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Difference between Common noun and Proper noun

What are Common Nouns? Definition and Examples

8th July 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello reader! In this article, we are going to discuss the definition, rules, and some example sentences of Common Nouns. We all know that a noun is one of the eight parts of speech and indicates the names of things, people, places, collections, etc. There are many types of nouns such as proper nouns, common nouns, collective nouns, etc. In this article, we’re going to have an in-depth discussion on common nouns. Also, we’re going to discuss the difference between a proper noun and a common noun. 

Common Nouns

Definition of Common Nouns

We all know what a noun is- anything that names a person, place, thing, or any collection. A Common noun is a type of noun that is used to denote any general item. For example, the things we see around us, such as a chair, a cup, a book, a pen, a TV- all these items are classified as common nouns. To put it simply, any common item that we see in everyday life comes under a common noun. 

Some Examples of a common noun include:

  • There is a dog lying on the footpath.
  • Her husband is driving the car.
  • I need a set of pens.
  • There is a chair in the corner of the room.
  • The basement is dark and eerie.

The above examples consisted of Common Nouns in the sentences. A proper noun is different from the common noun in the sense that the proper noun specifically addresses the noun instead of a general expression. For example, 

  • Dog is a common noun while Fido, the name of a dog is a proper noun. 
  • Husband is a common noun while Russell, the name of the husband, is a proper noun.
  • Newspaper is a common noun while The Washington Post is a proper noun.
  • Movie is a common noun while Titanic is a proper noun.

Learn more about the differences between the common noun and proper noun

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Filed Under: Grammar, Nouns, Parts of Speech Tagged With: Common Noun Examples, Common Nouns, Difference between Common noun and Proper noun, Noun Example senences, What is a Common Noun

Difference between Common Noun and Proper Noun

23rd October 2019 By Edify English Leave a Comment

The Noun is simply a naming word. It is classified into four kinds. Common, Proper, Collective, and Abstract Nouns. Among these common and proper nouns have a close relation. In this article, let’s understand the basic difference between a common noun and a proper noun. 

Difference Between Common Noun and Proper Noun

Difference between Common noun and Proper noun

A common noun is a name given in common to many proper nouns of a similar class or kind. Thus the name of the common quality of many proper nouns is a common noun. For example, Rama, Ravi, John, Krishna, James are the proper names of different people. But we can observe that common quality among them, i.e, they are Men / Boys. Hence the nouns Men or Boys is a Common Noun. Let us see some example sentences

  • Rama is a great king
  • New York is a beautiful city
  • Ravi is a good boy
  • Sita is a good girl
  • IFB is a good Air Conditioner

Observe the above sentences- you have proper and common nouns at the start and the end respectively. Thus the name given in common to a group of the same class or kind is ‘common’ and the name given in particular to one person or item of the group is ‘proper’. Some more examples of common and proper nouns are:

  • Bike (Common Noun) – Pulsar (Proper Noun)
  • Coffee Shop (Common Noun) – Star Bucks (Proper Noun)
  • Laptop (Common Noun) – Mac Book (Proper Noun)
  • company (Common Noun) – Google (Proper Noun)
  • Social network (Common Noun) – Facebook (Proper Noun)

Another important difference is that a proper noun generally has a capital letter at the beginning the latter need not necessarily start with a capital letter. We can write– man but not ashoka (the first letter must be capitalized) irrespective of the position of the word in the sentence. This is how we generally identify a proper noun. 

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What are Common Nouns? Definition and Examples

Collective Nouns – Definition and Examples

What are Proper Nouns? Definition and Examples

Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

Personal Pronouns: Meaning, Types and Examples

Above vs Over – Know the Correct Usage

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