Nouns are one of the four major word classes, along with verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Nouns are the largest word class.
Types of nouns
A noun refers to a person, animal or thing. Some examples are:
Nouns referring to people
boy | woman | student | Maria |
girl | teacher | president | Lennon |
man | mother | John |
Nouns referring to animals and things
book | tree | Manchester | name |
computer | bird | idea | place |
picture | dog | love |
Thewomanin thepictureis mymother.
HernameisAnna. She’s fromManchester.
The diagram shows the different types of nouns and how they relate to one another.
Most nouns arecommon nouns, referring to classes or categories of people, animals and things.
Proper nounsare the names of specific people, animals and things. They are written with a capital letter at the start.
Concrete nounsrefer to material objects which we can see or touch.
Abstract nounsrefer to things which are not material objects, such as ideas, feelings and situations.
See also:
Nouns: countable and uncountable
Identifying nouns
It is not always possible to identify a noun by its form. However, some word endings can show that the word is probably a noun.
ending | examples |
-age | postage, language, sausage |
-ance/-ence | insurance, importance, difference |
-er/-or | teacher, driver, actor |
-hood | childhood, motherhood, fatherhood |
-ism | socialism, capitalism, nationalism |
-ist | artist, optimist, pianist |
-itude | attitude, multitude, solitude |
-ity/-ty | identity, quantity, cruelty |
-ment | excitement, argument, government |
-ness | happiness, business, darkness |
-ship | friendship, championship, relationship |
-tion/-sion | station, nation, extension |
Gerunds
The-ingforms of verbs (gerunds) can also act as nouns.
Smokingis forbidden on all flights.
The City Council does its economicplanningevery September.