Nouns are the building blocks of language. They are the names of any person, place, thing, or idea that can be thought of. There are different types of nouns in existence, and I will attempt to make them clear.

First on the list are the common nouns. These nouns are not capitalized, and they do not refer to a specific person, place, or thing. Because they are not specific or distinguishable, they are not capitalized.

Noun Examples

• The bus is very red
• That man is quite large
• I have some candy

Next up are the proper nouns. These nouns refer to specific people, locations, ideas, or things. They are capitalized because they specify a difference. Examples:

• The Mercedes is a very fast car
• My cousin Andy is a runner
• I would love some Reese’s cereal

Count nouns refer to anything that can be counted. Examples:

• Five ducks
• Two hard-boiled eggs
• Several piles of goo

Mass nouns refer to that which cannot be counted. Examples:

• Water, air, fire, and earth. These cannot be measured or counted. You can say two drops of water, but not two waters. Here, the noun refers to the drops, not the water itself. The two drops are made of water.

You can say several breaths of fresh air, but not several airs. Here, the noun refers to the breaths, not the air itself. You could also breathe in something other than air, for that matter.

Some noun can be countable or not, depending on the sentence and the context in which the noun is used. Examples:

• He ran for office (non-count)
• He has stayed in many offices (count)

Abstract nouns are ones which represent ideas or things which are not tangible. Examples:

• There will be peace
• The court will ensure his freedom
• We will huddle together for warmth

This can become a bit confusing for those who are not native speakers, since there are times when abstract nouns appear with determiners, which change the structure of a sentence. Example:

Jim Morrison was arrested for disturbing the peace. Here, the word peace is preceded by the determiner the. It remains, however, an abstract noun. The word the is added to determine that it was the local peace which Jim was disturbing.

Collective nouns are nouns which refer as a singular to a group. Examples: team, herd, and group.
You can say that the team is doing well, but not are doing well. Even though the team is made up of more than one individual, we refer to the team as a collective, and use a collective noun when speaking of it.

Nouns can be subjective, objective, and possessive. It is necessary to determine if the noun is the subject, an object, or if it shows possession. This is done through the use of the noun. Examples:

• The sad clown is short (subject)
• I like the sad clown (object)
• The sad clown’s car is blue and green (possessive)

When showing possession, the noun gets an apostrophe (‘) and the letter s. When dealing plural nouns, the apostrophe is added after the letter s. Sometimes the addition is in the form of the letters es, depending on the spelling of the possessive noun.

These are the nouns we use in the English language, put together in a very general sort of way. It is important to remember that to every set of rules, there are at least some exceptions. There are many irregularities and special uses of certain words. As you advance in reading, speaking, and writing in English, you will be able to learn the differences and gain confidence in your abilities.