Noun

The Noun

A noun is a word used to name a person, place, thing or idea.

Examples of nouns:

Persons: Joshua, Mr. Smith, fire fighter, men, Canadians
Places: New York, England, kitchen, city
Things: book, novel, pens, cars, computers
Ideas: obedience, happiness, weakness, pride 

Common and Proper Nouns

There are two classes of nouns, proper nouns and common nouns.

• A proper noun names a particular person, place or thing, and is always capitalized.
• A common noun names any one of a group of persons, places, or things, and is not capitalized.

Common Nouns	Proper Nouns
man	Peter, John, Mr. Jones
city	New York, Boston, Sydney
month	January, March, December

 
 

Compound Nouns

It is possible for two or more words to be used together as a noun. These word groups are called compound nouns.
The parts of a compound noun may be written as one word, as two or more words, or may be hyphenated.

Examples of compound nouns:

One word: Basketball, schoolteacher, housekeeper
Two or more words: fire fighter, tennis ball, commander in chief
Hyphenated word: mother-in-law, ice-cream, baby-sitter
 
  Collective Nouns
Collective Nouns name a group of persons or things.

Examples of collective nouns:

Committee, club, herd, flock, class, audience, assembly, family