Types of Nouns Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is a Noun? (/naʊn/)
A word used to identify either a class of people, places, or things or to name a single one of these.
Students struggle with: recognising and using different types of nouns, forming plurals, showing possessive forms, using countable and uncountable nouns correctly.
Concrete Noun
This is a noun that can be identified through the five senses – sight, smell, sound, taste and touch.
Examples include: music, pie, tornado, flower, dog, milk, team.
Abstract Noun
These are nouns that you cannot see, hear, taste, touch or smell. They refer to emotions, ideas, concepts, beliefs or a state of being.
Examples include: love, hate, acceptance, safety, evil, happiness, education, patience.
Possessive Noun
These nouns demonstrate ownership over something else and they typically include an apostrophe.
Examples include: Tony’s car, the dog’s bone, my mother’s recipe.
Proper Noun
These nouns refer to one person, place, thing or idea in particular. They start with a capital letter and can be names of people, places, buildings, books, movies, months, days and organizations.
Examples include: James Bond, February, Samsung, Monday, Big Ben, The Godfather.
Collective Noun
This noun refers to a group of people, animals or things and is used in a singular form.
Examples include: a flock, a herd, a bunch, a set.
Plural Noun
These nouns do not have a singular form but we use them to talk about multiples of a thing. We often use them with “some” or “a pair of”.
Examples include: trousers, scissors, outskirts.
Countable Noun
These are nouns that can be counted and have singular and plural forms. In their singular form, they can be preceded by “a” / “an”.
Examples include: cat, women, country, drinks.
Uncountable Noun
These nouns cannot be counted and don’t usually have a plural form.
Examples include: flour, earth, wood, rain.
Noun Phrases as Subjects -
can function as the subject of a sentence, acting as the performer of the verb’s action.
The dog barked
Noun Phrases as Objects -
an function as an object in a sentence, acting as the receiver of the verb’s action.
I saw the cat
Direct Object: “She read the book.” (the book is the noun phrase acting as the direct object).
Indirect Object: “He gave her the book.” (her is the noun phrase acting as the indirect object).
Noun Phrases as Compliments -
providing additional information that completes the meaning of a noun or the subject of a sentence.
“The book is a great gift.” (“a great gift” is a noun phrase acting as a subject complement).
“We consider her a genius.” (“a genius” is a noun phrase acting as an object complement).
