Nouns

Nouns

What is a Noun?

Of all the parts of speech, nouns are perhaps the most important. A noun is a word that identifies a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. Here, we’ll take a closer look at what makes a noun a noun, and we’ll provide some noun examples, along with some advice for using nouns in your sentences.

Identifying a Noun

A noun is a part of speech that denotes a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. Every language has words that are nouns. As you read the following explanations, think about some words that might fit into each category.

Person – A term for a person, whether proper name, gender, title, or class, is a noun.
Animal – A term for an animal, whether proper name, species, gender, or class is a noun.
Place – A term for a place, whether proper name, physical location, or general locale is a noun.
Thing – A term for a thing, whether it exists now, will exist, or existed in the past is a noun.
Idea – A term for an idea, be it a real, workable idea or a fantasy that might never come to fruition is a noun.



NOUN GENDER

Nouns answer the questions "What is it?" and "Who is it?" They give names to things, people, and places.

Regular Nouns

Irregular Nouns




COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
It's important to distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns in English because their usage is different in regards to both determiners and verbs.

COUNTABLE NOUNS

Countable nouns are for things we can count using numbers. They have a singular and a plural form. The singular form can use the determiner "a" or "an". If you want to ask about the quantity of a countable noun, you ask "How many?" combined with the plural countable noun.

 

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Uncountable nouns are for the things that we cannot count with numbers. They may be the names for abstract ideas or qualities or for physical objects that are too small or too amorphous to be counted (liquids, powders, gases, etc.). Uncountable nouns are used with a singular verb. They usually do not have a plural form.

We cannot use a/an with these nouns. To express a quantity of an uncountable noun, use a word or expression like some, a lot of, much, a bit of, a great deal of , or else use an exact measurement like a cup of, a bag of, 1kg of, 1L of, a handful of, a pinch of, an hour of, a day of. If you want to ask about the quantity of an uncountable noun, you ask "How much?"