The Noun

The Noun

          Words are divided into different kinds or classes, according to their use; according to their work they do in a sentence. They are called Parts of Speech. They are eight in a number.  Noun is one of the parts of speech. Let’s discuss about ‘the Noun’ in detailed.  

“A word that is used to name

a person, place, thing or idea

is defined as a noun”

          Nouns are used for naming anything. They indicate the name of a thing, place or an idea. e.g. Poet, Tagore, team, sun, sorrow, student, ice etc. The nouns in the following sentences are underlined.  

1. Vinayak is a clever boy.

2. Delhi is the capital of India.

3. There is a beautiful picture in wall.

4. Knowledge brings wisdom.

          Broadly nouns can be classified in two major types.

           “A proper noun is the name of some particular person or thing”. e.g. Tagore, Keats, Shelly, Sachin, America, Delhi, Vinayak, Emily are examples of proper nouns. They are always written with a capital letter at the beginning. Proper nouns are sometimes used as Common Nouns.          e.g.

Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India. Here Shakespeare=the greatest dramatists.

          “A common noun is a name given in a common to every person, or thing of the same class or kind.” Ex: boy, woman, teacher, officer, poet, dramatist. Common nouns are not particular. They are classified as follow.

Group Noun: Crowd, mob, team, herd, army,

Countable Noun: student, book, table, pen, man,

Mass Noun: milk, rice, ice, tea, oxygen,

Abstract Noun: freedom, joy, sorrow, love, death, beauty.

Concrete Noun: room, table, chair, tree. Let’s discuss other kind of noun.

Group Noun:

          “A Group noun is a group, set and class which refer to a set of objects. They are the name of collection of things or persons A crowd-a collection of people. Cattle-a collection of soldiers.

          Like other count noun, group nouns may be singular/plural.

1. a set of tools. 2. two sets of tools. 1. a class of insects, 2. several classes of insects.

          They refer to a group of people having a special relationship with one another, or brought together for a particular reason. family’, ‘committee’, ‘government’, ‘administration’, ‘team’ etc.

1. The police dispersed the crowd. 2. The Indian army is winner of Kirgil Fight.

Count and Mass Noun:

          “A countable noun is the name of a thing that can be counted or divided into singular or plural.” e.g. student, book, table, pen, man are examples of count noun.

          “An uncountable noun is the name of a thing that cannot be counted” An uncountable noun is also called mass noun. They typically refer to substances.

(1) Solid: butter, wood, rock, iron,  (2) Liquid: oil, water, milk, (3) Gas: smoke, air, oxygen.

          It is also divided into separate ‘pieces’ is to measure it off into length, weight etc.

Depth: a foot of water Length: a yard of cloth Area: an acre of land. Volume: a quart of milk

Noun which Can be both count & Mass:-

          Quite a number of nouns can be both count and mass. Noun ‘Wood’ is count when it refers to a collection of trees and mass when it refers to the material of which trees are composed.  e.g.

1. We went for a walk in the woods.(forest). 2. In America many of the houses are made of wood

           In other cases, English has a separate count noun and a separate mass noun referring to the same area of meaning.1. Do you have a fresh apple? –Count  2. Do you have some fresh fruits? 

          My food nouns are count when they refer to the article in its whole state but are mass when they refer to food in the meaning.

1. as eaten at table. (Mass)  2. She began pending potatoes.

 Abstract and Concrete Noun:-

           An abstract noun is the name of a quality, action or state.

(1) Quality:- goodness, kindness, whiteness, honesty,

     (2) Action:- judgement, hatred, movement.  (3)  State:- childhood, youth,  sleep, death.

          Just like concrete nouns, abstract nouns combine with part nouns, unit nouns, species nouns, and measure nouns and can be either count or mass, even though these notions can not be understood in a physical sense.

1. Honesty is the best policy. 2. Love is an image of God.

 A concrete noun is the name of a thing that can be touched or seen. E.g. room, table, chair, tree.

Amount Words:-

          Amount words or quantifiers denote the amount or quantity either, much, many, more, most, enough, several, a little, few, less, least etc. The most common quantifiers are described through the following scale.. some, any, every, each, all, both,

The noun; Gender:-  

          Gender is the classification of people or thing according to sex. In English language genders are of four kinds.

Masculine Gender denotes the male sex. e.g.  e.g. boy, father, brother, dog, king, author son

Feminine Gender denotes the female sex.  e.g. girl, sister, mother, wife, mare, bees, lady,

Common Gender denotes both male and female sex e.g. parent, child, pupil, thief, baby.

Neuter Gender denotes neither male nor female sex.  e.g. book, pen, pencil, table, house,