Nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, a place, a thing or an idea: ⟦teacher⟧, ⟦Cairo⟧, ⟦table⟧, ⟦happiness⟧. Most sentences have at least one. There are four main kinds of noun, and each one tells you something different.

Key facts

  • Common nouns name any person, place or thing: ⟦girl⟧, ⟦city⟧, ⟦pencil⟧. They start with a small letter.
  • Proper nouns name a particular person, place, day or month: ⟦Amira⟧, ⟦London⟧, ⟦Monday⟧, ⟦July⟧. They always start with a capital letter.
  • Collective nouns name a group: ⟦a team of players⟧, ⟦a flock of birds⟧, ⟦a herd of elephants⟧, ⟦a swarm of bees⟧.
  • Abstract nouns name ideas, feelings and qualities you can't see or touch: ⟦courage⟧, ⟦friendship⟧, ⟦fear⟧, ⟦honesty⟧.
  • A quick test: a noun can usually follow ⟦the⟧, ⟦a⟧ or ⟦my⟧: ⟦the table⟧, ⟦a team⟧, ⟦my fear⟧.

Worked examples

Example 1

Find the nouns: ⟦The old man walked slowly to the shop.⟧

  1. ⟦Man⟧ is a person: a noun.
  2. ⟦Shop⟧ is a place: a noun.
  3. ⟦old⟧ describes, ⟦walked⟧ is an action and ⟦slowly⟧ tells us how: none of them is a noun.

Answer: ⟦man⟧ and ⟦shop⟧

Example 2

What kind of noun is ⟦Durban⟧?

  1. ⟦Durban⟧ is the name of one particular city.
  2. Names of particular places are proper nouns, so it has a capital letter.

Answer: A proper noun

Example 3

Choose the collective noun: ⟦a ___ of wolves⟧ (⟦flock⟧ / ⟦pack⟧ / ⟦swarm⟧)

  1. ⟦Flock⟧ is for birds or sheep and ⟦swarm⟧ is for insects.
  2. A group of wolves is a ⟦pack⟧: ⟦a pack of wolves⟧.

Answer: ⟦a pack of wolves⟧

Example 4

Is ⟦kindness⟧ a common noun or an abstract noun?

  1. You can't see or touch ⟦kindness⟧: it is a quality.
  2. So ⟦kindness⟧ is an abstract noun.

Answer: An abstract noun