Nouns

When we look at nouns in more detail, we can easily see how they are very different from the other parts of speech. We already learned that nouns can name a person, place, thing or idea. Let's see what other information we can add to that to learn more about nouns.

  1. Nouns can be common or proper. This is important to know because proper nouns begin with a capital letter in Standard English, no matter where they are used in a sentence, whereas common nouns only begin with a capital letter at the start of a sentence. 

Note: In English, names of languages, months of the year, and days of the week are proper nouns, so they will always be capitalized: Chinese, Arabic, January, Monday, June, Friday.

Common Nouns

Examples

Proper Nouns 

Examples

any person, place, thing, or idea

teacher, state, city

  • My brother is a teacher.

  • Teachers are always busy.

specific persons, places, and things

Robert, California, Istanbul

  • Robert is a teacher in California.


  1. Nouns can also be concrete or abstract. This is important to know because sometimes abstract nouns are easily confused with verb forms.

Concrete Nouns

Examples

Abstract Nouns 

Examples

can be experienced through our senses

teacher, student, desk, cat, pen

cannot be experienced directly; they are a quality or idea

success, loyalty, freedom, achievement, arrival

 

  1. Nouns also have both a singular and plural form. This is called number. A plural noun shows that there is more than one of that noun. 

Generally, plural forms of nouns are created by adding an -s or -es to the end of a singular noun. However, there are irregular plural nouns that do not follow that same rule. Here are some examples:

Noun

Plural

Singular 

Examples

1. Regular 

add -s

most nouns (teacher, cat, college, phone)

nouns that end in vowel+y (day)

teachers, cats, colleges, phones

days

add -es

nouns that end in sounds s, ss, z, sh, ch, x, and o (class, coach, box, tomato)

classes, coaches, boxes, tomatoes

change y to i and add -es

nouns that end in consonant+y (city, country, family)

cities, countries, families

change f to v and add -es

nouns that end in f (life, shelf, scarf)

lives, shelves, scarves

2. Irregular

no specific rule

child, tooth, goose, mouse

children, teeth, geese, mice

  • Video 1: English Grammar Overview - Parts of Speech - Nouns
  • Video 2: English Grammar Overview - Parts of Speech - Articles