Kinds of Nouns

 Kinds of Nouns

1. Proper Nouns. These nouns pertain to particular and/or specific names [of persons, places, things, ideas, events, substances, etc.]. It bears stressing that they always start with a capital letter.

Example: Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Manila, etc.

2. Common Nouns. These nouns pertain to common names. They are often considered as the “opposite” of proper nouns for they pertain to generic names, that is, those that are not specific or particularized.

Example: teacher, book, school, etc.

3. Mass Nouns. These nouns pertain to names that cannot be directly counted and, because of such fact, are taken as a whole. In this case, pluralizing these words cannot be done by adding –s or –es to them. These nouns tend to name quantities of something rather than naming things that are regarded as a unit.

Example: garbage, evidence, soap, salt, pepper, etc.

4. Count Nouns. These nouns pertain to names that can be directly counted. In this sense, they are the opposite of Mass Nouns. Thus, pluralizing these words can be done by adding –s or –es to them (as the case may be).

5. Abstract Nouns. These nouns pertain to names of concepts, attitudes, emotions, or virtues. Although they are not exactly mass nouns, they cannot be pluralized by adding –s or –es to them.

Example: love, hope, patience, wisdom, faith, etc.

6. Concrete Nouns. These nouns pertain to names that can be perceived by [any of] the [five] senses (i.e. optical, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile). These nouns can either be in count or noncount (i.e. abstract and some concrete nouns) form.

Example: music, air, rain, etc.

7. Collective Nouns. These nouns pertain to names of groups of persons, things, animals, etc. As the name suggests, these nouns are taken collectively as a whole and are therefore considered singular in form.  

Example: audience, team, committee, group, school (i.e. school of fish), club, association, etc.

8. Compound Nouns. These nouns pertain to names that are joined together to form a new word.

Example: ballpen, seaman, workroom, soap opera, commander-in-chief, jack-of-all-trades, etc.   

9. Adjectives that function as nouns.* Although adjectives are considered as a separate part of speech from nouns, they can be considered nouns when they come after the determiner “the” and when they immediately precede verbs (i.e. they come immediately before verbs). They are considered plural in number and, as such, the verbs that come after, and are used corresponding to, them also come in plural form.

Example: The hardworking are always rewarded. 

*It should be noted that there are also nouns that can be regarded as adjectives. In this case, nouns are used to describe and qualify other nouns. Example: Easter egg, Manila boy, Senate inquiry etc. 

References:

Brown, Anne Cole et al. English. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990.

Celse-Murcia, Marianne and Diane Larsen-Freeman. The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher’s Course (2^nd Edition). Singapore: Thomson Learning Asia, 2008.

Forlini, Gary et al. (ed.). Prentice Hall Grammar and Composition (4^th Edition). New Jersey:Englewood Cliffs, 2001.

Haley-James, Shirley et al. English. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.

Hosler, Mary Margaret. English Made Easy (5^th Edition). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2005.

Kahn, John Ellison et al. (ed.) “How to Write and Speak Better (3^rd Edition).” Toucan Books Limited and WoodCraft Editing and Writing Limited. Hong Kong: The Reader’s Digest Association Ltd., 1993.  

Martin, Jerome. English. Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath and Company, 1984.

Rivero-Hernandez, C. et al. MSA Comprehensive English Handbook. Quezon City: MSA Academic Advancement Institute, 2005.

Winterowd, W. Ross and Patricia Murray. English Writing and Skills. San Diego, CA: Coronado Publishers, 1985.