Nouns

ENG 110Prof. K. Horowitz

Index

• Objectives• Introduction• What is a noun?• Common & Proper

nouns• Concrete & Abstract

nouns• Collective & Compound• Try Your Luck!• Practice Exercises

Objectives

• This module is designed to offer students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with English nouns and their different categories. Students should be able to identify nouns according to their individual characteristics.

Introduction

• There are many nouns in English, and coincidentally, the categories we use to identify them are the same as the ones we use in Spanish. Through this module, it is hoped that you’ll be able to better identify them based on the categories they belong to.

A noun is a word which refers to a person, place, thing, or idea.

There are several different types of nouns:

• Common and proper nouns.• Concrete and abstract nouns.• Collective & compound nouns.

• Noun categories overlap, and it is possible for a noun to be more than one.

• For example, the noun dog is common and concrete. The noun butterfly is common, concrete, and compound.

Common & Proper Nouns

• Common Nouns: Refer to something that is not unique and has no defining characteristics. EX: desk, chair

• Proper Nouns: Refers to a unique person, place, thing, or idea; that has defining characteristics. They are always written with the first letter capitalized.EX: Mayaguez, John

Concrete & Abstract Nouns

• Concrete Nouns: Can be perceived by at least one of the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste). EX: Chair, John

• Abstract Nouns: Cannot be perceived by any of the five senses. They are usually emotions, ideals, or concepts. EX: Freedom, love, sadness.

Collective & Compound Nouns

• Collective Nouns: Refers to a single noun that indicates or refers to more than one. EX: Family, team, club

• Compound Noun: A single noun formed by two or more words. They can be together, separate, or divided by hyphen (-). EX: Butterfly, Christmas tree, mother-in-law

Try Your Luck!

• What types of nouns is the following example?

• Kansas City

Abstract & collective

Common & concrete

Compound & proper

• Let’s try another one!

• Family

Concrete & collective

Abstract & collective

Common & compound

Practice Exercises

Identify the following nouns as common or proper.• Car• Dog• William• Mall• France• Cheetos• House• Clothes• Mother • New York

Identify the following nouns as concrete or abstract.• Table• Hate• Keys• Snow• Common courtesy• Boredom• Pen• Chicago• Music• Wood

Identify the following nouns as collective or compound.

• New York City• grizzly bear• gang• man-at-arms• strawberry• band• city• freshman• circus • school

• Great job! See you next module!

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