Noun:Definition, Description, Types, Usage, Function

Definition and Description

A noun is a name. It can be a thing, a person, an insect, an idea or a feeling.

Types

There are four types of nouns:

(a) Common Nouns
(b) Proper Nouns
(c) Abstract Nouns
(d) Collective Nouns

Usage and Function

(A) Common Nouns

A common noun is a word used to name or identify a person, thing, place or creature.

Person: man, soldier
Thing: chair, ruler
Place: school , kitchen
Creature: dog, spider

(B) Proper Nouns

A proper noun is a particular name used to identity a person, thing or place. A proper noun begins with a capital letter.

Person: Daud, John
Thing:Proton Wqja , Nescafe
Place:Bukit Jalil ,Brazil

(C) Abstract Nouns

An abstract noun is used to name something we cannot see or touch but can only feel or think of.

happiness, knowledge, hunger, leadership

(D) Collective Nouns

A collective noun is used to name not just one person or thing but a whole collection of people or things

a choir of singers
a bunch of keys
a team of players
a galaxy of stars

Read more

Using Noncount Nouns

Singular, Plural Nouns; count nouns and noncount nouns.

Noun suffixes

countable and uncountable nouns

Using Noncount Nouns

Using Noncount Nouns

Many words for food are noncount nouns.

Liquids	Dry Items	Meat	Dairy Products	Vegetables	Other
beer	bread	bacon	butter	broccoli	cake
coffee	cereal	beef	cheese	cauliflower	candy
cream	flour	chicken	ice cream	corn	fruit
gravy	rice	fish	yogurt	eggplant	jam
juice	sugar	meat		lettuce	jelly
milk	toast	pork		spinach	pepper
sauce				squash	pie
soup					popcorn
tea					salt
water
wine

Many personal care items are also named by noncount nouns.

aftershave lotion
bath gel
conditioner
cream
fingernail polish
fingernail polish remover
lotion
perfume
shampoo
shaving cream
soap
toothpaste

Using

Use is there any before a noncount noun to ask if it exists:

• Is there any rice in the cupboard?


• Is there any fruit in the refrigerator?


• Is there any soap in the bathroom?

Use how much followed by a noncount noun plus is there to ask the amount of it that exists:

• How much ice cream is there?
  


• How much cereal is there?
  


• How much water is there?
  


• How much shampoo is there?

To tell the approximate amount of a noncount noun, use:

some = more than nothing
a lot of = a large amount of
a little = a small amount of
not much = a very small amount of
no/not any = nothing

• There is some ice cream in the freezer.


• There is a lot of fruit in the bowl.


• There is a little cereal in the box.


• There is not much shampoo.


• There is no water./There isn't any water.

Quantities

To tell an approximate number of plural items there are, use:

some = more than one
a few = three or four
a lot of/ lots of/ many = a large number of/plenty of/enough
not many = a small number of
too many = more than is good or necessary

• I have some tickets for the ball game.


• There are a few seats in the front row.


• A lot of people are going to the game.


• There are not many seats.


• There are too many people here.

Using

To tell the exact amount of a noncount noun, use the singular or plural of the container of the item, the weight of the item, or the number of pieces or servings of it there are:

• a can of soup - three cans of soup


• a cup of coffee - two cups of coffee


• a glass of milk - four glasses of milk


• a bowl of cereal - a few bowls of cereal


• one spoonful of sugar - two spoonfuls of sugar


• one serving of spinach  - three servings of spinach


• a piece of meat-  two pieces of meat


• a tube of toothpaste  - two tubes of toothpaste

Types of Containers bag bar bottle bowl box case cup glass jar package plate tube

Weights and Measures cup drop gallon ounce pint pound quart spoonful tablespoon teaspoon

Serving Sizes bite piece sip slice

There are many things that cannot be counted. Like all noncount nouns, words for these things do not have plural forms. Review the words in the following list:

advice	help	poverty
air	homework	rain
beauty	housework	sickness
cold	intelligence	snow
courage	kindness	strength
darkness	light	water
health	news	wealth
heat	pollution	work

• There is some housework to do.


• There is a lot of news.


• There is a little snow in the mountains.


• There is not much heat in the house.


• There is too much rain.

Do not use a, an, one, many, or any number with a noncount noun.

Singular, Plural Nouns; count nouns and noncount nouns.

Using Singular Nouns

English nouns can be divided into two categories: count nouns and noncount nouns.
A count noun is singular when there is one of the person, place, or thing it names.

When a noun is singular, use a or an before it.
Use a if it begins with a consonant sound; use an if it begins with a vowel sound.

Use a or an before a singular noun to answer the question "What... ?"

• What do you do?
  I'm a secretary.
  I'm an actor.


• What is it?
  It's a banana.
  It's an apple.


• What do you want?
  I want a house.
  I want an apartment.

Use the number one before a singular noun to answer the question "How many ... ?"

• How many cars do you have?
  We have one car.


• How many English classes are there?
  There is one class.

Use "There is . . . " before a singular noun to indicate that it exists.

• There is an accountant in my family.


• There is a library on the corner.


• There is only one bus stop on this street.

Using Plural Nouns

A count noun is plural when there is more than one of the person, place, or thing it names.
To make a singular noun plural:

• Add -s:

• one tree- three trees


• one word- four words


• one sister- two sisters

• Add -es to a few words that end in -o:

• one echo- two echoes


• one mosquito- three mosquitoes


• one tomato- four tomatoes


• one hero- four heroes


• one potato- two potatoes


• one tornado- two tornadoes

• Add -es to nouns that end in -ch, -sh, -ss, and -x:

• one beach- two beaches


• one dish- four dishes


• one dress- two dresses


• one fax- three faxes

• Add -ies to nouns that end in a consonant followed by -y, after dropping the -y.

