English Grammar - Noun

A noun is any word which names a person, place, thing, idea, animal, quality, or activity.

Examples:   person - Jennifer
        place - downtown
        thing - table
        idea - equality
        animal - gopher
        quality - height
        activity - navigation

Nouns can have different functions in a sentence. Some nouns function as subjects while others function as objects or complements. For example, a noun like "Jennifer" might function in the following ways:

    Subject - Jennifer likes English courses.
    Object of a Preposition - He gave the book to Jennifer.
    Subject complement - The best student is Jennifer.

The term nominal refers to any word or group of words used as a noun.

Types of Nouns:

Proper nouns are the names of specific things, people, or places, such as Chicoutimi and Christine. They usually begin with a capital letter.

Common nouns are general names such as person, mansion, and book. They can be either concrete or abstract.

Concrete nouns refer to things which you can sense such as clock and telephone.

Abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities such as liberty and truth.

Count Nouns

Count nouns refer to anything which can be counted. They have a singular form and a plural form.

The plural usually ends in -s:

singular  car       plan      dollar    piece     apple     dot
plural    cars      plans     dollars   pieces    apples    dots


Most nouns ending in s, sh, o, or ch require an -es suffix to be plural:

singular bus       latch    wish    potato    hero    echo
plural   buses     latches  wishes  potatoes  heroes  echoes


Nouns ending in a consonant followed by y become plural by changing the y to i and adding -es:

singular  worry     story     apology        spy       mystery
plural    worries   stories   apologies      spies     mysteries


Irregular count nouns do not form their plurals using the rules stated above:

singular  man       goose     mouse     crisis    child     ox
plural    men       geese     mice      crises    children  oxen

Mass Nouns

Mass nouns refer to entities which cannot be counted. They do not usually have a plural form.

Examples:   wine, money, justice, time

Note that when we are talking about kinds of wine, we do use a plural.

Example:    He certainly knows his wines!

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things. Collective nouns can usually be counted; therefore, they have plural forms.

Examples:   herd        gang      staff         bunch      state
            herds       gangs     staffs        bunches    states

Plural Nouns

Plural nouns are nouns which have been changed into their plural form by adding an -s or -es. Remember, there are also irregular plural forms such as geese and mice.

Possessive Nouns

Nouns can also be possessive. The possessive expresses ownership, usually of the following noun, and often corresponds to a structure with of.

Example:  Khan's wrath = the wrath of Khan


Most singular possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe + s.

        Common     Possessive
singular   bird        bird's
plural     birds       birds'

Most plural possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe following the s-ending of the plural.

the bird's territory = the territory of the bird
the birds' territory = the territory of the birds


If a noun is plural but does not end in s, the possessive is formed by adding apostrophe + s.

        Common     Possessive
singular   woman       woman's
plural     women       women's