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Noun is a word used as the name of a person, place, abstract quality etcetera. Nouns by themselves or with determiners and modifiers typically function as subject or direct object. Nouns can be introduced by a determiner.
Functions of Nouns
Nouns can be used as a subject, a direct object, and an indirect object of a verb; as an object of a preposition; and as an adverb or adjective in sentences. Nouns can also show possession.
Subject: The company is doing great. Roses are the flowers of love.
Direct object: I finally bought a new mobile.
Indirect object: Max gave Carol another chocolate.
Object of preposition: Roses are the flowers of love.
Adverb: The train leaves today.
Adjective: The office building faces the mall.
Possession: The lion’s cage is dangerous. My brother’s daughter is adorable.
Proper Noun
A proper noun is a name which refers only to a single person, place, or thing. In written English, a proper noun always begins with a capital letter.
Example: Melbourne (it refers to only one particular city), Steve (refers to a particular person),
Australia (there is no other country named Australia; this name is fixed for only one country).
Common Noun
A common noun is a name for something which is common for many things, person, or places. It encompasses a particular type of thing, person, or places.
Example: Country (it can refer to any country, nothing in particular), city (it can refer to any city like Melbourne, Mumbai, Toronto, etc. but nothing in particular).
Abstract Noun
An abstract noun is a word for something that cannot be seen but is there. It has no physical existence. Generally, it refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions.
Example: Truth, lies, happiness, sorrow, time, friendship, humor, patriotism, etc.
Concrete Noun
A concrete noun is the exact opposite of an abstract noun. It refers to the things we see and have physical existence.
Example: Chair, table, bat, ball, water, money, sugar, etc.
Material Noun
A material noun refers to a material or substance from which things are made such as silver, gold, iron, cotton, diamond and plastic. An example of a material noun is “protein” in the sentence “Protein is critical for energy.”
Countable Noun
The nouns that can be counted are called countable nouns. Countable nouns can take an article: a, an, the.
Example: Chair, table, bat, ball, etc. (you can say 1 chair, 2 chairs, 3 chairs – so chairs are countable)
Non-countable Noun
The nouns that cannot be counted are called non-countable nouns.
Example: Water, sugar, oil, salt, etc. (you cannot say 1 water, 2 water, 3 water because water is not countable)
Abstract nouns and proper nouns are always uncountable nouns, but common nouns and concrete nouns can be both count and non-count nouns.
Collective Noun
A collective noun is a word for a group of things, people, or animals, etc.
Example: family, team, jury, cattle, etc.
Collective nouns can be both plural and singular. However, Americans prefer to use collective nouns as singular, but both of the uses are correct in other parts of the world.
List of collective noun
Group Name “Herd”
A herd of antelope
A herd of boar
A herd of buffaloes
A herd of caribou
A herd of cattle
A herd of chamois
A herd of chinchillas
A herd of cows
A herd of cranes
A herd of deer
A herd of donkeys
A herd of elephants
A herd of elk
A herd of fairies
A herd of giraffes
A herd of gnus
A herd of goats
A herd of horses
A herd of llamas
A herd of moose
A herd of oxen
A herd of pigs
A herd of ponies
A herd of seahorses
A herd of seals
A herd of swans
A herd of swine
A herd of walruses
A herd of whales
A herd of wolves
A herd of wrens
A herd of yaks
A herd of zebras
Group Name “Pack”
A pack of bears (polar bears)
A pack of coyotes
A pack of dogs
A pack of grouse
A pack of gulls
A pack of hounds
A pack of mongooses
A pack of mules
A pack of rats
A pack of sharks
A pack of stoats
A pack of weasels
A pack of wolves
Group Name “Flock”
