Noun – Definition, Rules, Kinds of Nouns and Examples

Noun Definition – Rules, Kinds of nouns, and Examples of Nouns in sentences. What is a noun with Definition? Rules, and Examples (Noun) Sentences? Know the meaning and use of nouns in sentences. Noun sentences with rules and kinds of nouns.

The Noun is the first part of the parts of speech as we know that there are eight parts of speech in English grammar. We learn the nouns and their types so that we can use them in sentences easily. Let’s read the definition of nouns with examples.

What is a noun?

Definition of Noun: A noun is a word used to name a person, animal, bird, place, thing, or idea. A noun is used as a subject, object, and complement in a sentence. In short, we can say that a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing. 

• She has a big house.
• I don’t know the philosophy.
• The bus driver stops the car at once.
• She was going to Australia yesterday.
• He had lost his cow when he went to the forest.
• Father told us that honesty is the best policy.
• She wants a new umbrella.
• What is your responsibility?
• I don’t know your address.
• I can’t remember your birthday.

In the above sentences, the bold words are examples of nouns. These words function in a sentence as a subject, direct object, an indirect object, a subject complement an object complement, and apposition.

In this post, you will learn about the definition of noun with examples and types of nouns in the sentences.

How to identify a Noun

To identify or recognize a noun, you must know its definition with examples and rules. We have listed a few rules to identify a noun. After reading the rules of nouns, you will be able to find nouns in the sentences or paragraphs.

Read also:

• What are the examples of nouns?

People or Persons

Some words used for ‘people/persons‘ are called nouns. As;

Examples:

1. The author promoted his book last month.
2. I don’t know this artist.
3. She is a very famous doctor.
4.  The man has bought some red flowers recently.
5. The police officer saved our baby.
6. The teacher explained the lesson to us again.

Animals and Birds

The words used to identify ‘animals‘ and ‘birds‘ are called nouns.

Examples:

1. Zebra has stripes on its body.
2. Yesterday she killed a deer with a gun.
3. I had a parrot. It was red and yellow.
4. George saw a white horse in the forest.
5. A hen does not fly high. It can jump.
6. The lion is a dangerous animal.

Places

The words used for ‘places‘ are called nouns.

Examples:

1. Our children like to visit the zoo.
2. She is a doctor. She runs a hospital.
3. The hotels are very comfortable in the city.
4. She reached the railway station late.
5. Do you know where is the supermarket?
6. Have you ever been to New York?

Names

The names of people or persons and places are called nouns. These words are Proper Nouns.

Examples:

• Tom whitewashed the fence because Aunt Polly told him to do so.
• George changed him in the admission form.
• New York is my favorite city.
• Canberra is the capital of Australia.

Months and Days’ Name

The name of months and days are nouns.

Examples:

• We don’t go to the office on Sunday.
• Monday is my favorite day.
• He will join the academy in July.
• They had a wonderful party in December.
• Please meet me on Tuesday.

Use of Nouns

We use the nouns to identify people, places, animals, birds, and ideas. These words are used as the subject, direct and indirect object, complement, possessive nouns, and vocative case. In this post, we have explained the functions of nouns in detail. Read this post completely.

Kinds of Noun

There are five kinds of nouns in English Grammar;

• Proper noun
• Common nouns
• Collective noun
• Material Noun
• Abstract noun

Modern Classification of Nouns

In the modern classification of nouns we find;

• Concrete Nouns
• Countable Nouns
• Uncountable Nouns

Proper Nouns

Definition of Proper Noun: The noun words which give a sense to the name of a particular person, a particular animal, a particular place and particular thing, etc., are called proper nouns. for example

Names of special persons– Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, George, Lucy, etc.

Names of special places– New York, Italy, New Delhi, Lucknow, Amsterdam, etc.

Names of special objects – Bhagavad Gita, Bible, Ramayana, Quran, etc.

Names of special creatures – Chetak (horse), Airavat (elephant), etc.

Sentences of Proper Nouns:

• She wants to live in New York.
• Abraham Lincoln was the first president of America.
• George is my best friend he always helps me with my problems.
• Did you see Lucy last night?
• Mahatma Gandhi studied in England and became a barrister.
• New Delhi is the capital of India.
• Have you ever read the bible?
• Chetak was the horse of Maharana Pratap.

Common Nouns

Definition of Common Nouns: Nouns that refer to the same type of animals, objects, places, etc., are called common nouns. for example:

Animals – fish, donkey, ant, horse, elephant, bird, parrot, cow, duck, goose, etc.

Things – gold, oil, slippers, flour, window, car, shirt, fruit, chair, pen, book, bus, etc.

Places – market, city, street, country, mountain, river, school, station, etc.

People – boy, man, woman, driver, teacher, player,  singer, soldier, etc.

Sentences of Common Nouns:

• Some people do not like to eat fish.
• An ant 🐜 works hard.
• I have never ridden a horse in my life.
• An elephant was walking on the road when I was driving a car.
• A duck can swim in the water.
• Does she graze her cow in the field?
• Have you met this singer before?

