Nouns can be categorized into common or proper, countable or uncountable, and concrete or abstract. Common nouns refer generally while proper nouns specifically identify a single person, place or thing. Countable nouns can be pluralized while uncountable nouns cannot be counted. Concrete nouns refer to tangible things and abstract nouns refer to ideas and qualities. Compound nouns are made of two or more words joined together and pronouns take the place of nouns in sentences.

1. Nouns

2. What is a noun?What is a noun?
A noun is a part of speech that names a person, animal, place, thing, or idea.
The English word noun has its roots in the Latin word nomen, which means “name”,
so a noun is a name for something.
Person – John, Shakespeare, my mother, my teacher, he
(my is possessive adjective)
Animal – dog, cat, shark, cow, fish
Place – restaurant, beach, Opera House (compound noun), Sydney, here, there
Thing – ball, door, lamp, desk, computer, it, money, tree
Idea – rules, love, emotion, happiness
Nouns make up the majority of the English language.
More nouns appear every year as people come up with new ideas, products,
h ltechnology.

6. Nouns can be categorised in 3 waysNouns can be categorised in 3 ways
1 C P1. Common or Proper
2. Countable or Uncountable
3 C t Ab t t3. Concrete or Abstract

7. 1. Common or Proper1. Common or Proper
Common noun
A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in general, e.g. boy,co o ou s a ou a e e s o peop e o gs ge e a , e g boy,
country, bridge, city, birth, day, happiness.
The common noun refers to general, unspecific categories for example state
refers to any state in a country but Queensland is a proper noun referring to arefers to any state in a country, but Queensland is a proper noun referring to a
specific state in Australia.
Proper nounProper noun
A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, title or thing,
e.g. Steven, Africa, London, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Monday.
In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters.g , p p g p
There is usually just one instance of this kind of noun (London, Africa) but
there could be many instances of Peter (all the men named Peter).
Another example is university is a common noun, but Sydney University is a
proper (compound) noun.

8. 2. Countable or Uncountable2. Countable or Uncountable
Countable Noun
These nouns refer to something that can be counted. They have both
singular and plural forms (e.g. cat/cats; woman/women; country/countries).
Most nouns come into this category.
Uncountable (Mass nouns)
These nouns cannot be counted because of their physical nature (beer,
ff f d fl ) b h b ( h )traffic, food, flour) or because they are abstract (courage, happiness) .
Most abstract nouns are uncountable (happiness, truth, darkness, humour).

9. 2. Countable or Uncountable continued2. Countable or Uncountable continued
Some mass nouns can not take plural forms, for example, stuff and clutter. p , p ,
There is a lot of stuff in my room. You don’t say I have a lot of stuffs.
Substances, liquids and powders are entities that are often described as mass
nouns such as wood, sand, water, beer, milk and flour.
Some uncountable nouns can be made countable by using another word to
i di t tit b ttl f t l f ilk l f f b d k t f flindicate a quantity: bottle of water, glass of milk, loaf of bread, packet of flour.
A good test to see if a word is countable or not is to precede with a number, for
example “2 cats” makes sense (cat is countable) but “2 software” orexample 2 cats makes sense (cat is countable), but 2 software or
“2 softwares” does not make sense:
More examples: slang (is a collection of words) and feedback (comments madeMore examples: slang (is a collection of words) and feedback (comments made
by people).

10. 2. Countable or Uncountable continued2. Countable or Uncountable continued
• Uncountable nouns are often treated asUncountable nouns are often treated as
countable if we are talking about different
kinds of material liquid etc: Most washingkinds of material, liquid etc: Most washing
powders are not very kind to your hands..
Although powder is an uncountable nounAlthough powder is an uncountable noun,
here we are talking about different kinds of
the materialthe material.

11. 2. Countable or Uncountable continued2. Countable or Uncountable continued
• Some uncountable nouns are plural. They have no
singular forms with the same meaning, and cannot be
used with numbers. Common examples are: groceries,
arms, remains, goods, customs, clothes, thanks, g
regards, police etc.
– The police are searching for a white man in his twenties.
– Have you bought the groceries? (NOT Have you bought theHave you bought the groceries? (NOT Have you bought the
grocery?)
– Many thanks for your help.
• Some uncountable nouns can be used in the plural as• Some uncountable nouns can be used in the plural as
well as single, depending on the meaning or context of
the word.

