What Is A Noun? Different Types of Nouns (With Examples)

According to the Oxford English dictionary, there are over 171,146 English words currently in use. These words are categorized under different names based on their functions. They are better known as parts of speech. The noun is a part of the speech that has different types. Understanding nouns will help you speak English fluently and confidently. Let’s take a deep dive into nouns and comprehend how they are used.

What Is A Noun?

A noun is a word that is identified as the name of something. It can be the name of the place, person, animal, subject, thing, or even an idea. The following examples will give you a clear idea about nouns.

People: Mary, engineer, father, doctor, girl

Places: Turkey, hotel, beach, USA

Things: Balloon, apple, bottle, watch

Animals: Lion, fish, dog, bear

Ideas: Love, anger, philosophy, happiness

Different Types of Nouns & Usage

1. Common Nouns

Common nouns are general objects, things, animals, or ideas. They are non-specific. Most of the time, they are usually identified with articles ‘a’ ,  ‘an’ or  ‘the’ .

Examples:  an apple, a car, the kitchen

• He ate an apple.
• Lucy entered the kitchen.
• Allen bought a car.

2. Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are names given to people, subjects, titles, days, months, ideologies, places, events, festivals, movies, religions, etc.

Examples: May, Sunday, India, Smith, Hinduism, The White House, Tesla, Olympic, Bible, London, Mr, Garden Of Eden

• We’ll move to India soon
• Smith is working in Canada.
• This Sunday, we’re going to the theatre.
• Alex celebrates his birthday in the month of May.

3. Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns are something that you cannot touch, see, or measure. They could be your feelings, attitude, time, ideas, etc. The following examples will help you understand better.

Examples: friendship, love, freedom, happiness, courage, tradition, evening, health, romance, anger

• William struggled to find happiness in his job.
• Let’s have the freedom to eat what we want!
• I’m familiar with African culture.

4. Concrete Nouns

Concrete nouns are names of something that you can touch, feel, or see. It could be an animal, person, thing, object, or vehicle.

Examples: Tiger, bicycle, mobile phone, watch, tree, table

• The elephant sleeps under the tree.
• He was riding a bicycle yesterday.
• Andrews dropped his mobile phone on the floor.

5. Countable Nouns

All common nouns that can be easily counted are called countable nouns.

Examples: apple, carrot, computer, desk, finger, chair, helicopter

• There are ten apples in the basket.
• Ali’s mother bought carrots from the market.
• Mukesh works on his computer.
• The cat hides under the chair.

6. Uncountable Nouns

Nouns that cannot be counted are called uncountable nouns. They can be tiny objects, abstract, or don’t have a clear form. Go through the following examples to understand better.

Abstract: sadness, comfort, safety, power

Tiny objects: sand, flour, powder, salt, sugar

Liquids or gases: milk, water, hydrogen, fire

Usage:

• His sadness turned into a smile when he saw her.
• Philip wants his coffee without adding sugar.
• The fire broke from the 3^rd floor of the apartment.

7. Singular & Plural Nouns

Singular nouns represent just one thing, while plural nouns name more than one. Understand the differences through the following examples.

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Orange	Oranges
Relationship	Relationships
Dog	Dogs
Democracy	Democracies
Shoe	Shoes
Watch	Watches
Book	Books

8. Pronouns

Pronouns are used in place of nouns as substitutes. They are used to avoid repetition of the noun. They can be used in singular and plural forms.

Singular Pronoun	Plural Pronoun
I	We
You	You
He, she, it	They, their

Examples:

• Craig went to school and met his friends.
• Priyanka works hard to feed her family.
• Susan is a doctor, and she helps the poor with her services.
• My brother told me that he wasn’t happy with his marriage.

9. Collective Noun

A collective noun represents a group of things or people. It could also be confusing whether collective noun should be treated as singular or plural. In US English, they are often treated as singular, and in UK English, they are treated as plural.

Examples: team, company, squad, herd, public

• The Indian team has performed well in all the matches.
• Adani’s companies have grown significantly in the last 10 years.
• A herd of elephants blocked the road.

10. Attributive Noun

An attributive noun functions like an adjective and modifies another noun attributively.

Examples: sports car, chicken soup, book store, Government job, candy store, morning air

• Lee breathed the fresh morning air.
• He bought a sports car last week.
• We went to the market to have chicken soup.
• Ramesh secured a government job in July.

11. Verbal Noun

Verbal nouns are directly derived from verbs. A verbal noun may look like a verb, but it functions like a noun. The following examples will give you a clear idea about verbal nouns.

Examples: building, arrival, decision, attack,

• My office is set up in a beautiful buiding.
• The referee made an awful decision.
• The attack from English troops came when no one expected it.

Identify The Nouns In The Following Sentences

• Robert bought a car yesterday.

Robert – Proper Noun

Car – Common Noun

• I ate a few apples an hour ago.

I – Singular Pronoun

Apples – Common Noun

• The software company had the board of directors meeting yesterday.

Company, board – Collective Nouns

• Honesty is the best policy.

Honesty, policy – Abstract Nouns

• I bought Pizza from the Dominos outlet.

I – Pronoun

Pizza – Common Noun, Concrete Noun

Dominos – Concrete Noun

• My mother is an engineer.

Engineer – Common Noun

• Sushma was elected as the class leader.

Class leader – Attributive Noun

Sushma – Proper Noun

• Notebook was the best romance film I have ever watched.

Notebook – Proper Noun

I – Pronoun

Romance film – Attributive Noun

Romance – Abstract Noun

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