As we already know, nouns are naming words. A noun is the name of a person (John), place (Florida), animal (dog), or thing (cup). Here are some more examples:
But do we know that nouns can be of different types/categories?
Nouns can be classified into five broad categories: Proper nouns, Common nouns, Collective nouns, Concrete nouns, and Abstract nouns
Nouns can also be classified into two categories based on their countability: Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Nouns can also be classified into four categories based on gender: Masculine, Feminine, Common, and Neuter.
A proper noun is the name of a particular person or thing, i.e. a name used for an individual person or place, river, or mountain, etc. Examples:
John, National Gallery of Art, Alaska, Mississippi River, Mount Ripinski
A common noun refers to any and every person or thing of the same kind or class, not to a particular person or thing. Examples:
cow, dog, girl, boy, man, woman, tree, restaurant, toy, drink, city, shoe, chocolate, movie
A collective noun is the name of a collection, group of people or things of the same kind. Examples:
class, team, government, jury, federation, crew, staff, crowd, choir
Concrete nouns are places, people or things that we can experience with our five senses (taste, touch, sight, hearing, or smell). Examples:
milk, lemon, ball, book, cat, dog, water, tea, plane, ocean, nose, frog, teacher, salt,
An abstract noun is the name of a quality, state, or concept. Examples:
beauty, childhood, love, idea, freedom, ability, speed, coldness, appetite, joy, luxury, comfort, patience
Abstract nouns are the names of qualities found in various kinds of objects. Since they have no material form, they cannot be seen or touched. We can know of them only through our mind:
Concrete nouns: sugar, book, milk
Abstract nouns: sweetness, hatred, fear
We can see sugar but cannot see sweetness, so sugar is a concrete noun and sweetness an abstract noun. In short, concrete nouns refer to physical properties and abstract nouns to mental properties.
Anything that can be counted, whether singular – a dog, a house, a friend, etc. or plural – a few books, lots of oranges, etc. is a countable noun. Countable nouns can be singular or plural.
Singular nouns indicate one person, place, animal or thing.
Example: brother, mother, father, house, toy
Plural nouns indicate more than one person, place, animal or thing.
Example: toys, tables, houses, brothers, candies, sticks
Nouns that cannot be counted are called uncountable nouns.
Examples: milk, water, ink, sugar, butter
In general, a noun used in answer to the question ‘how much?’ is an uncountable noun. When we want to refer to the quantity of these items we use values of measurement which are countable.
Example:
How much milk do you need? We need a liter of milk.
Note: Material nouns and abstract nouns are uncountable.
Nouns may be of the masculine, the feminine, neuter and common gender.
A noun denoting a male being is of the masculine gender.
Examples: Joseph, boy, cockerel, buck, brother, father, uncle
A noun denoting a female being is of the feminine gender.
Examples: Julia, girl, hen, waitress, maid, doe, spinster, matron, aunt
A noun denoting a thing without animal life is of the neuter gender.
Examples: pencil, light, water, star, book, dust, leaf
A noun that is sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine is often said to be of common gender.
Examples: bird, speaker, artist, animal, cat, European, musician, operator
