Nouns
What is a Noun?
A noun is a word used to name a person, animal,
place, thing, and abstract idea. Nouns are usually the first words which small
children learn. The highlighted words in the following
sentences are all nouns:
- Late last year our neighbours bought a goat.
- Portia White was an opera singer.
- The bus inspector looked at all the passengers' passes.
- According to Plutarch, the library at Alexandria was destroyed in 48 B.C.
- Philosophy is of little comfort to the starving.
A noun can function in a
sentence as a subject, a direct
object, an indirect
object, a subject
complement, an object
complement, an appositive, an adjective or an adverb.
Noun Gender
Many common nouns, like
"engineer" or "teacher," can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns
would change form depending on their gender -- for example, a man was called an
"author" while a woman was called an "authoress" -- but this use of gender-specific
nouns is very
rare today. Those that are still used occasionally tend to refer to occupational
categories, as in the following sentences.
- David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor.
- Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s.
- The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress"
Noun Plurals
- When Matthew was small he rarely told the truth if he thought he was going to be punished.
- Many people do not believe that truths are self-evident.
- As they walked through the silent house, they were startled by an unexpected echo.
- I like to shout into the quarry and listen to the echoes that return.
- He tripped over a box left carelessly in the hallway.
- Since we are moving, we will need many boxes.
There are other nouns which
form the plural by changing the last letter before adding
"s". Some words ending in "f" form the plural by deleting "f" and adding "ves,"
and words ending in "y" form the plural by deleting the "y" and adding "ies," as
in the following pairs of sentences:
- The harbour at Marble Mountain has one wharf.
- There are several wharves in Halifax Harbour.
- Warsaw is their favourite city because it reminds them of their courtship.
- The vacation my grandparents won includes trips to twelve European cities.
- The children circled around the headmaster and shouted, "Are you a mouse or a man?"
- The audience was shocked when all five men admitted that they were afraid of mice.
Other nouns form the plural
irregularly. If English is your first language, you probably know most of these
already: when in doubt, consult a good dictionary.
Possessive Nouns
You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following sentences:
- The red suitcase is Cassandra's.
- The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's.
- The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeant's screams.
- The miner's face was covered in coal dust.
- The bus's seats are very uncomfortable.
- The bus' seats are very uncomfortable.
- The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
- The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs.
- Felicia Hemans's poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
- Felicia Hemans' poetry was once more popular than Lord Byron's.
- The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.
- The sheep's pen was mucked out every day.
- Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final.
- The men's hockey team will be playing as soon as the women's team is finished.
- The hunter followed the moose's trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon.
- The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.
- The janitors' room is downstairs and to the left.
- My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
- The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries' bindings.
- Religion is usually the subject of the roommates' many late night debates.
Using Possessive Nouns
- The miner's face was covered in coal dust.
- The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.
- The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
- My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.
In this sentence the possessive
noun "squirrels"' is used to modify the noun "nest" and the noun phrase "the
squirrels' nest" is the object of the infinitive
phrase "to
locate."
Types Of Nouns
If you are interested in the
details of these different types, you can read about them in the following
sections.
Proper Nouns
In each of the following sentences, the proper nouns are highlighted:
- The Marroons were transported from Jamaica and forced to build the fortifications in Halifax.
- Many people dread Monday mornings.
- Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.
- Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran.
- Last year, I had a Baptist, a Buddhist, and a Gardnerian Witch as roommates.
Common Nouns
In each of the following sentences, the common nouns are highlighted:
- According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away.
- All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer.
- I don't understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards.
- The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road.
- Many child-care workers are underpaid.
- The tenants in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their rent.
- The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants.
- Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times.
- The Diary of Anne Frank is often a child's first introduction to the history of the Holocaust.
Concrete Nouns
The highlighted words in the following sentences are all concrete nouns:
- The judge handed the files to the clerk.
- Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves.
- The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles.
- As the car drove past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartet's rendition of a minuet.
- The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.
Abstract Nouns
- Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought.
- Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood.
- Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp.
- Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically.
Countable Nouns
In each of the following sentences, the highlighted words are countable nouns:
- We painted the table red and the chairs blue.
- Since he inherited his aunt's library, Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books.
- Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock.
- The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane.
- Over the course of twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.
Non-Countable Nouns
The highlighted words in the following sentences are non-countable nouns:
- Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen.
- Oxygen is essential to human life.
- We decided to sell the furniture rather than take it with us when we moved.
- The furniture is heaped in the middle of the room.
- The crew spread the gravel over the roadbed.
- Gravel is more expensive than I thought.
Since "gravel" is a
non-countable noun, it takes the singularverb
form "is."
Collective Nouns
In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a collective noun:
- The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
- The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight.
- The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.
- The class was startled by the bursting light bulb.
In this sentence the word
"class" is a collective noun and takes the singular compoundverb
"was startled."
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