Nouns

Nouns are simply the names we give to everything around us, whether it be a person, an event, a place or an object, etc. Every particular name used to define something is a noun. E.g. : Amsterdam, Anita, Blackberry, Honesty, Waiter, etc.

The names given to a group of noun to identify them as a whole are called Collective Nouns. E.g.: pride of lions, gaggle of geese etc.

Nouns or pronouns can also modify themselves to show possession of another noun, usually by attaching 's' to the end of the noun. These nouns that show possession are called Possessive Nouns.

Sometimes nouns have different forms for different genders, although this practice has been largely abandoned by the people who prefer to use the same noun for both genders. For example - Actor (male) - Actress (female), but people nowadays refer to women who act as female actors rather than actresses.

Most nouns can be converted into plural forms by adding ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ at the end of the word. E.g.: box-boxes, cat-cats, echo-echoes , etc.

But some nouns require the last consonant to be modified before adding ‘-es’. For example: the ‘Y’ in ‘city’ changes to ‘I’ to form cities, kitty to kitties and ‘f’ to ‘v’ in dwarf to dwarves, wharf to wharves, etc.

Some nouns become plurals irregularly by changing the entire word: mouse- mice, ox - oxen, etc.

Grammarians have divided nouns into different categories based on their use and purpose. Learning these divisions within the nouns will help in sentence construction and vocabulary. The different types of Nouns are -

PROPER NOUNS

These nouns are the names of specific people and places. These nouns also refer to the names of the days of weeks and months, and also the various names for religions, organizations, institutions, etc. Proper nouns basically refer to the names that are specific to that particular noun. These nouns are always capitalised as they need to be distinct from other nouns.

• - William Shakespeare was a playwright. - Proper noun that is the name of a specific person.
• - I will be visiting New York next month. - Proper noun that is the name of a specific place.
• - Everyone dislikes Monday mornings. - The names of days are proper nouns.
• - The holy book of Islam is the Koran. - Name of a religion and religious text.

COMMON NOUNS

These are the nouns that are used to denote a general category of people, places or things. They are capitalized only when they are at the beginning of a sentence. Common Nouns don’t refer to something specific rather they are a general term used for every noun of a particular kind or type.

• - The boys went to play cricket. - Both boys and cricket are common nouns as they can refer to any boy or any cricket match. There is nothing specified by these nouns.
• - This neighbourhood is one of the best in the area. - Here neighbourhood is the common noun as there are innumerable neighbourhoods all over the world.
• - She was trying to answer her phone while buying coffee. - Here we see phone and coffee that both are general indicators of the object and the drink.

ABSTRACT NOUNS

These nouns are the names of things that we cannot perceive through our five senses of touching, smelling, seeing, hearing and tasting. These nouns can also refer to medical conditions related to the mind and are also used to express thoughts.

• - She screamed with great delight. - Delight is an abstract noun as it tells about the state of a person’s mind and any actual physical thing.
• - His bravery in the war won him a medal. - The abstract noun bravery is used to name the motivation behind certain actions made by people.
• - One should learn to be as independent as possible. – Here, independentdescribes a state or a way of being, hence it is an abstract noun.

COUNTABLE NOUNS

The nouns that fall under this category are the ones that have both singular and plural forms. They can be counted either relatively or completely, and form plurals to associate with plural verbs in a sentence. They can also be expressed in numerical terms

• - I need to buy four new suitcases for my trip. - Suitcase (s) is a countable noun as adding ‘s’ to it makes it plural.
• - Does anyone want some oranges? - Here some is being used to count the noun orange(s).
• - She had a pet dog. - Dog is also a countable noun as its plural is dogs.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

These nouns are the exact opposite of Countable Nouns. These nouns are the names of things that cannot be counted and have only a singular form. These nouns use singular verbs in a sentence.

• - The furniture was damaged in moving out. - Furniture is an uncountable noun and therefore, we use the singular ‘was’ in referring to it.
• - Is 250gms of sugar enough? - Here, sugar is an uncountable noun as sugar itself cannot be counted. It can only be weighed.
• - He always answers questions with honesty. - Honesty is an uncountable noun as it has no plural and cannot be counted in physical terms either.

