A noun is one of the easiest parts of speech to locate and identify, being simply defined as a person, place, thing, or idea. Look at the following sentences and find the nouns. Then, referring to the definition, think about what makes them nouns.
Hannah ran in the marathon for school.
· Hannah is a person
· Marathon is a thing
· School is a place
The man followed the cat down Henning Street.
· Man is referring to a person
· Cat is a thing
· Henning Street is a place
The mother looked down with tenderness at her little baby, who slept peacefully in her crib.
· Mother is a person
· Tenderness, here, refers to an idea
· The baby refers to a person
· And crib is a thing.
*note* Many times the hardest nouns to locate are those that express an idea. Examples: love, peace, sorrow, helplessness.
Now knowing what a noun is, you need to be able to classify nouns into the different categories.
o Common vs. proper
o Countable vs. Non-countable
o Concrete vs. Abstract
Common and Proper
Common nouns are just what they sound like: common. These nouns are general items, such as tree, watch, teacher, and farm. Common nouns are the most widely used throughout grammar.
On the other hand, Proper nouns are specific and one of a kind. They express specific names, places, and things. Mr. Harrison is a proper noun, defining one man. A school is a common noun, whereas Mayville Middle School refers to a specific school. Proper nouns are ALWAYS capitalized; common nouns are lowercase except when they are the first word in a sentence.
For his project, Dylan is studying Galileo and the telescope.
· Project is common, referring to a general project
· Dylan is proper, referring to a specific boy. (notice the capitalization)
· Galileo is proper, referring to a specific scientist. (again, capitalized)
· Telescope is common, referring to a general telescope
Countable and Non-countable
Like it sounds, countable nouns can be counted. They have both plural and singular forms, while non-countable nouns have no plural form. Tree is a countable noun because you can pluralize tree to make it trees But you cannot pluralize the word peace to have peaces, making peace a non-countable noun.
The boy cried in grief.
· boy is a countable noun, because boy has a plural form, boys.
· grief would be a non-countable noun, because it cannot be pluralized.
Concrete and Abstract
Concrete nouns are those that can be experienced with one of the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight. Take the noun tree. A tree can be felt, touched, seen, heard, and smelled. Truck is a concrete noun also, because I can feel it and see it. Contrasting, nouns that are abstract are not able to be physically experienced: examples are sympathy, grief, love, hate.
Walking through the dark forest, my heart pounded in fear.
· Forest is concrete, because I can see, touch, and smell a forest.
· Heart is a concrete, because I can feel it pounding against my chest.
· Fear would be an abstract noun, because I cannot physically experience fear.
When organizing nouns into categories, remember that each noun can be defined in every category. Example: tree is a concrete, countable, and common noun.
Hannah is in love with her little puppy.
· Hannah
o Proper: referring to a specific girl
o Concrete: experienced with the five senses
· Love
o Common: ordinary and lowercase
o Non-countable: no plural form
o Abstract: intangible
· Puppy
o Common: ordinary and lowercase
o Countable: has a plural form
o Concrete: can be experienced with senses.
Definitions to Know!
Noun: person, place, thing, or idea
Common noun: ordinary, general.
Proper noun: specific and one of a kind
Countable noun: has a singular and plural form
Non-countable noun: has only singular form
Concrete noun: can be experienced with one of the five senses
Abstract noun: unable to be experienced with one of the five senses.
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