Nouns

What are nouns? 

A noun is a word used to refer to persons, objects, places, conditions or actions.

For example:

I like apples. (The word apple is a noun)

I have a very nice friend.

Types of nouns

Abstract nouns

Abstract nouns are words that indicate an intangible idea.

For example: Happiness, joy, fear, failure, success, freedom, honesty, hope, trust, etc.

The list bellow contains a variety of frequent abstract nouns:

Collective nouns

Collective nouns are singular words, but refer to a group of persons or things.

For example: family, staff, gang, team, group, class, pack, etc.

The list bellow contains a variety of frequent collective nouns:

Common nouns

Common nouns are words that indicate any or all members of a class.

For example: boy, girl, book, cat, bus, bag, computer, room, car, etc.

The list bellow contains a variety of frequent common nouns:

Proper nouns

Proper nouns are words that indicate a specific person or thing. It always starts with a capital letter.

For example:

Muhammad, John, MacDonald’s, Japan,  Italy, Cairo, Microsoft, Titanic, etc.

The list bellow contains a variety of frequent proper nouns:

Forming plurals

To form the plural, we usually need to add an “s” to the singular form.

For example:

Book, books          car, cars               boy, boys            flag, flags            house, houses,  etc.

Exceptional cases:

Add “es” to nouns ending in: ch, o, sh, ss or x.

For example:

Bus, buses             box, boxes         guess, guesses,                               kiss, kisses          quiz, quizzes       class, classes,                wish, wishes,    fox, foxes,  etc.

Nouns ending in “y” preceded by a consonant, change the “y” into “ies”.

For example:

City, cities                               country, countries          fly, flies,              cry, cries,            dictionary, dictionaries,                library, libraries, etc.

But, 

Day, days                   toy, toys              boy, boys,          play, plays,       monkey, monkeys         donkey, donkeys, etc.

The following list of nouns ending in “f”  or  “fe” take “ves” instead of “f”  or “fe”.

Calf, half, knife, leaf, life, loaf, self, sheaf, shelf, thief, wife and wolf.

Irregular nouns:

Man, men          woman, women              child, children   mouse, mice     foot, feet            tooth, teeth      ox, oxen              goose, geese   louse, lice.

The following words are always singular uncountable nouns:

Information, knowledge, advice, news, furniture, luggage, baggage, rubbish.

The following words are always plural:

Glasses, trousers, scissors, pants, police, scales, clothes, pyjamas, gloves, etc.

Gender: masculine and feminine

Masculine gender

Masculine gender are words that are used to denote a male gender, people and animal.

We use the subject pronoun"he" for singular and "they" for plural.

Feminine gender

Feminine gender are words that are used to denote a female gender, people and animal.

We use the subject pronoun "she" for singular and "they" for plural.

Neuter gender

Neuter gender are words that are used to refer to inanimate objects, neither masculine nor feminine.

We use the subject pronoun "it" for singular and "they" for plural.

The majority of nouns in English have the same word for masculine and feminine; some others change:

The same word for masculine and feminine

Masculine	Feminine
Artist Baby Child Cousin Driver Fish Friend Guest Parent Partner Person Relative Student Teacher	Artist Baby Child Cousin Driver Fish Friend Guest Parent Partner Person Relative Student Teacher

Different word  for masculine and feminine

Masculine	Feminine
Father Uncle Brother Son Nephew Man Husband Dad Boy Bridegroom Grandfather Sir Lord King Waiter Prince Duke Bachelor Hero Count Cock Bull Drake Stallion Poet Murderer Host Conductor Author Actor Czar Wizard Emperor Lion Ram Fox Manager Tiger Chairman Policeman Salesman Businessman	Mother Aunt Sister Daughter Niece Woman Wife Mum Girl Bride Grandmother Madam Lady Queen Waitress Princess Duchess Spinster Heroine Countess Hen Cow Duck Mare Poetess Murderess Hostess Conductress Authoress Actress Czarina Witch Empress Lioness Ewe Vixen Manageress Tigress Chairwoman Policewoman Saleswoman Businesswoman