, Police,
Quarter— Accommodation Etc.
Quarters Etc. (collective nouns and
uncountable nouns)
Etc.