NOUNS

What are nouns?• Nouns are words that name

persons, places, things,

ideas, or actions.

A. Nouns have concrete and abstract forms.

• Concrete nouns name persons, places, or things that can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched.

Examples: car, radio, apple, tree

You may find a, an, or the before concrete nouns.

• Abstract nouns name intangible things that cannot be seen or touched such as qualities, feelings and ideas.

Examples: bravery, happiness, justice

B. Some nouns are collective.

• A collective noun names a group of persons, animals, or things considered as one.

Examples: group, class, committee, flock, nation

C. Nouns can be proper or common.

• Proper noun names a particular person, place or thing. It usually starts with a capital letter.

Examples: James Yap, Peter June Simon, Jean Marc Pingris, San MigSuper Coffee Mixers

• A common noun names things in general.

Examples: girl, boy, school, city

D. Nouns form their plurals in different ways.

• Most nouns form their plural by adding –s.

Examples: boy-boys

horse-horses

bag-bags

• Nouns ending in –s, -ss, -z, -ch, -shand –x form their plural forms by changing –f or –fe to –ves.

Examples: knife-knives

leaf-leaves

Some exceptions are: roof-roofschef-chefs

• Nouns ending in –y preceded by a consonant form their plural by changing –y to –i and adding –es.

Examples:city-cities

lily-lilies

baby-babies

• Nouns ending in –y preceded by a vowel form their plural by adding –s.

Examples: key-keys

toy-toys

boy-boys

• Some nouns ending in –opreceded by a consonant form their plural by adding –es.

Examples: potato-potatoes

mango-mangoes

tomato-tomatoes

• Other nouns ending in –opreceded by a vowel form their plural by adding –s.

Examples: radio-radiosigloo-igloos

• Some nouns form their plural form by changing the whole spelling.

Examples: tooth-teeth

goose-geese

man-men

• The following nouns have the same form in their plural.

Examples: deer-deer

sheep-sheep

salmon-salmon

• Some nouns are in plural form but are singular in meaning.

Examples: mumps

scissors

athletics

• Some nouns are used only in the plural form.

Examples: pants

jeans

pliers

• Some foreign nouns form their plural as in the original language.

Examples: cactus-cactidata-datum

alumnus-alumni

• Letters, figures, and signs form their plural by adding –s.

Examples: As

15s

18s

8s

E. Derived nouns are nouns formed by adding suffixes to some verbs and adjectives.

Examples: protect-protection

happy-happiness

national-nationalism

arrive-arrival