Nouns

Nouns :



The following paragraph is taken from Ernest Hemingway’s short story - The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Look at all the words that are in bold.

Francis Macomber had been carried to his tent from the edge of the camp in triumph on the arms and shoulders of a team made up of the cook, the personal boys, the skinner and the porters. The gun-bearers had taken no part in the demonstration. When the native boys put him down at the door of his tent, he had shaken all their hands, received their congratulations and then gone into the tent and sat on the bed until his wife came in. She did not speak to him when she came in and he left the tent at once to wash his face and hands in the portable washbasin outside and go over to the dining tent to sit in a comfortable canvas chair in the breeze and the shade.

What is common to all these words? Yes, they are all nouns.

A noun is a naming word. It can name anything - animal, place, thing, quality, feeling and idea.

Types of Nouns

Common nouns are nouns that name anything that is shared by every person or thing of the same class. They do not refer to any particular person or thing.

For instance, in the paragraph given above, words like tent, arms, shoulders, boys, cook and door are common nouns.

Proper nouns are nouns that name a particular person or thing.

For instance, in the paragraph given above, the word ‘Francis Macomber’ is a proper noun. Other examples of proper nouns could be your name, the names of your friends in your class, the name of your school, the name of your building, the name of your state, the name of your country.

Collective nouns are nouns that name a group or a collection of things of the same kind.

For instance, in the paragraph given above, the word TEAM is a collective noun. Other examples of collective nouns are words like a bouquet, a class, a bunch, a crowd.

Abstract nouns are nouns that name ideas, thoughts and feelings that a person can feel within himself but cannot experience through his five senses, that is, through sight, smell, hearing, touch or taste.

In the paragraph given earlier, the word TRIUMPH is an abstract noun. Other examples of abstract nouns are words like honesty, happiness, sorrow, excitement, boredom.

Material nouns are nouns that have a material, a substance or an ingredient that other things are made from.

For example, words like brass, cotton, plastic, rubber, sand, silver are all material nouns.

Related Pages :

1. Formation of Nouns from Verbs
   
2. Formation of Nouns from Adjectives
   
3. Formation of Nouns from other Nouns
   
4. Countable or Uncountable Nouns
   
5. Nouns and Number
   
6. Nouns and Genders
   
7. Pronouns
   
8. The Need for Pronouns
   
9. Types of Pronouns
   
10. Personal Pronouns
    
11. Interrogative Pronouns
    
12. Relative Pronouns
    
13. Reflexive Pronouns
    
14. Possessive Pronouns
    
15. Problematic Pronouns
    
16. Determiners
    
17. Types of Determiners
    
18. Verbs
    
19. Kinds of Verbs
    
20. Transitive Verbs
    
21. Intransitive Verbs
    
22. Gerunds
    
23. Usage of Gerunds
    
24. Uses of Gerunds
    
25. Tenses
    
26. The Simple Tenses
    
27. Simple Present Tense
    
28. Simple Past Tense
    
29. Simple Future Tense
    
30. The Continuous Tenses
    
31. Present Continuous Tense
    
32. Simple Present or Present Continuous
    
33. Past Continuous Tense
    
34. Simple Past or Past Continuous
    
35. Future Continuous Tense
    
36. Present and Past Participles
    
37. The Perfect Tenses
    
38. Present Perfect Tense
    
39. Simple Past or Present Perfect
    
40. Past Perfect Tense
    
41. Future Perfect Tense
    
42. The Perfect Continuous Tenses
    
43. Present Perfect Continuous Tense
    
44. Present Continuous or Present Perfect Continuous Tense
    
45. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
    
46. Future Perfect Continuous Tense
    

Nouns

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