Collective Nouns

Definition Collective Nouns: The noun words from which a group or community is understood, are called collective nouns. For example –

• bunch of grapes,
• heap of grains,
• deck of cards,
• hive of bees,
• bunch of coriander,
• class,
• crowd,
• police,
• group,
• troop,
• party etc.

Note: The above words are examples of collective nouns. All these words are used in the singular because the group appears as a unit.

Sentences of Collective Nouns

• The fox saw a bunch of grapes in the forest.
• The farmer wanted to sell a heap of grains.
• The hunter saw a hive of bees in the trees.
• The teacher does not want to teach our class.
• The crowd did not show pity for the poor.
• The police have caught a thief at the platform.

Material Nouns (Mass Nouns)

Definition of Material Nouns: Nouns that refer to a substance or substance are called material nouns or mass nouns. For example, different types of dishes are made from wheat rice. Yogurt, cheese, sweets, etc. are made from milk. Jewelry etc. is made from gold and silver.

Various items are made from brass, copper, iron, etc. Wood, kerosene, coal, and petrol are also liquids. These substances are not countable. Therefore, all the mass noun words are used in the singular only.

Sentences of Material Noun

• I need a glass of water now.
• She wants to wear earring of gold.
• I have never bought milk from the store.
• The prices of petrol are increasing day by day.
• You should add yogurt to your diet.
• Can I buy an iron axe to cut the wood from the forest?
• Do you need a glass of juice of orange?

Abstract Nouns

Definition of Abstract Nouns: The noun words which give a sense of position, emotion, and condition of any creature or thing are called possessive nouns. Examples – humanity, violence, medicine, brotherhood, friendship, truth, falsehood, childhood, old age, happiness, etc.

Sentences of Abstract Nouns

• We should not take help from violence.
• We should always speak the truth.
• Jack couldn’t enjoy riding a bicycle in his childhood.
• People become weak in old age.

Countable Nouns

The nouns which can be counted are called countable nouns. We can count the common and proper nouns. For example; book, pen, chair, boy, girl, duck, dog, bottle, shoes, table, bus, tickets, trees, box, notebooks, shirts, pants, buckets, car, etc.

• I have a pen.
• Do you wear a red shirt?
• She eats her lunch at the table.
• Our kids never tear their notebooks.
• Did you that old box?
• This boy never hurts people.
• You should buy your tickets on time.
• Fill your buckets with cold water.
• Trees are very useful for humanity.
• That duck is swimming in the pond.

Note: A countable noun can be in singular or plural form.

Examples:

• Book (singular)
• Books (plural)
• Car (singular)
• Cars (plural)

Uncountable Nouns

The nouns which cannot be counted are called uncountable nouns. We cannot count the material and abstract nouns. For example; milk, water, gold, rice, wheat, flour, bravery, courage, time, freedom, fear, pain, etc.

• Children should drink two glasses of milk daily.
• We should not waste our time.
• Bravery is always rewarded.
• Do you like fried rice?
• Gold is one of the precious metals.
• They craved freedom.
• Children were filled with fear when they saw a tiger.
• Drink two glasses of water every day.

Noun Numbers

There are two numbers of nouns; singular number and plural number.

• One boy told an interesting story. (singular noun)
• Several boys told interesting stories. (Plural noun)

Nouns that are in singular or plural form can be counted. They are called countable nouns.

Some Common Singular and Plural Nouns

Singular Nouns	Plural Nouns
Car	cars
Tree	trees
Chair	chairs
Animal	animals
House	houses
Duck	ducks
Video	videos
Building	building
Hotel	Hotels

Child	children
Fish 🐠	fish
Key	keys
Hero	heroes
Loaf	loaves
Wife	wives
Spy	spies
Tooth	teeth
Photo	photos
Tomato 🍅	tomatoes

Genders of Nouns

All nouns have their own genders. They can be classified into masculine gender feminine gender common gender and neutral gender. Masculine gender refers to male nouns feminine gender refers to female nouns common gender refers to either male or female nouns and neuter gender refers to plants and nonliving things.

• Masculine gender nouns are words for men and male animals.
• Feminine gender nouns are our words for women girls and female animals.
• Common gender nouns are nouns that are used for both males and females.
• Neuter gender nouns are words for things that are not alive.

List of Some Genders of Nouns

Masculine Genders	Feminine Genders
Boy	Girl
Son	Daughter
Father	Mother
Tiger	Tigress
Uncle	Aunt
Waiter	Waitress
Prince	Princess
Cock	Hen
Peacock	Peahen
Husband	Wife
Brother	Sister
Duke	Duchess
Washerman	Washerwoman

Read also:

• Simple Present Tense
• Present continuous tense
• Present Perfect Tense
• Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Functions of Nouns

The following types of 6 functions are performed by nouns; such as –

1. The subject of the Verb
2. The object of the Verb or the Preposition,
3. Complement of the Verb
4. Possessing the Noun
5. Apposition to a Noun
6. Being addressed.

On the basis of these functions, the cases of nouns are determined.