Nouns Exercise 1:

List of Nouns, Noun Examples

Actor	Doctor	Helmet	Match	Rose
Advertisement	Dog	Holiday	Microphone	Russia
Afternoon	Dream	Honey	Monkey	Sandwich
Airport	Dress	Horse	Morning	School
Ambulance	Easter	Hospital	Motorcycle	Scooter
Animal	Egg	House	Nail	Shampoo
Answer	Eggplant	Hydrogen	Napkin	Shoe
Apple	Egypt	Ice	Needle	Soccer
Army	Elephant	Insect	Nest	Spoon
Australia	Energy	Insurance	Nigeria	Stone
Balloon	Engine	Iron	Night	Sugar
Banana	England	Island	Notebook	Sweden
Battery	Evening	Jackal	Ocean	Teacher
Beach	Eye	Jelly	Oil	Telephone
Beard	Family	Jewellery	Orange	Television
Bed	Finland	Jordan	Oxygen	Tent
Belgium	Fish	Juice	Oyster	Thailand
Boy	Flag	Kangaroo	Painting	Tomato
Branch	Flower	King	Parrot	Toothbrush
Breakfast	Football	Kitchen	Pencil	Traffic
Brother	Forest	Kite	Piano	Train
Camera	Fountain	Knife	Pillow	Truck
Candle	France	Lamp	Pizza	Uganda
Car	Furniture	Lawyer	Planet	Umbrella
Caravan	Garage	Leather	Plastic	Van
Carpet	Garden	Library	Portugal	Vase
Cartoon	Gas	Lighter	Potato	Vegetable
China	Ghost	Lion	Queen	Vulture
Church	Girl	Lizard	Quill	Wall
Crayon	Glass	Lock	Rain	Whale
Crowd	Gold	London	Rainbow	Window
Daughter	Grass	Lunch	Raincoat	Wire
Death	Greece	Machine	Refrigerator	Xylophone
Denmark	Guitar	Magazine	Restaurant	Yacht
Diamond	Hair	Magician	River	Yak
Dinner	Hamburger	Manchester	Rocket	Zebra
Disease	Helicopter	Market	Room	Zoo

Collective Nouns

Collective noun is the name we give to a group of nouns to refer to them as one entity. The most common method of doing this is by using words like group or bunch that can be applicable to most of the nouns in the language today. But there are some specific names given for certain groups of nouns to make things more interesting and funny.

Now, these collective nouns are not based in scientific thought or fact. Most of them come from the poetry and imagination of early to late Medieval English times e.g. - an eloquence of lawyers – Eloquence itself is defined as fine persuasion in speaking or writing, so this particular collective noun is a comment on the profession of lawyers while being their collective noun as well.

The same goes for the collective nouns we find for animals; the names arose from 15^thcentury French and English hunting traditions, where hunting was common and names and terms were given to all aspects of the sport. These names were called Terms of Venery and it had become a tradition of the court to keep extending the list and by the 1500s the list was up-to 165 items long.

Here we have listed some of the more commonly used collective nouns for humans, animals and objects.

These collective nouns are commonly used under the category of people.

1. A class of students.
2. An army of soldiers.
3. A choir of singers.
4. A crew of sailors.
5. A band of musicians.
6. A bunch of crooks.
7. A crowd of people/spectators.
8. A gang of thieves.
9. A group of dancers.
10. A team of players.
11. A troupe of artists/dancers.
12. A pack of thieves.
13. A staff of employees.
14. A regiment of soldiers.
15. A tribe of natives.
16. An audience of listeners.
17. A panel of experts.
18. A gang of labourers.
19. A flock of tourists.
20. A board of directors.

Exercise1&2:

The following collective nouns are used for animals.

1. A catch of fish.
2. An army of ants.
3. A flight of birds.
4. A flock of birds.
5. A haul of fish.
6. A flock of sheep.
7. A herd of deer/cattle/elephants/goats/buffaloes.
8. A hive of bees.
9. A litter of cubs.
10. A host of sparrows.
11. A team of horses.
12. A troop of lions.
13. A zoo of wild animals.
14. A pack of wolves.
15. A litter of puppies/kittens.
16. A swarm of bees/ants/rats/flies.
17. A team of horses/ducks/oxen.
18. A murder of crows.
19. A kennel of dogs.
20. A pack of hounds.

The following collective nouns are used for things.

1. A group of islands.
2. A galaxy of stars.
3. A wad of notes.
4. A forest of trees.
5. A stack of wood.
6. A fleet of ships.
7. A string of pearls.
8. An album of stamps/autographs/photographs.
9. A hedge of bushes.
10. A library of books.
11. A basket of fruit.
12. A bowl of rice.
13. A pack of cards.
14. A pair of shoes.
15. A bouquet of flowers.
16. A bunch of keys.
17. A chest of drawers.
18. A pack of lies.
19. A range of mountains.
20. A cloud of dust.

