The Eight Parts of Speech: Nouns

      Nouns are persons, places, things, ideas, or emotions in English. A helpful way to identify them is to place the words “an”, “a”, or “the” before the word. However, articles don't work before Proper Nouns.

There are five types of nouns:

1. Common Nouns
2. Proper Nouns
3. Concrete Nouns
4. Abstract Nouns
5. Collective Nouns
         ** Counting and Non-Counting Nouns

I. A common noun is a word that express run-of-the-mill people, places, things, emotions, and ideas. Word such as happiness, boy, and desk are such.

 

II. A Proper Noun is a word that express special people, places, things, emotions, and ideas. They are designated by capital letters.

What's the difference? Here is another way to look at the differences between common and proper nouns. Common nouns are a set of limited words that define general people, places, things, emotions, and idea. On the other hand, Proper Nouns are virtually limitless. If you can place copyright protection, then it's a Proper Noun.

III. A Concrete Noun is a word that express anything that can be communicated through the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and scent.

IV. An Abstract Noun is a word that express anything that can't be communicated through the five senses. These nouns covey ideas and emotion.


What's the difference between Concrete and Abstract Nouns? The difference is the nature of the thing being conveyed. For example the word cloud is a concrete noun because it is conveying something that can be seen. However, Abstract nouns have the uncanny ability to convey anything that can't be communicable through the senses. When was the last time you touched happiness or saw Buddism? These are emotions and ideas – they can't be conveyed through sensational avenues.

[Writing Advice – Concrete {vs. Common} vs. Abstract Nouns] – Concrete Nouns lend support to English's ability to be precise in conversation and writing. Where an individual may tell us about the truck he drove to go shopping, we may instead tell the same story about a how a young boy drove his father's ford pick-up to the store so that he may purchase slippers for his mother. We may talk about the sweeping generalities, but it is often better to choose a concrete noun. And perhaps when we read, “Jesus wept.” we find more fascination than any author who wrote about the tears of clouds. Not only are concrete nouns more expressive and more vivid, but are able to capture the ideas moment better than abstract and common nouns.

V. A Collective Noun is a word that represent a collection of people, places, things, ideas, or emotions without being plural. These words include family, herd, flock, audience, orchestra, and so forth. However, unlike other nouns, collective nouns can be subdivided into counting and non-Counting nouns.

[A note on Collective Nouns] – Collective Nouns are special for one reason: they are singular unless you reference the internal members. What this means is unless you use a pronoun that references back to the noun (called a reflexive pronoun because it is reflecting) then a collective noun is always singular. For example, we can say, “Our family[singular] loves your cookies.” because the noun family is referencing a single unit. However, when we say, “Our family[plural] are arguing amongst themselves to determine if the cookies were popular.” we are using a reflexive pronoun (themselves) to draw attention to the members inside the unit. Most writers prefer to make this more obvious by writing, “Our family members are arguing amongst themselves to determine if the cookies were popular.”

[A note on Counting and Non-Counting Nouns] – The English language has special nouns called counting and non-counting nouns. The difference between counting and non-counting is that counting nouns must have “a” or “an” placed before them. This designates that the following noun is either “one among many” or “any one” and emphasizes that the noun is unknown to the reader (contrary to the word the which signifies that the noun is known to the reader).

A helpful reminder is that non-counting nouns – such as steel, knowledge, or jewelry – do not have plural forms. For example, saying, “Did your mother purchase a jewelry,” doesn't make sense. Neither saying, “Can you pass a sugar.” Passing a sugar cube? Perhaps. But passing a sugar? That's the sign you're working with a non-counting noun. If you're talking about one piece of jewelry or cupboards full of sugar, there exist no plural form.

Please note that, as with all eight parts of speech, a single word, depending on placement, can be located in multiple categories. For example, the word happiness is both a common and an abstract noun, or the word family is a concrete, common, collective noun.

Helpful Reminders:

• Nouns can be made plural or possessive.
• Can assume the following endings: player, justice, happiness, division, guidance, reference, pavement, childhood, kingdom, agency, tourist, sincerity, censorship.

Nouns can be used to modify other nouns; they are called noun adjectives.


And that is everything you will ever need to know about nouns.

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