WELCOME TO TODAYS LESSON.

Introduce the topic through a short story.

Read this story and identify the names of animals, things, place etc.

Elicit prior knowledge and engage interest in the topic of the story by asking learners questions such as:

What do you know about the story?

Have you read it before?

How would you feel if you were the lion?

Let learners read the story aloud in pairs taking turns, a sentence each. Move around monitoring the reading to gain information on how well learners are reading.

Ask learners questions on their opinions of the story, who is who, what is happening, etc.

Ask learners what a noun is. If learners do not know, write a sentence from the story on the board. underline the noun and ask what it refers to ( an object, a place, a person etc.)

Types Of Nouns

There are several types of noun.

Common noun

A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in general, e.g. boy, country, bridge, city, birth, day, happiness.

Proper noun

A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, or thing, e.g. Steven, Africa, London, Monday. In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters.

Concrete noun

A concrete noun is a noun which refers to people and to things that exist physically and can be seen, touched, smelled, heard, or tasted. Examples include dog, building, coffee, tree, rain, beach, tune.

Abstract noun

An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions – things that cannot be seen or touched and things which have no physical reality, e.g. truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship, humour.

Collective nouns

Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things, e.g. audience, family, government, team, jury. In American English, most collective nouns are treated as singular, with a singular verb:

The whole family was at the table.

In British English, the preceding sentence would be correct, but it would also be correct to treat the collective noun as a plural, with a plural verb:

The whole family were at the table.

 For more information about this, see matching verbs to collective nouns.

 A noun may belong to more than one category. For example, happiness is both a common noun and an abstract noun, while Mount Everest is both a concrete noun and a proper noun.

Count and mass nouns

Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns (or count nouns) are those that refer to something that can be counted. Uncountable nouns (or mass nouns) do not typically refer to things that can be counted and so they do not regularly have a plural form.

Nouns are everywhere in our writing. But what are all the types of nouns you come across, and how do you use them?

What is a noun?

A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective.Make your writing shineGrammarly can help you write your bestWRITE WITH GRAMMARLY

Types of nouns

Nouns form a large proportion of English vocabulary and they come in a wide variety of types. Nouns can name a person:Albert Einsteinthe presidentmy mothera girl

Nouns can also name a place:Mount VesuviusDisneylandmy bedroom

Nouns can also name things, although sometimes they might be intangible things, such as concepts, activities, or processes. Some might even be hypothetical or imaginary things.shoefaucetfreedomThe Elder Wandbasketball

Proper nouns vs. common nouns

One important distinction to be made is whether a noun is a proper noun or a common noun. A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing, and is always capitalized.Does Tina have much homework to do this evening?

Tina is the name of a specific person.I would like to visit Old Faithful.

Old Faithful is the specific name of a geological phenomenon.

The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun, sometimes known as a generic noun. A common noun is the generic name of an item in a class or group and is not capitalized unless appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title. The girl crossed the river.

Girl is a common noun; we do not learn the identity of the girl by reading this sentence, though we know the action she takes. River is also a common noun in this sentence.

Types of common nouns

Common or generic nouns can be broken down into three subtypes: concrete nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is something that is perceived by the senses; something that is physical or real.I heard the doorbell.My keyboard is sticky.

Doorbell and keyboard are real things that can be sensed.

Conversely, an abstract noun is something that cannot be perceived by the senses.We can’t imagine the courage it took to do that.

Courage is an abstract noun. Courage can’t be seen, heard, or sensed in any other way, but we know it exists.

A collective noun denotes a group or collection of people or things.That pack of lies is disgraceful.

Pack of lies as used here is a collective noun. Collective nouns take a singular verb as if they are one entity – in this case, the singular verb is.A pride of lions roamed the savanna.

Pride of lions is also a collective noun.

Nouns as subjects

Every sentence must have a subject, and that subject will always be a noun. The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is doing or being the verb in that sentence.Maria is happy.

Maria is the subject of this sentence and the corresponding verb is a form of to be (is).

Nouns as objects

Nouns can also be objects of a verb in a sentence. An object can be either a direct object (a noun that receives the action performed by the subject) or an indirect object (a noun that is the recipient of a direct object).Give the books to her.

Books is a direct object (what is being given) and her is the indirect object (who the books are being given to).

Nouns as subject and object complements

Another type of noun use is called a subject complement. In this example, the noun teacher is used as a subject complement.Mary is a teacher.

Subject complements normally follow linking verbs like to be, become, or seem. A teacher is what Mary is.

A related usage of nouns is called an object complement.I now pronounce you husband and wife.

