Parts of Speech - The Noun

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

The Noun: As we have seen earlier, a noun is a word that refers to a name of the person, place, animal or thing. The word thing is used to mean anything that we can think of.

1. Proper Nouns: The name of some particular person, place or thing is a proper noun. (Ram is from India. Ashoka was a great king.) Here Ram and Ashka are a proper noun.


2. Common Nouns: The name given to every person or thing of the same class or kind is a common noun. (The boys are smarter than the girls.) Here boys and girls are common noun. In the above example king is a common noun.


3. Abstract Nouns: The name given to a quality, action or state considered apart from the object to which it belongs, is an abstract noun. (Honesty is the best policy). Abstract Nouns are formed from Adjectives (Kindness from Kind), Verbs (growth from grow) and from Common Nouns (slavery from slave)


4. Collective Nouns: The name given to a collection of persons or things taken together and spoken of as one whole is a collective noun. (The police are searching for clues. The Indian nation should be considered as one family.) Here police, nation and family are collective nouns.
   *Note: Team, Jury, Committee are examples of collective nouns which can take a singular or a plural verb depending on the context. Police always takes a plural verb.

Examples:

1. The crowd was very big. ~ crowd - collective


2. Always speak the truth. ~ truth - abstract


3. We all love honesty. ~ honesty - abstract


4. Our class consists of twenty pupils. ~ class and pupils - collective


5. The elephant has great strength. ~ elephant - common, strength - abstract


6. Solomon was famous for his wisdom. ~ Solomon - proper, wisdom - abstract


7. Cleanliness is next to godliness. ~ Cleanliness and godliness - abstract


8. We saw a fleet of ships in the harbour. ~ fleet - collective, ships and harbour - common


9. The class is studing grammar. ~ class - collective, grammar - abstract


10. The Nile overflows its banks every year. ~ Nile - proper, banks and year - common


11. A committiee of five was appointed. ~ committiee - collective


12. Nelson is famous for his victory at Trafalgar. ~ Nelson and Trafalgar - proper, victory - abstract


13. The soldiers were rewarded for their bravery. ~ soldiers - common, bravery - abstract


14. Without health there is no happiness. ~ health and happiness - abstract


15. He gave me a bunch of grapes. ~ bunch - collective, grapes - common


16. I recognized your voice at once. ~ voice - common


17. Our team is better than theirs. ~ team - collective


18. Never tell a lie. ~ lie - abstract


19. Wisdom is better than strength. ~ Wisdom and strength - abstract


20. He sets a hight value on his time. ~ value and time - abstract


21. I belive in his innocence. ~ innocence - abstract


22. This room is thirty feet in length. ~ room and feet - common, length - abstract


23. I often think of the happy days of childhood. ~ days - common, childhood - abstract


24. The streets of some of our cities are noted for their crookedness. ~ streets and cities - common, crookedness - abstract


25. What is your verdict, gentlemen of the jury? ~ verdict - abstract, gentlemen - common, jury - collective