Part of Speech : Nouns

Nouns are varied by Person, Number, Gender, and Case. Person is that relation existing between the speaker, those addressed and the subject under consideration, whether by discourse or correspondence. The Persons are First, Second and Third and they represent respectively the speaker, the person addressed and the person or thing mentioned or under consideration.

Nouns can be divided into proper nouns and common nouns. The names of particular people, animals, places and things are called proper nouns. We begin a proper noun with a capital letter. Nouns that do not refer to particular persons, animals, places and things are called common nouns. The first letter of a common noun is not capitalized unless it is the first word in a sentence.

There are other kinds of nouns. A word that stands for a group of things is called a collective noun. Nouns can be singular or plural. When you refer to one person, animal, place, or thing, you use a singular noun. When you talk about two or more people, animals, places, or things, you want to use plural nouns.

There are countable and uncountable nouns. Countable nouns are things that can be counted like book, car and house. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted such as milk, water, and flour.

Other nouns are names we use to refer to quality, idea, condition, etc. that are not concrete objects, and they are known as abstract noun.

TYPE OF NOUNS:

Common nouns - are names of people (e.g. man, aunt), things (e.g. book, car), animals (e.g. monkey, armadillo) and places (mosque, beach).

Proper nouns - are special names of people (Tun Mahathir, Nabilah), things (The Star, KLCC Twin Tower), animals (Orang Utan, Lassie) and places (London, Perak, Pahang National Park). A proper noun begins with a capital letter. Proper nouns also refer to times or dates on the calendar: Saturday, April. We can use plurals for propre nouns in exceptional cases: "There are three Johns in my class." We can also use 'the' for a proper noun in special circumstances: "It is no longer the London I had once visited."

Abstract nouns - An abstract noun is a quality or something that we can only think or rather than something that we can see or touch (e.g. beauty, friendship). We can form abstract nouns from common nouns (child - childhood); form verbs (know - knowledge); and from adjectives (happy - happiness).

Collective nouns - A collective noun is a name we use for a number of people, animals or things which we group together and speak of as a whole. For example, a bunch of bananas, a litter of puppies.

SINGULAR and PLURAL NOUNS

Most nouns are either singular or plural. Plural nouns are easily recognized by their ending with an '-s'. But many plural nouns do not follow this same ending. The lists below show what different endings or suffixes are added to the words to make them plural nouns.

A noun that shows only one person (e.g. a girl), thing (pencil), animal (tiger) or place (market) is called a singular noun.

A noun that shows more than one person (e.g. girls), thing (pencils), animal (tigers) or place (markets) is called a plural noun.

The following nouns are always plural and take a plural verb.

 

	Police are charging him with the murder of the princess.
	People in general are not very approachable.
Football team –	Liverpool are a very successful football team. (BUT: Liverpool is a great city.)
Jeans*, knickers*, panties*, pants*, pyjamas*, shorts*, tights*, trousers*, and underpants* –
	These trousers are not mine
Clogs*, sandals*, slippers*, and sneakers*.
Glasses* (= spectacles), binoculars* –
	My glasses are used only for reading.
Pincers*, pliers*, scissors*, shears*, tongs* –
	Pliers are a handy tool.
	My garden shears trim the hedge very well.
Clothes –	My clothes need to be washed but I don't have the time.
Earnings –	Earnings in the agricultural sector have increased by 5% in the fourth quarter.
Cattle –	Cattle are reared for their meat or milk.

* "a pair of" can be used with these plural nouns.
+ Peoples when used in the plural (i.e. with '–s') refers to peoples from more than one race or nation.

Example: the peoples of Asia.

How plural nouns are formed

By adding -es to nouns ending in -ch, -s, -sh and -x:

beach = beaches / peach = peaches / ditch = ditches / speech = speeches

boss = bosses / chorus = choruses / lens = lenses / pass = passes

bush = bushes / dish = dishes / lash = lashes / wish = wishes

fax = faxes / hoax = hoaxes / six = sixes / tax = taxes

By adding -es to nouns ending in -o:

buffalo = buffaloes / cargo = cargoes / echo = echoes / mosquito = mosquitoes

By adding -s to nouns ending in -o:

banjo = banjos / radio = radios / photo = photos / video = videos

By replacing 'y' with 'ies':

fly = flies / hobby = hobbies / lorry = lorries / puppy = puppies

By adding 's' to nouns ending in -y:

donkey = donkeys / key = keys / toy = toys / turkey = turkeys

By replacing 'f' or 'fe' with '-ves':

calf = calves / half = halves / life = lives / wife = wives

By adding 's' to nouns ending in -f:

chief = chiefs / dwarf = dwarfs / reef = reefs / roof = roofs

By changing vowels:

foot = feet / goose = geese / tooth = teeth / woman = women

Some nouns have same words for plural and singular:

aircraft = aircraft / deer = deer / music = music / sheep = sheep

Exceptional plural:

child = children / mouse = mice / ox = oxen / passer-by = passers-by

COUNTABLE and UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted (e.g. oranges). Uncountable nouns are those that cannot be counted (e.g. smoke). So how do we know whether or not a noun is countable or uncountable?

The noun is countable:

• if we can use a/an before it. Example: I own a pony. / I play with an ostrich.
• if we can use the word 'many' (and not 'much') to describe it. Example: She has many boyfriends. (It's wrong to say: 'She has much friends.')
• if we can express its quantity by using a number before it. Example: I have seven sisters.
• if it takes on singular as well as plural.

The noun is uncountable:

• if a/an is not normally used in front of it. Example: He is eating some rice. (NOT: He is eating a rice.) Rice is treated as not countable, so some (which can be used for both countable and uncountable nouns) is used with it.
• if the word much can be correctly used with it. Example: How much rice have you eaten? (NOT: How many rice have you eaten?)
• if it is not possible to be counted (e.g. milk, oil, sand, sugar). However, we can make it countable by having a quantity for it. Example: I have just bought two cartons or litres/liters of milk. (NOT: I have just bought two milk.)
  
  
• if it takes only a singular form

Some nouns can be used as countable or uncountable nouns. It depends on how we use them. Example: I boil an egg. (Countable noun = one egg) / I like egg. (Uncountable noun, as it refers to egg in general.)

Countable and Uncountable Nouns are used with the following:

Countable Nouns	Uncountable Nouns
a, an, a few, several, many	a little, much, some, plenty of
some, plenty of, a lot of	a lot of, a large amount of
a large number of	a great deal of

  

More details about Nouns (Click here)