Today is our topic of discussion – Noun and kinds
Noun and kinds
Definition of noun
A noun refers to the name of a person, place, thing, or idea.
Man, Ritu, Rahim, Dhaka College, house, happiness, friendship, etc. are the examples of noun. As-
Ritu is a good girl.
Here, Ritu refers to a name. This is a noun.
A noun is a word for a person, place, thing, or idea. In most cases nouns are used with an article (the, a, an), but not always. The functions of nouns in a sentence are versatile: for example, a noun can work as a subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, or object of a preposition. Nouns can be singular or plural, concrete or abstract.
The young boy brought me a very soft chair from his house, and then he quickly disappeared. Oh my God!
In this sentence -boy, chair, house refer to names of different kinds or things. They are nouns.
Classification of nouns
There are many types of nouns. Some most used nouns are –
Common nouns
Common nouns refer to general, unspecific categories. So, while “Dhaka” is a proper noun because it names a specific city, city is a common noun because it can refer to any city. While “Dhaka College” refers to a particular place of higher learning, the common noun college can refer to any college of that type. As-
Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh.
Dhaka College is one of the most famous colleges in Bangladesh. Here, city and colleges are the examples of common noun.
Proper nouns
Proper nouns are nouns that refer to specific people, places or things. Proper nouns like Rahim, Ritu or Jamuna are capitalized to show their distinction from common nouns, such as “man”, “woman” or “river”. Proper nouns start with a capital letter while the other nouns do not. As-
Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh.
Dhaka College is one of the most famous colleges in Bangladesh. Here, Dhaka and Dhaka College are the examples of proper noun.
Concrete nouns
Concrete nouns refer to things that exist physically and can be touched, seen, smelled, felt, or tasted that means concrete nouns can be perceived by at least one of our five senses. As-
I can hold the cat.
Honey tastes sweet.
Here, cat and honey are the examples of concrete noun.
Abstract nouns
The name ‘Abstract’ refers to something which is not material or concrete, which cannot be touched physically or eaten or smelt, which can only be felt and abstract nouns refer to them. The things which are classified as Abstract Nouns are – theoretical concepts, qualities, ideas. conditions like love, hate, anger, hate, power, time, etc. As-
All the world needs are love and peace.
Asif hates his new hostel.
Here, love, peace and hates are the examples of abstract noun.
Collective nouns
Collective nouns are nouns that refer to a group of something in particular. Often, Collective Nouns are used to refer to groups of animals. Consider the following sentences. As –
Look at that gaggle of geese.
There used to be herds of wild buffalo on the prairie.
Here, gaggle of geese and herds are the examples of collective noun.
Compound nouns
The word ‘compound’ refers to something plural or added. A compound noun refers to two or more words that join together to make a single noun. Compound nouns can be two words written as one (closed form), such as softball and toothpaste; words that are hyphenated (hyphenated form), such as six-pack and son-in-law; or separate words (open form), such as post office and upper class that go together by meaning. As-
Every parent is a superhero.
Use your old toothbrush to clean the comb. Here, superhero and toothbrush are the examples of compound noun.
Countable nouns
Countable nouns refer to nouns which can be counted. Countable nouns can be used in both single and plural forms, can be modified by numbers, and can co-occur with quantifying determiners, such as many, most, more, several etc.
For example, the noun car is a countable noun. As-
There is a car in that showroom.
In this example, the word car is singular because it refers to one car that is in a particular showroom. However, car can also take the plural form. As-
There are six cars in that showroom.
In this example, the plural noun “cars” refers to more than one car because it is being
modified by a particular number ‘six’.
In addition, countable nouns can be used with determiners like “several” rather than a number. As –
In that showroom, there are several cars.
Uncountable nouns
On the other hand, uncountable nouns refer to nouns which are not countable. They are uncountable, non-countable or mass nouns. For example, the word clutter is an uncountable noun. As –
The garage is full of clutter.
This sentence makes grammatical sense. However, the following example does not. That garage is full of clutters.
Uncountable nouns usually cannot take plural forms. Therefore. “clutters” is not grammatically correct.
Liquids and powders are among the items that are considered Mass Nouns, such as milk, rice, wood, sand, water and flour. Other more abstract examples that cannot be counted would be air, freedom or intelligence. As-
Give me some water.
Material nouns
Material nouns refer to materials or substances from which things are made. As – gold. Gold is an adjective when used in “Gold earring.” However, gold is a material noun when used to describe the metal. As-
Gold can be found from some rivers. Here, Gold is the example of material noun.
Possessive nouns
Possessive nouns refer to ownership over something else. They can be easily found if there is an apostrophe. These nouns are demonstrating ownership, but they’re also still persons, places, or things. As-
Ritu’s phone is not working.
Bangladesh’s beauty is truly breathtaking.
Here, the apostrophes after Ritu (Ritu’s) and Bangladesh (Bangladesh’s beauty) indicate possessive nouns.