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types of nouns

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

23rd July 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

One of the common aspects of the noun is the aspect of its count-ability. We can count some nouns on the basis of number or size, while we cannot, for some nouns. In this article, we are going to discuss exactly that – the definitions, examples, and example sentences of Countable and Uncountable Nouns.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Some nouns can be counted, and some cannot. Those nouns that we can count in number are known as countable nouns. The nouns that cannot be counted with a certain number are known as uncountable nouns. 

Countable Nouns

Some examples of countable nouns are man, pen, dog, etc. Those nouns that can be counted in number will be categorized into this type.

The countable nouns come with the articles a/an or the measurements of quantification such as few/ many placed before the noun. For example,

  • Here is a dog.
  • A few people are gathered for the meeting.
  • Many pencils are lying on the floor.
  • In the forest, there lived an elephant.
  • A few tigers are roaming in the night.

In all the above examples, we can count all the nouns. Even in examples like ‘few people’, ‘few tigers’, and ‘many pencils’, we can count them no matter how many.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns usually come with a singular verb as they are mostly abstract nouns. Let us take some examples.

  • Rice
  • Knowledge
  • Tea
  • Honey
  • Love
  • Evidence, etc. 

All these examples can only be used as a singular. Secondly, while using uncountable nouns, ‘a lot of’, ‘much’, ‘some’ etc should be used to measure them. Some example sentences of uncountable nouns are as follows:

  • Honey is a better alternative to sugar. 
  • He has a lot of money in his secret locker.
  • Rice is a staple food in this country.
  • Can you share some of that information with me?
  • He wastes a lot of water when he takes a bath.

These are the various examples of Countable and Uncountable Nouns.

Nouns that are both Countable and Uncountable

Some nouns are classified into both Countable and Uncountable Nouns depending on the context. Some of them are given below

  • He has a lot of hair on his body.
  • There is a hair in the soup.

In the first example, the word ‘hair’ is an uncountable noun, and hence ‘a lot of’ is used. In the second example, we are talking about a single strand of hair and hence it is a countable noun, and ‘a’ is used before it.

Now let us see another example.

  • I made some juice and put it in the fridge.
  • The fluid container broke and The floor is filled with some juices.

In the first example, the juice in the fridge is an uncountable noun. In the second example, some juices mean a mixture of apple, orange, etc. which makes it a countable noun. 

Also Read: Nouns – Definition, Classification, and Examples

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10 Nouns (types) in English You Must Learn!

14th July 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Nouns are the first and foremost parts of speech you must learn to get a good grasp on English grammar. There are various types of nouns and each type has a lot of importance. Hence, in this article, we are going to discuss the types of the 10 nouns in English you must learn, their definitions, and examples. Let us get started!

10 Nouns Types English

10 Nouns in English You must Learn

We all know that noun is a word that denotes the name of a person, place, a thing, a collection of things, or ideas, etc. The following are the 10 different types of nouns in the English language:

  1. Proper Nouns
  2. Common Nouns
  3. Collective Nouns
  4. Abstract Nouns
  5. Countable Nouns
  6. Uncountable Nouns
  7. Material Nouns
  8. Singular Nouns
  9. Plural Nouns
  10. Tangible Nouns

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are the nouns that are used to name a specific person, a specific place, thing, a particular event, and a group. Examples include

  • Tom Hanks
  • Peter Drucker
  • The Washington Post
  • Narendra Modi
  • Barack Obama

Common Nouns

This is a type of noun that is used to denote any general item, thing, animal, etc. For example,

  • Chair
  • Cup
  • Book
  • Pen
  • TV
  • Dog
  • Shoes

Collective Nouns

Any noun that represents a specific group of people or things is called a collective noun. For example, 

  • Team
  • School
  • Class
  • Government
  • Flock

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns are intangible nouns, that cannot be touched or felt by the sense such as things like feelings, ideas, concepts, perceptions, etc. For example,

  • Beauty
  • Ugliness
  • Confidence
  • Fear
  • Love
  • Anxiety

Countable Nouns

Countable Nouns refer to one of the 10 nouns that can be counted. They have the singular and plural forms of the nouns. For example, 

  • Man- Men
  • Animal- Animals
  • Mountain- Mountains
  • Country- Countries
  • River- Rivers

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns cannot be counted, and do not have the singular and plural forms, unlike the countable nouns. For example, 

  • Truth
  • Air
  • Coffee
  • Water
  • sand 

Material Nouns

A material noun is a noun that indicates the names of materials from which things are made. Or it is a type of noun that cannot be counted but can be measured. For example, 

  • Gold
  • Water
  • Ice
  • Iron
  • Diamond

Singular Nouns

A singular noun is one of the 10 Nouns that names one person, thing, or place. For example,

  • A man
  • An elephant
  • A table
  • A chair
  • A classroom

Plural Nouns

A plural noun names more than one person, place, thing, or idea. For example

  • Men
  • Elephants
  • Tables
  • Chairs
  • Classrooms

Tangible Nouns

Tangible Nouns are those nouns that one can touch or feel with the senses. They are also known as concrete nouns. For example, 

  • A suitcase
  • A dictionary
  • Toothpaste
  • Laptop
  • Box of peanuts

These are the 10 nouns (types) in English Grammar. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily doses of vocabulary.

Filed Under: Grammar, Nouns, Parts of Speech Tagged With: 10 Nouns in English Language, Abstract Noun Examples, Collective Noun Examples, Common Noun Examples, Countable and uncountable nouns, Material nouns, Nouns Examples, Nouns types and Examples, Proper Noun Example Sentences, Singular and Plural nouns, Tangible and intangible nouns, types of nouns

Noun meaning, Types, Examples, and usage

14th June 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

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 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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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. 

For More on Nouns, click here

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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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