Definition: A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events and feelings. Nouns can be a subject or an object of a verb, can be modified by an adjective and can take an article or determiner.
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We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns. The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular.
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Noun Gender
Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender. For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress".
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Some nouns, like the word time, beauty, fire, death, gossip can be used as either a count noun, or a non-count noun.
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Many is used with count nouns.
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For example:
- Table
- Pencil
- The dog
- A white house
For example:
- birth
- happiness
- evolution
- technology, etc.
We are going to explain some rules that will help you to form the plural forms of the nouns. The general rule is to add "-s" to the noun in singular.
For example:
- Book - Books
- House - Houses
- Chair - Chairs
For example:
- sandwich - sandwiches
- brush - brushes
- bus - buses
- box - boxes
- potato - potatoes
For example:
- nappy - nappies
- day - days
- toy - toys
For example:
- Woman - Women
- Child - Children
- Sheep - Sheep
For example:
- my girlfriend's brother
- John's house
- The Browns' house
- The boys' pens
Noun Gender
Many common nouns, like "engineer" or "teacher", can refer to men or women. Once, many English nouns would change form depending on their gender. For example: A man was called an "author" while a woman was called an "authoress".
For example:
- David Garrick was a very prominent eighteenth-century actor.
- Sarah Siddons was at the height of her career as an actress in the 1780s.
- The manager was trying to write a want ad, but he couldn't decide whether he was advertising for a "waiter" or a "waitress"
- Proper nouns Definition: Proper nouns ( also called proper names) are the words which name specific people, organizations, places, titles, cities, countries, calendar times, etc. They are always written with a capital letter. For example:
- Janet; Simon; John Wesley; London; The President; Tuesday; Christmas; Thanksgiving; Atlantic Ocean; Spain.
- Peter lives in Spain.
- Many people dread Monday mornings.
- Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.
- Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran.
- Common nouns Definition: A common noun is a word that names people, places, things, or ideas. They are not the names of a single person, place or thing. A common noun begins with a lowercase letter unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.
Examples: - People: man, woman, girl, baby, son, daughter, policeman, teacher
- Animals: cat, dog, fish, ant, snake
- Things: bear, book, boat, table, chair, phone
- Places: bank, school, city, building, shop
- Ideas: love, hate, idea, pride
- apple: I love a good red apple after dinner.
- dog, yard: The black dog is in my yard.
- book, table: The red book is on the table.
- call: Give me a call when you arrive.
- Concrete nouns Definition: Concrete nouns refers to objects and substances, including people and animals, physical items that we can perceive through our senses, that means concrete nouns can be touched, felt, held, something visible, smelt, taste, or be heard.
Concrete nouns can be countable nouns or uncountable nouns, and singular nouns or plural nouns. Concrete nouns can also be a common noun, proper nouns and collective nouns.
Example: - This is my house.
- Common Concrete Nouns:
snake, cat, table, girl, water - Countable Concrete Nouns (Singular):
table, computer, book, door - Countable Concrete Nouns (Plural):
tables, computers, books, doors - Uncountable Concrete Nouns:
sugar, rice, water, air, oil, salt, cheese - Proper Nouns:
Mrs. Jones, Tom Cruse, Max Ryan
* "Time" is a concept that has no physical existence; it is not a Concrete Noun
- Abstract nouns Definition: An abstract noun refers to states, events, concepts, feelings, qualities, etc., that have no physical existence.
Examples: - Friendship; peace; romance; humor are all abstract nouns that have no physical existence.
- Countable nouns refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural)
- Uncountable nouns Definition: An uncountable noun (or non-count noun) is a type of common noun that cannot be modified by a number without specifying a unit of measurement. In general, non-count nouns are considered to refer to indivisible wholes (which are not individual objects and can not be counted). For this reason, they are sometimes called MASS nouns. Uncountable nouns are used to describe a quality, action, thing or substance that can be poured or measured. Non-Count nouns also refer to a whole category made up of different varieties or a whole group of things that is made up of many individual parts. Uncountable nouns are always singular. Use the singular form of the verb with uncountable nouns. For example:
- There is some water in that pitcher.
- That is the equipment we use for the project.
| Usually non-count nouns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Things | Qualities | Actions | Fields of Study |
| water stuff money advice proof equipment dust homework fun information ink luck | dependability honesty loyalty sincerity integrity | walking/to walk typing/to type jumping/to jump thinking/to think swimming/to swim | psychology history social work economics biology English anatomy philosophy religion theology |
For example:
- How much time did it take for you to drive to school?.
Here, time is a non-count noun, because it refers to a category that contains smaller items (think of it as a "group" of minutes). - How many times did you take the test before you passed?.
Here, time is a count noun, because you can count exactly how many separate times you took the test. - They had a death in the family.
- Death is a tragic thing.
- Supermarkets have aisles for different foods.
- The animals at the zoo wanted food.
Many is used with count nouns.
For example:
- How many papers do you have to write?
- There were too many books required for that class.
- How much homework did you have last night?
- I had to read so much literature for my English class.
For example:
- I usually drink some wine with my meal.
- I don't usually drink any water with my wine.
For example:
- I don't usually drink much coffee.
- Little wine is undrinkable though.
For example:
- A lot of wine is drunk in France.
- No wine is drunk in Iran.
