NOUN

Definition: The part of speech (or word class) that is used to name or identify a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Adjective: nominal. Most nouns have both a singular and plural form, can be preceded by an article and/or one or more adjectives, and can serve as the head of a noun phrase. A noun or noun phrase can function as a subject, direct object, indirect object, complement, appositive, or object of a preposition. In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.[1] 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. http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/nounterm.htm It's not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are "things" (and verbs are "actions"). Like food. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb). Or happiness. Happiness (noun) is something you want (verb). Or human being. A human being (noun) is something you are (verb). There are many types of nouns that can be used in the English language. Children are usually taught that nouns are people, places, things or abstract ideas. There are no fewer than eight ways in which to classify a noun and it is important that homeschooled students and parents understand each of them.

Eight Types of Nouns

1. Proper Nouns: These are nouns that refer to very specific people, places or things. The rule of thumb is that these nouns should be capitalized. This type of noun applies to places such as Illinois, names of people such as Jessica and the names of places or institutions like Queen's University. 2. Common Nouns: These nouns are general in nature and are not capitalized. Take for example the proper noun St. Brice's Church; because of its reference to a specific church, it is a proper noun. But the word "church" used on its own is a common noun. This is a because it does not make reference to a specific church. 3. Countable Nouns: These nouns can be either singular or plural in nature and they are usually used in conjunction with words that reference quantity, such as most or many. Take for example the word table; it can be used as a singular noun "a table" or a plural noun "many tables". 4. Collective Nouns: These nouns, as their title implies, refer to a group. Collective nouns often reference a specific group. Take for example a "brigade of firemen" or a "grove of trees." 5. Abstract Nouns: Abstract nouns can be a little tricky to master because they refer to concepts, ideas and philosophies instead of physical things. For example abstract nouns can be things like courage, fear, hate and generosity. 6. Uncountable Nouns: These nouns cannot be counted they are often referred to as mass nouns. For example when saying, "The pool was full of water." The uncountable noun in this sentence is water. These nouns cannot be used in a plural form. 7. Concrete Nouns: These are nouns such as desk, water, Kevin, and cotton. These nouns can all be touched, smelt, tasted or seen. In order to be a concrete noun, it must be perceived by using one of the five senses. 8. Pronouns: These nouns can take the place of a noun when referring to people places or things. In English the personal pronouns are I, you, he, she, it and they. Depending 2

on their function within a sentence these nouns can take on their possessive forms or their objective case. For example in the sentence, "She danced around the room," she is a singular personal pronoun. In the sentence "Allana danced around her room," her is a possessive form of the personal pronoun. http://www.suite101.com/content/types-of-nouns-explained-a152610 Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of expressions. The syntactic rules for nouns differ from language to language. In English, nouns may be defined as those words which can occur with articles and attributive adjectives and can function as the head of a noun phrase. Examples

The cat sat on the mat. Please hand in your assignments by the end of the week. Cleanliness is next to godliness. George Washington was the first president of the United States of America. Please complete this assignment with black or blue pen only, and keep your eyes on your own paper.

A noun can co-occur with an article or an attributive adjective. Verbs and adjectives can't. In the following, an asterisk (*) in front of an example means that this example is ungrammatical. 1. the name (name is a noun: can co-occur with a definite article the.) 2. *the baptize (baptize is a verb: cannot co-occur with a definite article.) 3. constant circulation (circulation is a noun: can co-occur with the attributive adjective constant.) 4. *constant circulate (circulate is a verb: cannot co-occur with the attributive adjective constant.) 5. a fright (fright is a noun: can co-occur with the indefinite article a.) 6. *an afraid (afraid is an adjective: cannot co-occur with the article a.) 7. terrible fright (The noun fright can co-occur with the adjective terrible.)

8. *terrible afraid (The adjective afraid cannot co-occur with the adjective terrible.)

History Of Nouns
Noun comes from the Latin nmen "name",[2] a translation of Ancient Greek noma.[3] Word classes like nouns were first described by P in the Sanskrit ini language and by Ancient Greek grammarians, and were defined by the grammatical forms that they take. In Greek and Sanskrit, for example, nouns are categorized by gender and inflected for case and number. Because nouns and adjectives share these three categories, Dionysius Thrax does not clearly distinguish between the two, and uses the term noma "name" for both, although some of the words that he describes as paraggn (pl. paragg) "derived"[4] are adjectives.[5]

Types Of Nouns
There are many different types of nouns. As you know, you capitalise some nouns, such as "Canada" or "Louise," and do not capitalise others, such as "badger" or "tree" (unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence). In fact, grammarians 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, and countable or non-countable or collective. If you are interested in the details of these different types, you can read about them in the following sections.

Proper Nouns
You always write a proper noun with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months,

historical documents, institutions, organisations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun In each of the following sentences, the proper nouns are highlighted: The Marroons were transported from Jamaica and forced to build the fortifications in Halifax. Many people dread Monday mornings. Beltane is celebrated on the first of May. Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran. Last year, I had a Baptist, a Buddhist, and a Gardnerian Witch as roommates.

Common Nouns
A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun. In each of the following sentences, the common nouns are highlighted: According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away. All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer. I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards. The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road. Many child-care workers are underpaid. Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns, as in the following examples: The tenants in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their rent. The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants. Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times. 5

The Diary of Anne Frank is often a child's first introduction to the history of the Holocaust.