Husband and wife are nouns used as object complements in this sentence. Verbs that denote making, naming, or creating are often followed by object complements.

Appositive nouns and nouns as modifiers

An appositive noun is a noun that immediately follows another noun in order to further define or identify it.My brother, Michael, is six years old.

Michael is an appositive here, further identifying the subject of the sentence, my brother.

Sometimes, nouns can be used adjectivally as well.He is a speed demon.

Speed is a normally a noun, but here it is acting as an adjective to modify demon.

Plural nouns

Plural nouns, unlike collective nouns, require plural verbs. Many English plural nouns can be formed by adding -s or -es to the singular form, although there are many exceptions.cat—catsThese two cats are both black.

Note the plural verb are.tax—taxeshouse—houses

Countable nouns vs. uncountable nouns

Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted, even if the number might be extraordinarily high (like counting all the people in the world). Countable nouns can be used with a/an, the, some, any, a few, and many.Here is a cat.

Cat is singular and—obviously—countable.Here are a few cats.Here are some cats.

Uncountable nouns are nouns that come in a state or quantity which is impossible to count; liquids are uncountable, as are things that act like liquids (sand, air). They are always considered to be singular, and can be used with some, any, a little, and much.An I.Q. test measures intelligence.

Intelligence is an uncountable noun.Students don’t seem to have much homework these days.

This example refers to an unspecified, unquantifiable amount of homework, so homework is an uncountable noun.

Possessive nouns

Possessive nouns are nouns which possess something; i.e., they have something. You can identify a possessive noun by the apostrophe; most nouns show the possessive with an apostrophe and an s.The cat’s toy was missing.

The cat possesses the toy, and we denote this by use of ‑’s at the end of cat.

When a singular noun ends in the letter s or z, the same format often applies. This is a matter of style, however, and some style guides suggest leaving off the extra s.I have been invited to the boss’s house for dinner.Mrs. Sanchez’s coat is still hanging on the back of her chair.

Plural nouns ending in s take only an apostrophe to form a possessive.My nieces’ prom dresses were exquisite.

Nouns FAQs

What are nouns?

Nouns refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. They make up the subjects, direct objects, and indirect objects in a sentence, along with other roles. 

What are examples of nouns?

Nouns can be living things (Keanu Reeves or cat), places (beach or Detroit), things (ruler or PlayStation 5), or ideas (nihilism or the theory of evolution). 

What are the different types of nouns?

Common nouns refer to general things (like parks), and proper nouns refer to a specific thing (like Yellowstone National Park). Nouns can also be plural or singular, depending on how many there are, and countable or uncountable, depending on how their plural form is used. 

How do you identify a noun in a sentence?

Nouns usually have articles (the, a, or an) before them in a sentence, but not always. Sometimes you’ll see adjectives or words like “some” or “this” before nouns. Aside from the first word in a sentence, if a word is capitalized then it’s a noun, such as a person’s name. 

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other combinations (see below). It is important to understand and recognize compound nouns. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns.

There are three forms for compound nouns:

1. open or spaced – space between words (tennis shoe)
2. hyphenated – hyphen between words (six-pack)
3. closed or solid – no space or hyphen between words (bedroom)

Here are some examples of compound nouns:

noun	+	noun	bus stop	Is this the bus stop for the number 12 bus?
fire-fly	In the tropics you can see fire-flies at night.
football	Shall we play football today?
adjective	+	noun	full moon	I always feel crazy at full moon.
blackboard	Clean the blackboard please.
software	I can’t install this software on my PC.
verb(-ing)	+	noun	breakfast	We always eat breakfast at 8am.
washing machine	Put the clothes in the red washing machine.
swimming pool	What a beautiful swimming pool!
noun	+	verb(-ing)	sunrise	I like to get up at sunrise.
haircut	You need a haircut.
train-spotting	His hobby is train-spotting.
verb	+	preposition	check-out	Please remember that check-out is at 12 noon.
noun	+	prepositional phrase	mother-in-law	My mother-in-law lives with us.
preposition	+	noun	underworld	Do you think the police accept money from the underworld?
noun	+	adjective	truckful	We need 10 truckfuls of bricks.

Pronunciation

Compound nouns tend to have more stress on the first word. In the phrase “pink ball”, both words are equally stressed (as you know, adjectives and nouns are always stressed). In the compound noun “golf ball”, the first word is stressed more (even though both words are nouns, and nouns are always stressed). Since “golf ball” is a compound noun we consider it as a single noun and so it has a single main stress – on the first word. Stress is important in compound nouns. For example, it helps us know if somebody said “a GREEN HOUSE” (a house which is painted green) or “a GREENhouse” (a building made of glass for growing plants inside).