Case

Case shows how a Noun is used. There are three types of cases:

• Nominative Case
• Objective Case
• Possessive Case

Nominative Case (Subject of the Verb)

When a Noun is used as the subject of the verb then it is Noun that occurs in Nominative Case.

Examples:

• Maria plays football in the evening and writes a letter
• Jackson danced at the party.

Note: In the first sentence, ‘Maria‘ is the subject of the verb ‘plays‘ of the sentence. Hence Mohan is used in Nominative Case.

In the second sentence, Jackson is the subject of the verb ‘danced‘ of the sentence. Hence Shila is used in Nominative Case.

Read also:

• Use of Is Am and Are
• Use of Was and Were
• Use of Has and Have
• Use of Do and Does 
• Use of Had
• Simple Future Tense

Objective Case (Object of the Verb)

Objective Case: When a Noun is used as the verb of the sentence then that Noun is used in the Objective Case

Examples:

• James played cricket.
• The boy opened the box immediately.
• Nancy gave me a book yesterday.

In the first sentence, ‘cricket’ in the second sentence, ‘the box’, in the third sentence, ‘me and book’ have been used as the object of a verb. So, Cricket, Box Me, and Book is an Objective Case.

Note – There are two objects in the third sentence. The first object is – me and the second is Book. The first Object — is the Indirect Object while the second Object is the Direct Object.

Hint:

(i) Indirect Object comes immediately after the verb and Direct Object is used after Indirect Object.

(ii) Direct Object – It is obtained by applying ‘what’ in the verb.

(iii) Indirect Object is obtained by putting who or whom in the verb.

Object of the Preposition

A noun works as an object of the preposition. Read the following sentence carefully.

• The soldier went to his city.

In this sentence, there is City – Noun which is governed (related) by To Preposition. Hence City is used in Objective Case.

More examples:

• She does not go to school.
• He laughed at the poor.
• He went to Agra by car.
• You shot at the deer.
• They played cricket with a ball.

Complement of a verb

Complement means – in a sentence, the words of the predicate, not including the verb Complement – Noun or Adjective is used to complete the expressions of is, am, are, was, and were.

Examples:

• She is a driver. (Noun)
• The old box was black. (Adjective)

In the first sentence – ‘are’ and in the second sentence – ‘was’ are linking verbs. Their Complements are driver and black. Here ‘driver’ is ‘noun’ and is an Adjective.

Possessive Nouns

When a noun is used to express the relation or authority, it is in the Possessive Case.

Examples:

• I have taken George’s book.
• She wants to join the men’s team.
• Socrates’ followers were sad.
• Boy’s school was closed yesterday.
• I am cleaning my friend’s room.
• They didn’t find Jack’s wife.
• Porus bought people’s jewelry.
• The man’s heart was safe.
• The driver’s license was lost.

Note: – If a singular Proper Noun has the letter ‘s’ at the end (eg. words like Charles, Socrates, James, etc.), then there are two ways to express Possession with it.

Noun in Apposition

When the same thing or person appears from two Nouns, then the subsequent Noun will have the same case as the previous Noun, that is, both the nouns will have the same Case. In such use, there is Case in Apposition.

Hint – Apposition means placing near. (Staying close.)

Read the following example carefully.

• John, our captain, is a good player.

This sentence can be divided into the following two parts;

(i) John is a good player.
(ii) Our captain is a good player.

Therefore it is clear that John and our captain both refer to the same person. Here Rama is used in Nominative Case and Our Captain is its Case in Apposition.

Hint – In such sentences, the second Noun is the Case in Apposition of the first Noun.

Nominative of Address (Vocative Case)

Definition: A Noun used to name a person or thing addressed is in the Vocative Case.

Examples:

• Girls, do your work.
• Children, play this game.
• Come into the garden, Tom.

Examples of Nouns

• I don’t want to go to Victoria Park.
• Mr. Mick is the owner of this store.
• I saw a flock of birds in the garden.
• A crowd of people has saved the child.
• The boys want to play cricket today.
• They will be visiting New York next month.
• I always read William Shakespeare’s novels.
• The Bible is the holy book of Christians.
• She wrote a letter to his mother.
• On Friday, he will address the audience in the concert hall.
• They always meet at the restaurant.
• I met my friends at the store.
• The herd moved towards the pond.
• The flock of geese flew over the hills.
• He was given an award for his courage.
• They believed in justice above all.

Note: In the first sentence, ‘Girls’ are being addressed and ‘Tom’ in the second sentence. The Noun to which it is addressed has a Vocative Case, that is, such Nouns are used in the Nominative of Address. 

Read also:

• Past Indefinite Tense
• Past Continuous Tense
• Past Perfect Tense
• Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Conclusion

In this post, you have learned about the noun definition with rules, kinds, and examples in sentences. The noun is the most important topic in parts of speech. It is the first topic that is taught to us first. We use the nouns in our daily life. Our names, thanks, pets, clothes, vehicle,s and other things are nouns. You can watch the video to understand the noun definition easily given above.