noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which is defined in terms of how its members

combine with other kinds of expressions. Since different languages have different inventories of
kinds of expressions, the definition of noun will differ from language to language. In English,
nouns may be defined as those words which can co-occur with definite articles and attributive
adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. The noun can be replaced by a pronoun
of first person, second person, or even third person. Also the noun is known for being one of the
eight parts of speech.

Proper nouns and common nouns

Proper nouns (also called proper names) are nouns representing unique entities (such as London,
Universe or John), as distinguished from common nouns which describe a class of entities (such
as city, well or person)

In English and most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, proper nouns are usually
capitalized.[8] Languages differ in whether most elements of multiword proper nouns are
capitalised (e.g., American English House of Representatives) or only the initial element (e.g.,
Slovenian Državni zbor 'National Assembly'). In German, nouns of all types are capitalized. The
convention of capitalizing all nouns was previously used in English, but ended circa 1800. In
America, the shift in capitalization is recorded in several noteworthy documents. The end (but not
the beginning) of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and all of the Constitution (1787) show
nearly all nouns capitalized, the Bill of Rights (1789) capitalizes a few common nouns but not
most of them, and the Thirteenth Constitutional Amendment (1865) only capitalizes proper
nouns.

Sometimes the same word can function as both a common noun and a proper noun, where one
such entity is special. For example the common noun god denotes all deities, while the proper
noun God references God specifically.

Owing to the essentially arbitrary nature of orthographic classification and the existence of
variant authorities and adopted house styles, questionable capitalization of words is not
uncommon, even in respected newspapers and magazines. Most publishers, however, properly
require consistency, at least within the same document, in applying their specified standard.

The common meaning of the word or words constituting a proper noun may be unrelated to the
object to which the proper noun refers. For example, someone might be named "Tiger Smith"
despite being neither a tiger nor a smith. For this reason, proper nouns are usually not translated
between languages, although they may be transliterated. For example, the German surname
Knödel becomes Knodel or Knoedel in English (not the literal Dumpling). However, the
transcription of place names and the names of monarchs, popes, and non-contemporary authors is
common and sometimes universal. For instance, the Portuguese word Lisboa becomes Lisbon in
English; the English London becomes Londres in French; and the Greek Aristotelēs becomes
Aristotle in English.
Countable and uncountable nouns

Main articles: Count noun and Mass noun

Count nouns are common nouns that can take a plural, can combine with numerals or quantifiers
(e.g. "one", "two", "several", "every", "most"), and can take an indefinite article ("a" or "an").
Examples of count nouns are "chair", "nose", and "occasion".

Mass nouns (or non-count nouns) differ from count nouns in precisely that respect: they can't take
plural or combine with number words or quantifiers. Examples from English include "laughter",
"cutlery", "helium", and "furniture". For example, it is not possible to refer to "a furniture" or
"three furnitures". This is true even though the pieces of furniture comprising "furniture" could be
counted. Thus the distinction between mass and count nouns shouldn't be made in terms of what
sorts of things the nouns refer to, but rather in terms of how the nouns present these entities.

Collective nouns

Main article: Collective noun

Collective nouns are nouns that refer to groups consisting of more than one individual or entity,
even when they are inflected for the singular. Examples include "committee", "herd", and
"school" (of herring). These nouns have slightly different grammatical properties than other
nouns. For example, the noun phrases that they head can serve as the subject of a collective
predicate, even when they are inflected for the singular. A collective predicate is a predicate that
normally can't take a singular subject. An example of the latter is "talked to each other".

Good: The boys talked to each other.

Bad: *The boy talked to each other.
Good: The committee talked to each other.

Concrete nouns and abstract nouns

Further information: physical body and abstract object

Concrete nouns refer to physical bodies which you use at least one of your senses to observe. For
instance, "chair", "apple", or "Janet". Abstract nouns on the other hand refer to abstract objects,
that is ideas or concepts, such as "justice" or "hate". While this distinction is sometimes useful,
the boundary between the two of them is not always clear; consider, for example, the noun "art".
In English, many abstract nouns are formed by adding noun-forming suffixes ("-ness", "-ity",
"-tion") to adjectives or verbs. Examples are "happiness", "circulation" and "serenity".
Pronoun

The prefix pro means for. A pronoun is a substitute for a noun.

Interrogative pronouns

what, which, who, whom, whose

Interrogative pronouns are used to form questions.

relative pronouns

that, which, who, whom, whose

The grammatical term relative as used in relative pronoun means relate. Relative pronouns may
be used in complex sentences, i.e., sentences that have an independent clause and a subordinate
clause. The relative pronoun relates the subordinate clause to the independent clause. The relative
pronoun specifically relates to a word or words in the independent clause. It is correct to say that
the relative pronoun relates the subordinate clause to an antecedent in the independent clause. The
word antecedent means before or preceding.

demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative as used in the term, demonstrative pronoun, means to identify. A writer or speaker
uses a demonstrative pronoun to identify a person, place, or thing.

singular
this, that

plural
these, those

indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are generalized, nonspecific references to people, places, or things. Following
is a list of words that are indefinite pronouns.

singular
another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little, much,
neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other,
somebody, someone, something

plural
both, few, many, others, several

singular or plural
all, any, enough, half, more, most, none, some