English Grammar Refresher – Noun
A noun is a word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.
Noun Clause: A noun clause is a group of words containing a subject and a verb and acts as a noun. Thus it can do anything that a noun can do.
e.g.
Sarah can invite whomever she chooses.
Do you know what time it is?.
Noun Phrase: A noun phrase consists of a noun or pronoun, which is called the head, and any dependent words before or after the head. Dependent words give specific information about the head.
e.g.
The spotted puppy is up for adoption.
Our decision to get married was celebrated by all our friends.
Types of Nouns
Nouns can be grouped into following different categories:
I. Proper Noun
A proper noun, which names a specific person, place or thing.
e.g.
Sarah, Bill Gates, Australia, Delhi, Malaysia, Sanskrit, Hinduism, Buddhism
Proper nouns are always written with a capital letter at the beginning.
II. Common Noun
Common nouns are the general terms/names we use to refer to one of a class of a person, place, or thing (girl, animal, car); things that usually are not capitalized.
III. Countable Noun
Countable nouns, which name anything that can be counted (six boys, seven cars, a few oranges, a dozen balls). They have both singular and plural forms (e.g. cat/cats; woman/women; country/countries). These nouns can be preceded by a number or the determiners “a” or “an”. They can also be paired with modifiers, or quantifiers, like “many” or “fewer.”
e.g.
She has three dogs.
I own a house.
I would like two books please.
How many friends do you have?
IV. Uncountable Noun
Uncountable nouns, which name something that can’t be counted (water, air, information, furniture);
We use uncountable nouns to talk about things we think of as a mass, rather than countable individual things. We use them with singular verbs. It may not be immediately obvious whether nouns are countable or uncountable, and some uncountable nouns in English are countable in other languages.
These nouns will never be preceded by the determiners “a” or “an”. Rather, they’re paired with an array of modifiers like “some,” “a lot of” or “much”.
e.g.
He’s done a lot of research on the subject.
There isn’t much air in this room.
Be careful with the noun hair which is normally uncountable in English, so it is not used in the plural. It can be countable only when referring to individual hairs.
e.g.
I washed my hair yesterday.
My father is getting a few grey hairs now. (refers to individual hairs)
I found a hair in my soup! (refers to a single strand of hair)
V. Collective Noun
Nouns that refer to a group of individual people or animals, and which in the singular can take either a singular or plural verb: flock, army, audience, committee, family, herd, majority, parliament etc.
The choice of singular or plural verb — and corresponding pronouns and determiners — depends on whether the group is considered as a single unit or a collection of individuals.
e.g.
The audience, which was a large one, was in its place by 7 pm.
The audience, who were all waving their arms above their heads, were clearly enjoying themselves.
The use of a plural verb with a grammatically singular noun of this type is common in British English than in American. But even when followed by a plural verb, such a noun still takes a singular determiner.
e.g.
This family are all accomplished musicians.
VI. Abstract Noun
Abstract nouns that denote an action, idea, quality or state: love, warmth, fun, luck. Your five senses cannot detect this group of nouns: you cannot see them, cannot hear them, cannot smell them, cannot taste them, and cannot feel them.
e.g.
Her love for books is admirable.
His intelligence is boundless.
VII. Concrete Noun
A concrete noun is simply a person, place or thing that is experienced through one or more of your five senses.
e.g.
aromas (plural)
flower (common)
music (uncountable)
VIII. Plural Noun
This is a small group of nouns that are always plural, such as trousers, boxers, headphones, belongings.
These nouns do not exist in the singular form and are usually described as “plural-only nouns”. We use them with plural verbs and plural pronouns.
e.g.
My trousers are dirty. I need to wash them.
Many plural-only nouns are tools or items of clothing that have two parts (like trousers, which have two legs). And because they have two parts, we can refer to them as “pair of” or “pairs of” to quantify them.
e.g.
I need a new pair of sunglasses.
You can get rid of that old pair of headphones.
I’d like to buy one pair of boxers and two pairs of jeans.
IX. Possessive Noun
In grammar, possession shows ownership. These are the rules to create possessive nouns:
1. With singular nouns, add an apostrophe and an s.
e.g.
The boy’s ball (one boy)
2. With plural nouns ending in s, add an apostrophe after the s.
e.g.
The boys’ ball (two or more boys)
3. With plural nouns not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.
e.g.
Women’s clothes
Children’s toys
