English Grammar Lesson 2: Nouns and Noun Categories

INTRODUCTION

nouns in english grammar

The subject and object of a sentence can either be a noun or a pronoun.

A noun is the name of a person, an object, a place, idea, a living thing other than human beings, or an action.

  • John (a person)
  • a cat (a living thing)
  • a pen (an object)
  • love (an idea)
  • walking (an action)

A noun can be a generic term that stands for a group of similar things or a unique name for a single thing.

  • a boy (generic)
  • Martin (name)
  • a cat (generic)
  • Tom (name)

There are many different categories that grammar teachers assign to nouns; here, I would like to classify them into just two for your convenience.

The second category is if the noun is COUNTABLE or UNCOUNTABLE.

The first category is if the noun is COMMON or PROPER.

COUNTABLE VS UNCOUNTABLE

Countable nouns means the nouns that have a plural version; they are the nouns that we can count as separate entities.

  • a cat (cats, three cats, ten cats)
  • a river (rivers, five rivers)
  • a boy (boys, two boys)

UNCOUNTABLE VS UNCOUNTABLE

Uncountable nouns means the nouns that don't have a plural version; we can't count them as separate entities because they only make sense as a whole. These nouns will require an additional countable measuring noun before them to count.

  • water
  • sand
  • milk
  • bread
  • furniture.

We won't say waters or two waters. We won't say sands or ten sands.

However, we can count them by adding a countable measuring noun: three grains of sand, a pack of bread, ten pieces of furniture, etc.

NOUNS THAT ARE BOTH UNCOUNTABLE AND COUNTABLE

REMEMBER: Many nouns in English are both countable and uncountable according to the context.

  • iron
  • building
  • gold
  • work

When iron means the metal alone, it is uncountable, whereas it is countable when it means a tool made of iron.

Building is uncountable when it means the activity of construction, but it is countable when it means a structure constructed.

Work is uncountable when it means the total burden one has to handle at work, but it is countable when it means a single creation, as of a painting, novel, etc., of an artist.

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