What is Noun?
A noun is defined as the name for any place, person or object. It is derived from a Latin word ‘nomen’ that corresponds to ‘a name’. It is known to be one of the most important parts of speech.
For a sentence necessarily 2 words are required, one is Noun and the other is Verb.
Suppose there is a sentence, where we are making an assertion (declaration), then we should have a word by which that assertion should be made (this word is called Verb) and another word over which that assertion is made (this word is called Noun).
Consider a sentence as an example to understand the same.
Example: Kids crawl.
Here assertion is made using the word crawl hence crawl is a verb. While the thing about which the assertion is made is ‘kids’ here, thus, it is a noun.
You must note a point over here that both noun and verb are equally important in a sentence.
Types of Noun
1. Common Noun: It is a type of noun that is used to denote any or every person or thing that belongs to a common class. This means common nouns are not a specific name for a person or object.
Example: Kid, country, etc.
Here kid can have names like Albert, Harry, etc. that defines definite individuals. Similarly, a country can be India, America, etc. as a definite individual but we have not defined it with a specific name.
Common nouns are written with first letter capital only when they are present at the beginning of a sentence.
2. Proper Noun: A type of noun that describes the name of a specific individual of a class of noun is known as a proper noun.
Example: George, Ganga, Himalayas, etc.
Here George particularly denotes a name of a person. Similarly, for the river as a common noun, Ganga is a proper noun. While for mountains as a common noun, Himalayas is a proper noun.
Proper nouns are always written with first letter capital no matter where they appear in a sentence.
3. Collective Noun: This category of noun denotes the ones that are formed by a collection of various sorts of things or people of the same kind (identical individuals). And the group of things is given a single name that we called collective noun.
Example: team, crowd, mob, etc.
Here the team is used to denote a collection of various people that are grouped to do a certain task as a whole like a football team. This means various players are forming a single team. Similarly, the crowd corresponds to a large number of persons, gathered together.
Collective nouns are also known as nouns of multitude.
You must note here that in new grammar common noun and collective noun is regarded as countable nouns. As both can be counted.
4. Material Noun: The name of the material matter or substance or component through which a thing or object is made is known as a material noun.
Example: copper, silver, sugar, milk, plastic, steel, iron, rubber, glass etc.
Here, materials like steel, rubber, glass are used to make a hand watch.
- Sometimes folks get confused between a common noun and a material noun. Basically, a material noun is a subtype of a common noun but the difference between them is made on the basis of their countability.
In general, a common noun is of countable nature whereas a material noun is not. We can count the number of watches thus it is a common noun but we cannot count steel or plastic thus these are material nouns. Similarly, the cow is a common noun because it is countable but the milk it gives is of uncountable nature.
5. Abstract Noun: Abstract nouns are a class of nouns that are used to specify the qualities, concepts of objects. Thus, abstract nouns define attribute or quality. One of the characteristics of an abstract noun is that they cannot be seen or touched.
Example: Whiteness, roundness, beauty, hatred, sadness, etc.
Suppose we are having a bottle that is solid, white in colour with rounded edges. We are defining these qualities relative to that bottle but irrespective of that bottle, these qualities do not have their own significance.
6. Concrete Noun: This kind of noun is noted as the object or thing that exhibits the desired attribute (quality). Concrete nouns can be sensed, touched, felt, etc.
Example: salt, milk, notebook, etc.
We can touch salt and even after tasting, we can say it is salty or is white in colour. So, sugar is a concrete noun whose salty taste and whiteness are the attribute nouns.
You must note here that both material and abstract noun are of uncountable nature.
7. Countable and Uncountable Noun: The nouns that exhibit countability are known as countable nouns. While Uncountable Noun is also known as Mass noun as it exhibits mass like nature.
Example of countable noun: pens, cars, beds, apple, etc.
Example of uncountable noun: air, information, music, etc.
Thus, from this discussion, it can be concluded that nouns are the ones that are defined on the basis of the name given to anything, that can be living like human, animal, etc. or non-living like a pen, bottle, books, etc. It is be feeling like hatred, love, etc. or behaviour like whiteness, solidity, etc.
