This is the second part of my English 101 series. After a brief discussion on the different
parts of speech, this is about nouns, I would say the first and the heart of English sentence construction and word usage. Let's start with what is a word. A
word is a group of
letters that we utter. The letter m-o-t-h-e-r is a word we use to refer to a certain person. When there is a group of words, we call it a
sentence,
phrase, or
clause.
Noun forms part of our everyday words, our speech. Some of my students who have had a weaker foundation in the lesson Parts of Speech confusingly referred to it as Figure of Speech (simile, metaphor, personification, etc). Noun, from the Latin word "nomen", literally means name. A noun is a word that names a person, a place, a thing, an animal, an event, an idea, or a concept. A noun can be divided into Concrete and Abstract.
Concrete nouns > names a material thing, people, place, anything that can be perceived through our senses, or does have a material existence.
Examples: planet, soldier, star, Earth.
The following cannot be perceived by the senses but have material existence: atom, proton, neutron, and cell.
Abstract nouns > names a concept, quality, emotion, condition, and attitude which have no material existence.
Examples: joy, love, justice, freedom, power
Nouns have
two kinds under these two divisions, namely,
Common and
Proper Nouns.
Common Nouns > names a "general" name of a person, a thing, a place, an animal, an event, a concept, or an idea.
Examples: boy, pencil, city, puppy, birthday, meetings, sports, knowledge, leadership
Proper Nouns > names a specific name of a person, a thing, a place, an animal, an event, a concept, or an idea.
Examples: Prince William, Mongol, Manila, Lassie, April, Olympic Games, Democrats
We also have the gender of nouns, in which we categorize each of them into hers, his, neutral, or common. The purpose is to identify the nouns to whom or which they should be used. The Genders of the noun are
Masculine,
Feminine,
Common, and
Neuter.
Masculine Gender Nouns > a noun used to refer to persons or animals of the male kind.
Examples: groom, prince, lad, rooster, king, duke, fiance, lion, uncle, nephew
Feminine Gender Nouns > a noun used to refer to persons or animals of the female kind.
Examples: bride, princess, lass, hen, queen, duchess, fiancee, lioness, aunt, niece
Common Gender Nouns > a noun used to refer to persons or animals whose gender has not been known or specifically stated.
Examples: citizen, visitor, people, student, child, singer, doctor, cat
Neuter Gender Nouns > a noun used to refer to objects.
Examples: car, house, ring, blouse, pants
Below are other nouns which are especially important in distinguishing the verb it agrees with. They will be discussed in my next blog post.
Collective Nouns > nouns used to refer to a whole group of people, places, things, or ideas.
Examples:
- Persons = family, committee, team, group, jury, crew, platoon, squad, troop, cast, battalion, bevy, colony, pride, class, coven, congregation, panel
- Animals = herd, club, gaggle, brood, litter, flock, pack, colony, caravan
- Things = bunch, bouquet, armada, fleet, deck, flotilla
Count Nouns > nouns that can be counted such as houses, books, clothes, shoes, etc.
Mass Nouns > nouns that cannot be counted individually, such as the words love, money, food, knowledge, and kindness.
We also have what we call the
Number of nouns in which a vital role in sentence construction is very important, the
Singular and Plural Nouns.
Singular nouns as the word implied, refer to a single person, place, thing, animal, or idea.
Plural nouns, however, implied more than one.
The list of these nouns with their corresponding plural forms will be provided in my next series as well as the different uses of nouns.
