Nouns

Common

Common nouns are words that name general persons, places, or things, and they begin with lowercase letters.

Examples

school, ignorance, sunshine, teacher, city

Proper

Proper nouns are words that name specific persons, places, or things, and they being with capital letters.

Examples

Mazama High School, Robin, Japan, President Obama, Lincoln Memorial, Enlightenment

Count

Count nouns are common nouns that name general persons, places, or things that can be counted, either singularly or plural.

Examples

boy, boys OR town, towns OR pigeon, pigeons OR religion, religions

Non-count

Non-count nouns are common nouns that name things or ideas that can’t be counted or made plural.

Examples

gold, rain, gravel, goodness, ignorance, air

Singular

Singular nouns are any nouns that represent only one person, place, or thing.

Examples

purse, county, man, failure, Amazon River, Albatross Island

Plural

Plural nouns are count nouns that represent several persons, places, or things.

Examples

purses, counties, men, Cascade Mountains, Canary Islands

Specific (Definite)

Specific (or definite) nouns are words that name people, places, or things that can be identified within a group of the same type.

Examples

  • The students in Professor Alan’s class are very bright.
  • The train carrying the President was an hour early.
  • The books in the car were damaged.

General (Indefinite)

General (or indefinite) nouns are words that name categories of people, places, or things, and are often plural.

Examples

  • Teachers should grade.
  • Plays help people connect.
  • The subway has made commuting between libraries easy.

License

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About Writing: A Guide Copyright © 2015 by Robin Jeffrey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.