Nouns Flashcards
Proper Noun
A proper noun is a noun that in its primary application refers to a unique entity, such as London, Jupiter, Sarah, or Microsoft. These nouns a capitalized.
Abstract Noun
Abstract nouns are words that name things that are not concrete. Your five physical senses cannot detect an abstract noun – you can’t see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, or touch it. In essence, an abstract noun is a quality, a concept, an idea, or maybe even an event. (e.g. communication, discussion, freedom, love).
Common Noun
A common noun, usually refers to a general class of entities (city, planet, person, corporation), or non-unique instances of a specific class (a city, another planet, these persons, our corporation). These nouns are only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.
Concrete Noun
You can experience concrete nouns with your five senses: you see them, hear them, smell them, taste them, and feel them. (e.g. ice cream, doll, mother)
Collective Noun
Collective nouns are names for a collection or a number of people or things. Words like group, herd, and array are collective noun examples.
Compound Noun
A compound noun is a noun that is made up of two or more words. Most compound nouns in English are formed by nouns modified by other nouns or adjectives. (e.g. The words tooth and paste are each nouns in their own right, but if you join them together they form a new word - toothpaste). However compound nouns can be made up of different word forms to form a new word with a new meaning. (e.g. blackboard, sunrise, washing machine.)
Countable/Uncountable 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. (e.g. one or a dog/two dogs/many dogs) 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. (e.g. oxygen, tea, research)
Noun Phrase
A word or group of words containing a noun and functioning in a sentence as subject, object, or prepositional object. (e.g. a fat bus driver, one simple sentence, Aunty Kate’s dog).
Regular/Irregular nouns
Most plural forms are created by simply adding an -s or –es to the end of the singular word. (e.g. cat/cats, watch/watches). However, English has both regular and irregular plural nouns. Regular plurals follow this rule (and other similar rules), but irregular plurals are, well, not regular and don’t follow a “standard” rule. (e.g. man/men, knife/knives, mouse/mice)