• one city  two cities


• one country-  four countries


• one family-  two families


• one puppy-  six puppies

• Add -ves to nouns that end in -for -fe, after dropping the -for -fer.

• one calf- two calves


• one half- two halves


• one leaf- three leaves


• one knife- five knives

• Use an irregular form for certain nouns:

• 
  
  
  
  • one child- two children
  
  
  • one man- four men
  
  
  • one person- three people
  
  
  • one tooth- four teeth
  
  
  • one mouse- three mice
  
  
  • one woman- three women
  
  
  • one foot- two feet
  
  
  
  

• Use the singular form for the plural for certain nouns:

• one deer- three deer


• one sheep- four sheep


• one fish- two fish

Use are there and a plural noun in a question to ask if any exist and how many:

• Are there any cars in your driveway?


• How many cars are there?
  


• How many houses are there on this street?


• How many pages are there in this book?

Use there are followed by any number from two on up before a plural noun to tell how many of them exist:

• There are two cars in the driveway.


• There are ten houses on this street.


• There are 208 pages in this book.

Use there are before the word no when it indicates zero. No is followed by a plural noun:

• There are no cars in the driveway.


• There are no houses on this street.

Not any can be used instead of no to indicate zero:

• There are not any cars in the driveway.
  There aren't any cars in the driveway.


• There are not any houses on this street.
  There aren't any houses on this street.

countable and uncountable nouns

1 Countable nouns are the names of separate objects, people, ideas etc which we can count.
We can use numbers and a/an with countable nouns; they have plurals.

• a cat
  


• three cats
  


• a newspaper
  


• two newspapers

Uncountable nouns are the names of materials, liquids, and other things which we do not see as separate objects.
We cannot use a/an or numbers with uncountable nouns; they have no plurals.

• water(NOT a water; two waters)


• wool(NOT a wool; two wools)
  


• weather(NOT a weather; two weathers)

2 We cannot usually put a/an with an uncountable noun even when there is an adjective.

• My father enjoys very good health (NOT . . . a very good health.)


• We're having terrible weather (NOT . . . a terrible weather )


• He speaks good English (NOT . . . a good English )

3 Usually it is easy to see if a noun is countable or uncountable.Obviously house is a countable noun, and air is not.

But sometimes things are not so clear. For instance, travel and journey have very similar meanings, but travels uncountable (it means 'travelling in general') and journey is countable (it means 'one movement from one place to another').

Also, different languages see the world in different ways.
For example hair is uncountable in English, but plural countable in many languages; grapes are plural countable in English, but uncountable in some languages.

Here are some more nouns which are uncountable in English, but countable in some other languages, together with related singular countable expressions.

Uncountable	Countable
accommodation	a place to live or stay (not an accommodation)
advice	a piece of advice (not an advice)
bread	a loaf; a roll
furniture	a piece of furniture
grass	a blade of grass; a lawn
information	a piece of information
knowledge	a fact
lightning	a flash of lightning
luggage	a piece of luggage; a case; a trunk
money	a note; a coin; a sum
news	a piece of news
progress	a step forward
research	a piece of research; an experiment
rubbish	a piece of rubbish
spaghetti	a piece of spaghetti
thunder	a clap of thunder
toothache	an aching tooth
travel	a journey; a trip
work	a job; a piece of work

4 Many nouns have both countable and uncountable uses.

• I'd like some white paper (uncountable)


• I'm going out to buy a paper (= a newspaper— countable)


• The window's made of unbreakable glass (uncountable)


• Would you like a glass of water? (countable)


• Could I have some coffee? (uncountable)


• Could we have two coffees, please? (= cups of coffee— countable)


• She's got red hair. (uncountable)


• I've got two white hairs. (countable)

For more information about particular nouns, look in a good dictionary.

Noun suffixes

Verb + suffix

Many nouns are formed in this way.

Verb	Suffix	Noun
improve (= get better)	-ment	improvement
manage (e.g. a shop or business)	-ment	management
elect (= choose somebody by voting)	-ion	election
discuss (= talk about something seriously)	-ion	discussion
inform (= tell someone something)	-ation	information
organise	-ation	organisation
jog (= running to keep fit or for pleasure)	-ing	jogging
spell (e.g. S-P-E-L-L)	-ing	spelling

Note: Sometimes there is a spelling change. The most common is the omission of the final 'e' before the suffix -ion or -ation: translate/translation; organise/organisation

Adjective + suffix

Nouns are also formed by adding a suffix to an adjective. Two suffixes often added to adjectives to form nouns are -ness and -ity.

Adjective	Suffix	Noun
weak (not strong)	-ness	weakness
happy	-ness	happiness
dark (e.g. at night, when you can't see)	-ness	darkness
stupid   (not  intelligent, clever)	-ity	stupidity
punctual (= always arrives at the right time)	-ity	punctuality
similar (= almost the same; not different)	-ity	similarity

Pronunciation

The addition of these suffixes may change the pronunciation.

Nouns ending -ion or -ity have the main stress on the syllable before, so the pronunciation may be different from the verb or adjective:

Verb educate        translate discuss

Noun education    translation  discussion

Adjective similar           stupid            punctual

Noun similarity     stupidity      punctuality

-er/-or and -ist

These are common noun suffixes added to existing nouns or verbs, and they describe people and their jobs. -er

• dancer singer murderer farmer

-er

• driver manager footballer employer

-or

• actor director translator operator

-ist

• artist economist psychologist journalist

Note: Notice the common spelling changes:

• translate/translator


• operate/operator


• economy/economist


• psychology/psychologist.