Collective nouns are endless and these are just a list of those used more often. As you continue to work on improving your English, you will stumble across many more. Be sure to add them to your list and use them as frequently as you can.

Possessive Nouns

Possessive nouns are those nouns that show possession. Possessive Nouns are used to show ownership.

A noun is possessive only when a phrase can be modified to say that an idea or commodity belongs to something or someone. Possessive nouns are an integral part of learning English, use them as often as you can to gain confidence.

Here are some rules to help you use possessive nouns

Rule 1: In singular nouns (person, place, thing or idea), we add apostrophe and ‘s’ after the noun. For example:

- Ron’s car is in the garage. (Car belonging to Ron is in the garage)

Note that the possessive noun always comes before what the person or a thing owns or has. In this case, the car belongs to Ron and hence the singular noun ‘Ron’ is placed before ‘car’ that he owns.

Rule 2: In singular nouns ending with ‘s’, we add an apostrophe and ‘s’ to the noun. For example:

- Tejas’s notebook is lying on the table. (Notebook of Tejas is lying on the table)

- Suhas’s wife is a doctor. (Wife of Suhas is a doctor)

Rule 3: In singular nouns ending with ‘s’ followed by a word starting with 's', we just add an apostrophe to the noun. This is to avoid a hissing sound. For example:

- Tejas’ school is in Malviya Nagar.

- Suhas’ sister is a teacher.

Rule 4: In plural nouns (ending with ‘s’), we add apostrophe after ‘s’. For example:

- Students’ report cards are ready.

- Girls’ dance classes have been postponed.

In the first one, the plural of ‘student’ is ‘students’. To show that the report cards belonging to the students are ready, we simply add apostrophe after ‘s’.

Similarly, in the second sentence, the plural of ‘girl’ is ‘girls’. To show that the dance classes which the girls attend have been postponed, we add apostrophe after ‘s’.

Rule 5: In irregular plural nouns (men, children) we add apostrophe and ‘s’ to show possession. For example:

- Children’s clothes are expensive. (Clothes of children are expensive)

- People’s mindset needs to be changed. (Mindset of people needs to be changed)

In the first example, plural of ‘child’ is ‘children’. To show that the clothes belonging to the children are expensive, we add apostrophe and ‘s’ after children. The same rule applies to the second example as well.

Here are some more examples to show you other possible cases.

• - Alex and Philip’s shop. (Two nouns are used closely and showing joint possession; here, the apostrophe will be used with the second noun)

• - Shakespeare’s and Wordsworth’s works. (Two nouns are used together yet separate possession is implied thus the apostrophe is used with both nouns)

Noun as Adjective

Sometimes in the English language, a noun is used to describe another noun; in other words, the first noun performs the function of an adjective. Look at the following examples:

- Basketball coach– here the noun basketball is being used to describe the noun coach

- Garment shop– here the noun garment is being used to describe the noun shop

- Painting exhibition– here the noun painting is being used to describe the noun exhibition

In all the above examples, the first noun acts as an adjective.

Rules related to Nouns as Adjective

1. The ‘nouns as adjective’ always come first or before the second or main noun. Let’s see a few more examples:

- A cricket bat

- A soccer ball

- A car race

- A love story

2. In general, like adjectives, nouns being used as adjectives are used in the singular form, although in the case of certain words, like clothes, customs, sports, etc, an exception is made. For example:

- Bathroom or bathrooms, and not bathsroom or bathsrooms

- Badminton racket or badminton rackets, and not badmintons racket or badmintons rackets

In short, the plural form will always appear on the second noun only.

Some nouns are always written or spoken in the plural forms, but we generally treat them as a singular form. For example:

- A billiards player

- A news editor

Some nouns are always treated in the plural forms when used as an adjective. For example:

- Sports museum

- Clothes outlet

- Accounts manager

3. Multiple nouns can also be used as adjectives. For example:

- School cricket team coach

- Motor production cost

- Child health care research centre

4. We can also use a true adjective before nouns as adjective. For example:

- Famous Indian cricket player

- Cute coffee mug

- Delectable Chinese cuisine

- Honest school teacher

- Increasing air pollution