This document provides examples of common nouns and proper nouns. It lists common nouns for things, animals, and places. Proper nouns include names of people, days, months, holidays, locations, and demonyms. The key difference between common and proper nouns is that proper nouns are capitalized and refer to specific people, places, or things whereas common nouns are not capitalized and more general terms.

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Basic English Grammar
Common Nouns and Proper Nouns
There are two main types of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns.
Common Nouns
Words for people, places and things are called common nouns.
These common nouns are words for things.
ruler saw television lamp bus
chair ship pencil ladder computer
hammer calculator loyalty train courage
bicycle crayons drill cooker telephone
truth sofa ferry dictionary spade
pen axe fridge carpet laziness
table truck book lawnmower printer
These common nouns are words for animals. Notice that special names for young animals are
included.
animal its young animal its young
dog puppy fox cub
cat kitten elephant calf
cow calf kangaroo joey
horse foal bear cub
sheep lamb lion cub
goat kid tiger cub
frog tadpole whale calf
These common nouns are words for places.
bank farm school supermarket
airport mall post office temple
hotel zoo university stadium
gas station theater police station shop
library factory office synagogue
park hospital restaurant gym
museum nursery mosque church

2. These common nouns are words for people who do certain things.
singer pilot photographer friend
manager police officer doctor clerk
sailor artist writer athlete
gardener teacher farmer lawyer
dancer driver magician brother
secretary plumber dentist technician
Proper Nouns
The names of particular people, places and things are proper nouns. They always begin with a
capital letter.
These people’s names are proper nouns.
Robin Hood Mrs. Taylor Grandad Nelson Mandela
Florence Nightingale Frankenstein Dr. Lee Aunt Diana
Mom George Washington Santa Claus Jose
Miss Park Granny Julia Roberts Confucius
Aladdin Mr. Young Uncle David Alex Rodriguez
Muhammad Ali Harry Potter Professor Raj Ms. Hall
Dad David Beckham Mahatma Gandhi Yang Ming
The names of the days of the week and the months of the year are proper nouns.
days of the week months of the year
Monday January July
Tuesday February August
Wednesday March September
Thursday April October
Friday May November
Saturday June December
Sunday
The names of special days and celebrations are also proper nouns.
New Year’s Day Valentine’s Day
Veterans' Day Halloween
Mother’s Day Labor Day
Thanksgiving Christmas
Independence Day Ramadan
Memorial Day Yom Kippur

3. The names of famous places, buildings and monuments are proper nouns.
Big Ben the Golden Gate Bridge
the Empire State Building the Sydney Opera House
the Sphinx the Great Wall of China
the Taj Mahal Buckingham Palace
Graceland Chaco Canyon Pueblo
the Eiffel Tower the Leaning Tower of Pisa
the Grand Canyon the Statue of Liberty
The names of people who live in a particular country are also proper nouns.
country people country people
Afghanistan Afghans Samoa Samoans
Australia Australians New Zealand New Zealanders
Britain the British Pakistan Pakistanis
China the Chinese the Philippines Filipinos
France the French Russia Russians
Germany Germans Nicaragua Nicaraguans
India Indians South Africa South Africans
Indonesia Indonesians Spain Spaniards
Italy Italians Switzerland the Swiss
Japan the Japanese Thailand Thais
Korea Koreans USA Americans
Malaysia Malaysians Vietnam the Vietnamese