Concrete Nouns
A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of a abstract noun. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all concrete nouns: The judge handed the files to the clerk. Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves. The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles. As the car drove past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartet's rendition of a minuet. The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.

Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all abstract nouns: Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought. Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood. Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp. Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically.

Countable Nouns
A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. You can make a countable noun

plural and attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns and collective nouns. In each of the following sentences, the highlighted words are countable nouns: We painted the table red and the chairs blue. Since he inherited his aunt's library, Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books. Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock. The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane. Over the course of twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.

Non-Countable Nouns
A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A noncountable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Non-countable nouns are similar to collective nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns. The highlighted words in the following sentences are non-countable nouns: Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen. The word "oxygen" cannot normally be made plural. Oxygen is essential to human life. Since "oxygen" is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb "is" rather than the plural verb "are." We decided to sell the furniture rather than take it with us when we moved. You cannot make the noun "furniture" plural. The furniture is heaped in the middle of the room.

Since "furniture" is a non-countable noun, it takes a singular verb, "is heaped." The crew spread the gravel over the roadbed. You cannot make the non-countable noun "gravel" plural. Gravel is more expensive than I thought. Since "gravel" is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb form "is."

Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognise collective nouns in order to maintain subject-verb agreement. A collective noun is similar to a noncountable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun. In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a collective noun: The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture. The collective noun "flock" takes the singular verb "spends." The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight. In this example the collective noun "jury" is the subject of the singular compound verb "is dining." The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon. Here the collective noun "committee" takes a singular verb, "meets." The class was startled by the bursting light bulb. In this sentence the word "class" is a collective noun and takes the singular compound verb "was startled."

http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/nouns.html The Noun-Gender tells us about the sex of the noun. In Grammar-Nouns, there are FOUR GENDERS. 1. Masculine gender: A noun is said to be in the Masculine gender if it refers to a male character or member of a species. Man, lion, hero, boy, king, horse and actor are nouns of masculine gender. Example: A boy is playing in the play-ground. Hero of the movie is not a native of this country. In these sentences the words boy and hero are masculine-gender nouns. The next in the Noun-Gender is feminine gender. 2. Feminine gender: A noun is said to be in the feminine gender if it refers to a female member of a species. Woman, lioness, heroine, girl, mare, niece, empress, cow and actress are few of the feminine-gender nouns that we use. Example: A girl is playing in the play-ground. Heroine of the movie is not a native of this country.

In these sentences the words girl and heroine are feminine-gender nouns.

3. Common gender: A noun is said to be in Common gender if it refers to a member of species which can be a male or a female. Child, student, friend, applicant, candidate, servant, member, parliamentarian and leader are few of the common-gender nouns. Example: A child is playing in the play-ground. A Parliamentarian should have command over his language. In these sentences the words, child and parliamentarian are nouns of common gender. The next in the Noun-Gender is neuter gender. 4. Neuter gender: A noun is said to be in the neuter gender if it refers to a member of a species which is neither a male nor a female. Normally nouns referring to lifeless objects are in neuter nouns. Chair, table, tree, star, mountain, street, book, car, school, paper, pencil and computer are few of the neuter nouns which We use regularly. Example: Computer has brought about drastic changes in our lives. Tree is cleansing the air. Stars are not visible in the day-time. Books are our best friends. 10

In these sentences the words, computer, tree, stars and books are the neutergender nouns. NOTE: a. Collective nouns, even if they refer to living-beings, are used as neuter-nouns. Example: i. The army is doing its task. ii. The police are called to manage the situation. In these sentences the nouns (army and police) refer to only living-beings. But they are used only as neuter-nouns. b.Objects noted for their power, strength, and violence are used as Masculine gender nouns. The sun, summer, time, death etc are masculine-gender nouns. Example: i. The sun is so scorching now that we can not go out now to face him without an umbrella. ii. The death is cruel. He is as certain as tomorrow. In these sentences the words sun and death have been used as Masculine-gender nouns. c. Objects noted for their beauty, gentleness and grace are used as feminine-gender nouns. The moon, the earth, spring, charity etc are feminine-gender nouns. Example: i. The moon is so bright at this time that she induces romantic mood in us. ii. The earth is patient. Her beauty is spoiled day-by-day.

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The masculine-genders and their respective feminine-genders have been given below for your reference. Masculine genders-----Feminine genders 1. Bachelor----- Spinster 2. Bachelor----- Maid 3. Bullock----- Heifer 4. Dog----- Bitch 5. Drone------ Bee 6. Horse----- Mare 7. Nephew----- Niece 8. Jew----- Jewess 9. Wizard----- Witch 10. Heir----- Heiress 11. Manager----- Manageress 12. Poet----- Poetess 13. Shepherd----- Shepherdess 14. Benefactor----- Benefactress 15. Hunter----- Huntress 16. Negro----- Negress 17. Emperor----- Empress 18. Traitor----- Traitress 19. Prince----- Princess 20. Lion----- Lioness 21. Bull----- Cow 22. Ox----- Cow 23. Mayor----- Mayoress 24. Tiger----- Tigress 25. Actor----- Actress http://www.english-for-students.com/Noun-Gender.html

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