Hello readers, Welcome to Edify English. In this article we are going to discuss Noun Meaning, types of Nouns with example sentences. In the forthcoming articles on nouns, we will be posting noun exercises. Stay tuned!
Noun Meaning
Noun is a word used to identify Person, people, places, or things. Simply, it is a Naming Word.
Examples of Nouns
Consider the following
- Alexander – Name of a Person
- Americans – Name given to the people of America
- New York – Name of a place
- Pen – Name of a thing (Object having physical existence)
- Courage – Name of a Quality (No physical existence)
Thus if we name anything using a word, that word becomes Noun. Depending upon what we name using a Noun, there are some types of it.
Types of Nouns
There are basically four types of nouns based on what the word used as the noun names. They are
- Common Noun
- Proper Noun
- Collective Noun
- Abstract Noun
Let us see each of them mentioned above in detail
Common Noun
A common noun is a name that is given to any one of a class of persons, places, or things.
Example: King, City, Pen
Each of the above examples represent certain class of Persons, places or things
We use the noun King to name all the kings in the world in common. Hence it is a common Noun. Similarly, we use the Noun City to name any city and the Noun Pen to name pen of any brand. Hence these are common Nouns.
If you carefully observe, if one of the King or city or Pen is given a particular name, then it becomes Proper Noun.
Proper Noun
As said above, the name of a particular person, place or thing is called Proper Noun.
Example:
- Alexander (Name of a particular king)
- New York (name of a particular city)
- Parker (name of a particular brand of pens)
Thus a Common Noun is a common attribution where as a Proper Noun is a Unique attribution.
Read: Difference Between Common Noun and Proper Noun
Collective Noun
A collective noun is the name of people or places or things taken collectively.
Examples:
- Crowd – group of people
- Army – group of soldiers
- Fleet – group of ships
- Flock – group of birds
Abstract Noun
An abstract noun is the name of a quality or general idea that we consider apart from the object to which it belongs. Generally these are derived from Adjectives, Common Nouns and Verbs
Examples:
Abstract Nouns derived from Adjectives:
- Kind (Adjective) – Kindness (Abstract Noun)
- Honest (Adjective) – Honesty (Abstract Noun)
- Angry (Adjective) – Anger (Abstract Noun)
Abstract Nouns derived from Common Nouns:
- King (Common Noun) – Kingship (Abstract Noun)
- Child (Common Noun) – Childhood (Abstract Noun)
- Slave (Common Noun) – Slavery (Abstract Noun)
Abstract Nouns derived from Verbs:
- Grow (Verb) – Growth (Abstract Noun)
- Obey (Verb) – Obedience (Abstract Noun)
- Live (Verb) – Life (Abstract Noun)
Also Read: Noun Gender, Examples of Nouns used in Sentences
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