The Noun

1.1 Definition
A noun is the name of anything that may be the subject of discourse. Hence the noun is the naming word
it is a little difficult to define the limits of this art of speech. Generally, the different parts of speech are
marked off by formal criteria.
Traditionally, the noun is a term used in grammatical classification to denote that pat of speech largely
defining objects; more specifically:
-beings: man, child, cat, hen, etc.
-plants: rose, oak, barley, etc.
-actions/processes: reading, writing, work, explanation etc.
-states: silence, enthusiasm, fear, health etc.
-qualities/non-qualities: kindness, beuty, rudeness etc.
-abstract notions: time freedom, consciousness etc.
The chief criteria, by which nouns as such are distinguished from other parts of speech, are the formation
of the plural by means of the ending –s and the formation of the genitive in ‘s. neither of these criteria is
absolute and applicable to all nouns; there are nouns which form no plural, and there are a great many
nouns from which the genitive is never formed.
Another criterion is the capability of taking an (adjective) adjunct. Especially when a word can take one
of the articles the and a before, we seldom hesitate to reckon it among nouns.
If we make the content a criterion, other difficulties appear; here the chief distinction between nouns and
adjectives is, of course, that the former have an association of substance while the latest have an
association of quality.
As a conclusion all three criteria must be taken into consideration when we want to point the limits of this
part of speech.
A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. Nouns are usually the
first words which small children learn. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all nouns:
Late last year our neighbours bought a goat.
Portia White was an opera singer.
The bus inspector looked at all the passengers’ passes.
According to Plutarch, the library at Alexandria was destroyed in 48 B.C.
Philosophy is of little comfort to the starving.
There are many different types of nouns. As you know, you capitalize some nouns, such as “Canada” or
“Louise”, and do not capitalize others, such as “badger” or ”tree” (unless they appear at the beginning of
a sentence). In fact, grammarian have developed a whole series of noun types, including the proper noun,
the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun (also called the count noun),
the non-countable noun ( also called the mass noun), and the collective noun. You should note that a noun
will belong to more than one type: it will be proper or common, abstract or concrete, A noun is a word
used to describe a person, place, thing, event, idea, and so on. Nouns represent one of the main elements
of sentences, along with verbs, adjectives, prepositions and articles.

A noun can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be "counted", they have a singular and
plural form .

For example:

 A book, two books, three books .....

Uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns or noncount nouns) cannot be counted, they are not seperate
objects. This means you cannot make them plural by adding -s, because they only have a singular form. It
also means that they do not take a/an or a number in front of them.

For example:

 Water
 Work
  Information
 Coffee

Making uncountable nouns countable

You can make most uncountable noun countable by putting a countable expression in front of the noun.

For example:-

 A piece of information.
 2 glasses of water.
 10 litres of coffee.
 Three grains of sand.
 A pane of glass.

 Here is a list with the different types of nouns:

 1. Proper nouns

 Used to describe a unique person or thing, proper nouns always start with a capital letter.
Examples include Mary, India, and Manchester United.

 2. Common nouns

 Common nouns are used to describe persons or things in general. Examples include girl, country,
and team

 3. Concrete nouns

 Nouns that can be perceived through the five senses are called concrete nouns. Examples include
ball, rainbow and melody.

 4. Abstract nouns

 Nouns that cannot be perceived through the five senses are called abstract nouns. Examples
include love, courage, and childhood.

 5. Countable nouns

Countable nouns can be counted. They also have both a singular and a plural form. Examples
include toys, children and books.

 6. Non-countable nouns

 These nouns (usually) can not be counted, and they don’t have a plural form. Examples include
sympathy, laughter and oxygen.

 7. Collective nouns

 Collective nouns are used to describe groups of things. Examples include flock, committee and
murder.
Possessive Nouns

In the possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely related to
something else. Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the
letter "s."

You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and
"s," as in the following sentences:

The red suitcase is Cassandra's.

The miner's face was covered in coal dust.

You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by
adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following examples:

The bus's seats are very uncomfortable.

The bus' seats are very uncomfortable.

The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.

The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs.

You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a
"s," as in the following examples:

The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.

The sheep's pen was mucked out every day.

You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe:

The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.

The janitors' room is downstairs and to the left.

Using Possessive Nouns

When you read the following sentences, you will notice that a noun in the possessive case frequently
functions as an adjective modifying another noun:

The miner's face was covered in coal dust.

Here the possessive noun "miner's" is used to modify the noun "face" and together with the article "the,"
they make up the noun phrase that is the sentence's subject.

The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.

In this sentence, each possessive noun modifies a gerund. The possessive noun "dogs"' modifies
"barking," "ducks"' modifies "quacking," and "babies"' modifies "squalling."

The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.

My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.

In this sentence the possessive noun "squirrels"' is used to modify the noun "nest" and the noun phrase
"the squirrels' nest" is the object of the infinitive phrase "to locate."