Types of Nouns

We have different types of nouns in English.
They are:

• Common nouns and Proper nouns
• Countable nouns and Uncountable (or Mass) nouns
• Collective nouns
• Concrete nouns and Abstract nouns
• Compound nouns
• Predicate nouns

When we talk or write, we talk or write about someone or something. If so, then we need to give a name to that someone or something. We cannot avoid names. So we cannot avoid nouns.
In real life we use different kinds of names. In grammar, different types of nouns represent different kinds of names.

What Do We Mean by Different Kinds of Names in Real Life?

It appears to be easy to understand this, but it is not immediately clear to many people what grammar means by different kinds of names.
If you were Albert Einstein. People would call you different things: Albert, Mr. Einstein, or even Al. Your close friends might even call you Mr. Intelligent or Mr. Genius (either to praise you or to make fun of you). If you happened to be in my country, we would address you as Einsteinji or Einstein Sahab or even Albertji.

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All these names of Einstein (that is you) are different names. We refer to them as names, surnames or nicknames.
However, grammar does not treat names, surnames, nicknames as belonging to different types. All of them belong to one type in grammar.

What Are the Different Kinds of Names According to Grammar?

Let's take an example.
Suppose a man comes to meet me at home while I am in my study. My wife receives him at the door and reports to me, "A man has come to see you." She refers to him as a man.
Now suppose both she and I know that he is Joseph, my student. In that case, she would tell me, "Joseph wants to meet you." She would refer to him as Joseph. These two (man and Joseph) are different names for the same person.
When my wife said man, I had a vague idea that the person waiting for me was a man and not a woman or child. The information was helpful...somewhat. When she said Joseph, I knew exactly who was waiting for me.
A difference of this kind between two names (man and Joseph) is not the same as the difference between a name, surname or nickname, as in (Albert or Mr. Einstein or Mr. Genius).
In our day-to-day conversation, it is common to say, My name is Joseph or Jane or Anil or Asha. We use these names for ourselves. None of us says: "My name is a man" or "My name is a woman".
We don't usually think of man, woman etc as names. Yet in truth they are names because we use those words to refer to people. Grammar recognizes this fact. So grammar is more true to life than life itself!

How Do We Distinguish
the Different Types of Nouns?

The answer to this question depends on the criterion we use to distinguish one noun from another.

• We say a noun is common or proper based on the generality or specificity of the name.
• Whether concrete or abstract is based on how we perceive the named thing.
• Countable and Mass nouns are based on whether the named people or places or things can be counted or not.
• Collective nouns refer to group names and not to names of individuals.
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• When we talk of compound nouns we are concerned about the morphology of the word, i.e. how the word is formed.
• When we want to discuss Predicate nouns we are busy with the syntax, i.e. the part played by the noun in the structure of the sentence.