Definition of noun and types of nouns


In this article, I am discussing the definition of noun and its kinds. The different types of nouns are proper noun, common noun, abstract noun, collective noun, and count and mass noun etc. The examples for each type of nouns are also cited. Students can clearly understand the concepts of nouns when they are cited with examples.

A noun is the name of a person, place, animal or a thing. It is also a word that refers to the quality or an idea. It is a word derived from the meaning 'name'. The following are the types of nouns. In schools, the students study the following types of nouns.

Types of nouns


Proper noun

A proper noun is a name of a person, place, animal or a thing. It states particularly about a person, place, animal or a thing. It always starts with a capital letter. Following are the examples of a proper noun.
a. Rosy is one of the best singers in the class.

In this sentence, Rosy is a proper noun because it is the name of a girl who sings.

b. The capital city of India is New Delhi.

In this sentence, India is the name of a nation and hence it is a Proper noun. New Delhi is also a proper noun because it is the name of a place.

Common Noun

The words that refer to any person, place, animal or a thing is known as a common noun. They are also generally referred to any person, place, animal or a thing.

For eg.

a. A girl went to school on a school bus.

In this sentence, you can find three common nouns namely girl, school and school bus. A girl is a common noun because her name is not specified. School is also a common noun because we do not know the school's name. The school bus is also a common noun because we do not know about the service providers of the bus or the school's name.

b. A boy ate the tasty bread prepared by his grandmother.

Collective noun

It refers to a group of persons, places, animals or things. It is used as a singular noun or in a plural form.

In this sentence, the word boy, bread, and grandmother are referred to as common nouns. We do not know the boy's name. Bread is also a common noun because we do not know the type of bread. A Grandmother is also a common noun because we do not know the grandmother's name.

c. A dog ran away and caught the limbs of the little boy.

In this sentence, the dog's name is not mentioned. Limbs is also a common noun in this sentence because we do not know which dog's limbs. The boy is also a common noun in the sentence because we specifically do not know about the boy.

Abstract noun

It refers to ideas, feelings and thoughts of an individual. Although they are not visible, they exist in some form. Examples of the abstract noun are happiness, sadness, joy, darkness, pain, etc.

Collective noun

It refers to a group of persons, places, animals or things. It is used in a singular form or plural form. Examples of the collective noun are a herd, staff, family, flock, etc.

Mass or Count noun

The mass noun refers to the persons, places, animals or things that can be counted. For eg, books, two dogs, three flowers, girls in the classroom etc. Mass noun refer to the persons, animals or things that cannot be counted. Examples of mass nouns are information, steel, pollution etc.


Comments

Author: Dr. Sanchita Ranjan30 Nov 2020 Member Level: Gold   Points : 2

Very useful article written by the author.

This article remind us our school days. when I was in school that time our teacher also used to clarify this topic in same way. Indeed, this article helps in understanding English grammar.
Noun is a word that derived from the name something such as person, place or thing. In a sentences, noun can play different role as subject, object or subject complement. There are different kind of noun which was already discussed by the author very nicely.

Author: Umesh16 Dec 2020 Member Level: Diamond   Points : 3

I would like to add some more information here about nouns.
There are some nouns which are not countable and can be categorised under the category called non-countable nouns. For example food, water, air etc. There are also some nouns which are very tangible in their forms and knows as concrete nouns. Example of concrete nouns is cloud, tree, hill etc.
Further, we have some nouns which are derived from the verb but are qualified by an adjective. These are known as verbal nouns. For example - A good drawing. Here 'drawing' is a noun. Then, there are some nouns which are gender-specific. For example - Queen. So, there are quite a number of noun forms used by the writers in those specific manners.



  • Do not include your name, "with regards" etc in the comment. Write detailed comment, relevant to the topic.
  • No HTML formatting and links to other web sites are allowed.
  • This is a strictly moderated site. Absolutely no spam allowed.
  • Name:
    Email: