What is a noun?

            It is a word (Part of speech) used to name people, animals, places, objects, and ideas even. Nouns have different roles in a sentence. They can be subjects, objects (direct / indirect), complements (for subjects / objects. They can also function as Adjectives and adverbs.

Examples:

• People – Tom, John, Amine, Muhammad, Ariel, Gabriel.. etc
• Places – Paris, France, Germany, Netherlands, Algeria, Czech Republic... etc
• Animals ( of all sorts) – Snake, Ostrich, Flamingo, Shark, Tiger …
• Ideas – Evolution, Invention, Argument, Destruction… etc
• Objects/Things – Bat, Paper, Bag, Blackboard, Cup … etc

 

Names can be classified depending on their references (types and subtypes):

1.       Proper Nouns: These are nouns used to refer to a person, place or thing in particular. Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.

Ex:

• My name is Robert. (particular person)
• This is my dog, Black. (specific pet animal)
• Karim came back from Hamburg. (specific place)
• Nike is a famous clothing brand. (particular brand)

 

2.      Common Nouns are nouns that refer to a “generic” item, group or place. This means that, unlike proper nouns, they are not used to identify “specific” people, places or objects. They are not capitalized unless the sentence starts with them.

Common nouns can be divided, furthermore into subtypes:

Ø  Concrete nouns: these are words that are used to refer to objects that are material and can be identified and perceived with the human senses.

o   The book is on the counter

o   The watch is on my wrist

Ø  Abstract nouns: these words are quite the opposite of concrete nouns. These are words that we know exist but cannot perceive or identify by the senses.

o   Honesty is the purest form of love

o   Freedom is a choice

Ø  Collective nouns: these are words used to name/ refer to a group  of animals, objects/ items, or people.

• Collective nouns for groups of animals

·         A pride of lions

·         A flock/ herd of sheep

·         A swarm of bees

                        Collective nouns for groups of people

·         A band of musicians

·         A board of directors

·         A company of actors

                        Collective nouns for a number of things/objects

·         A chain of mountains

·         A fleet of ships

·         A bunch of grapes

 

Regarding numbers, nouns can be singular and plural:

v  Singular nouns: words used to refer to one person, object, idea…

o   I invited a friend.

o   This is my son

v  Plural nouns: these are words used to refer to a number of people, places, animals or things. The plural form may change (sometimes we add an “s” to the root, and sometimes the word changes or remains the same which makes it irregular).

 

Rule  (EXCEPTIONS EXIST)	Example (Singular)	Example (Plural)
1. Add -s to most nouns	dog	dogs
2. Add -es to nouns ending in -s, -x, -z, -sh, or -ch	box	boxes
3. Change -y to -ies for nouns ending in consonant + y	baby	babies
4. Add -s for nouns ending in a vowel + y	key	keys
5. Irregular plurals (change vowels or other forms)	man	men
6. Add -ves for nouns ending in -f or -fe (exceptions exist)	wife	wives
7. Nouns that do not change in plural form	deer	deer
8. Add -s to nouns ending in -o (exceptions may add -es)	photo	photos
9. Some foreign nouns follow unique plural rules	cactus	cacti
10. Add -s to compound nouns	mother-in-law	mothers-in-law

11. Add –es to nouns ending in consonant + O                Hero                         Heroes     

 

 

 

 

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Nouns can also be divided into countable and uncountable. A countable noun is used to refer to nouns that can literally be counted (one, two …etc). The number or quantity of countable nouns can be quoted exactly. To see if a noun is countable, we can simply ask the question ‘how many?”. It is also defined by Collins Dictionary as “a noun which has a singular and a plural form and is always used after a determiner in the singular”

 

Examples:

A hand-àHands (one hand, two hands …)

A plane-à Planes ( one plane, five  planes)

A phantom--à Phantoms (one phantom, two phantoms.. etc)

An Ox--à  Oxen (one ox, two oxen, … )

 

An uncountable noun, on the other hand, refers to nouns that do not have a specific quantity, no plural form and which answer the question ‘how much?”. These nouns can be used sometimes without a determiner (a/ an)

Uncountable nouns can be divided into three subtypes

·         Intangible concepts (abstract nouns) : information- wealth- 

·         Groups of things that are considered as a whole: jewelry; equipment; working-class (AND NOT COLLECTIVE NOUNS).

·         homogeneous physical substances: Milk; Water; Air ..ETC

These words may seem to be singular but, as explained they are never used with articles like a/ an and they are never counted unless mentioned with a countable noun like:  piece (of), set (of)."