12. 2. Countable or Uncountable continued
• Would you like some coffee?y ff
– uncountable because it's referring to the drink in
general
• He ordered a coffee• He ordered a coffee.
– countable, because it's referring to a cup of coffee
• There's no truth in the rumours.There s no truth in the rumours.
– uncountable, because it refers to the quality or state
of being true
Th f d t l t th b t h t• The fundamental truths about human nature.
– countable, because it's referring to facts or beliefs
that are true

13. 3. Concrete or Abstract3. Concrete or Abstract
A concrete noun is a noun which refers toA concrete noun is a noun which refers to
people and to things that exist physically and
can be seen touched smelled heard orcan be seen, touched, smelled, heard, or
tasted.
A concrete noun can be perceived by at leastA concrete noun can be perceived by at least
one of ours senses (sight, hearing, touch,
taste smell) Examples include dog buildingtaste, smell). Examples include dog, building,
coffee, tree, rain, beach, tune.

14. 3. Concrete or Abstract3. Concrete or Abstract
An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas, qualities,
and conditions ‐ things that cannot be seen or touched and
things which have no physical reality, e.g. truth, danger,
happiness, time, friendship, humour.
Abstract nouns are usually uncountable. Some abstract nouns
can have both countable and uncountable uses. When used
ith l i th llwith a general meaning, these nouns are usually
uncountable. When used with a particular meaning, these
nouns are usually countable.
W h d i ti h t t th b h t d– We had a nice time when we went to the beach yesterday.
(countable)
– I couldn’t finish the report because I didn’t get
enough time.(uncountable)enough time.(uncountable)

16. Collective nounsCollective nouns
Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things,
e.g. audience, family, government, team, jury. In American g , f y, g , , j y
English, most collective nouns are treated as singular, with
a singular verb: The whole family was at the table. In
British English, the preceding sentence would be correct,
but it would also be correct to treat the collective noun as a
plural, with a plural verb.
Although these words contain several members, the collective
noun can be in plural form if you are talking about more
than one collection. For example: The team trains on
Monday nights. There are twelve teams in the competition.
Collective nouns are often used to refer to groups of animals
such as a flock of sheep, a herd of cows, a colony of ants
and a gaggle of geese.

19. Compound NounsCompound Nouns
A compound noun contains two or more words which p
join together to make a single noun. This is a
common way of making new names for things.
Compound nouns can be words written:Compound nouns can be words written:
• together (closed form) such
as softball and toothpaste
• hyphenated (hyphenated form) such as
six‐pack and son‐in‐law
d ( f ) h• separate words (open form) such as
post office and upper class that go together by
meaning.g

20. PronounsPronouns
• Personal pronouns are types of nouns that take the place of
nouns when referring to people, places or things. The
personal pronouns in English are I, you, he, she, it, and
they.
– Amy works at a flower shop. She works at a flower shop.
– The Greeks invented democracy. They invented democracy.
• These pronouns take on other forms depending on what
type of function they are performing in a sentence. For
example, when used to signify possession of another noun,
pronouns take on their possessive form such as mine, ours,
h d th ihers, and theirs.
• That pizza belongs to Marley. That pizza is hers.

21. Pronouns (part 2)Pronouns (part 2)
• When used as the object of a prepositionWhen used as the object of a preposition,
pronouns take on their objective case.
Examples include him her me us and themExamples include him, her, me, us, and them.
– Hand the money over to Jennifer. Hand the money
over to her.over to her.
– The police are on to John and Ray. The police are
on to them.o o e

22. PronounsPronouns
Subject Object Possessive
P P PPronoun Pronoun Pronoun
Singular
I me mineI me mine
You you yours
He him his
She her hers
It it its
Plural
We us ours
You you yours
They them theirsThey them theirs