A flock of birds
A flock of bustards
A flock of camels
A flock of chickens
A flock of ducks
A flock of geese
A flock of goats
A flock of parrots
A flock of pigeons
A flock of seagulls
A flock of sheep
A flock of swifts
A flock of tourists
A flock of turkeys
Group Name “Swarm”
A swarm of ants
A swarm of bees
A swarm of butterflies
A swarm of eels
A swarm of flies
A swarm of gnats
A swarm of insects
A swarm of rats
Group Name “Shoal”
A shoal of bass
A shoal of fish
A shoal of herrings
A shoal of pilchards
A shoal of salmon
Group Name “Group”
A group of guinea pigs
A group of islands
A group of people
A group of dancers
A group of engineers
Group Name “Crowd”
A crowd of onlookers
A crowd of people
Group Name “Gang”
A gang of hoodlums
A gang of laborers
A gang of slaves
A gang of thieves
A gang of criminals
A gang of crooks
A gang of hoodlums
A gang of prisoners
Group Name “Mob”
A mob of emus
A mob of kangaroos
A mob of meerkats
A mob of thieves
A mob of sheep
A mob of kangaroos
A mob of rioters
Group Name “Staff”
A staff of employees
A staff of servants
Group Name “Crew”
A crew of sailors
Group Name “Choir”
A choir of angels
Group Name “Orchestra”
An orchestra of musicians
Group Name “Panel”
A panel of experts
Group Name “Board”
A board of directors
A board of trustees
A board of chess players
Group Name “Troupe”
A troupe of monkeys
A troupe of shrimp
A troupe of dancers
A troupe of minstrels
A troupe of performers
Group Name “Bunch”
A bunch of seals
A bunch of pigeons
Group Name “Pile”
A pile of books
Group Name “Heap”
A heap of trash
Group Name “Set”
A set of bowls
A set of utensils
Group Name “Stack”
A stack of books
Group Name “Series”
A series of events
A series of photos
Group Name “Shower”
A shower of bastards
Group Name “Fall”
A fall of lambs
A fall of woodcock
Collective Nouns List for People
In English, collective nouns for people are names for a number or a collection of people.
List of collective nouns for people in English.
A circle of friends
A class of pupils
A horde of savages
A host of angels
A house of senators
A joint of osteopaths
A lie/An equivocation of politicians
A line of kings/rulers
A melody of harpists
A mess/An execution of officers
A meter of percussionists
A mob of rioters
A morbidity of majors
A mug/A reflection of narcissists
A multiply/An unhappiness of husbands
A mutter of mothers-in-law
A wisdom of grandparents
A number/A set of mathematicians
A pack of Brownies
A pack of thieves
A pan of reviewers
A panel of experts
A party of friends
A patrol of policemen
A peck of Frenchmen
A picket of strikers
A pint of Irishmen
A pity/A gang of prisoners
A plush/A rascal of boys
A pomposity of professors
A posse of police
A posse of sheriffs
A pound of Englishmen
A promise of barmen
A prudence of vicars
A quiz of teachers
A rage of maidens
A rash of dermatologists
A regiment of soldiers
A rookery/A school of clerks
A rout of schoolboys
A sample of salesmen
A school of clerks
A scolding of seamstresses
A scoop/A slant of journalists
A sentence of judges
A series of radiologists
A set/A subtlety of designers
A set/A swish of hairdressers
A shower of bastards
A shower of meteorologists
A shrivel of critics
A shuffle of bureaucrats
A side of dancers
A simplicity of subalterns
A poverty of pipers
A slate of candidates
A slither of gossip columnists
A slouch of models
A sneer of butlers
A sprig of vegetarians
A squad of beaters
A squad of soldiers
A squat of daubers
A squeal of nieces
A staff of employees
A staff of servants
A staff of teachers
A stalk of foresters
A subtlety of sergeants at law
A superfluity of nuns
A tabernacle of bakers
A talent of gamblers
A tantrum of decorators
A team of athletes
A team of players
A thought of barons
A tribe of Indians
A tribe of natives
A trip of hippies
A troop of boy scouts
A troupe of acrobats
A troupe of artistes
A troupe of dancers
A troupe of performers
A wandering of tinkers
A wheeze of joggers
A worship of writers
An absence/An order of waiters
An alley/A pratfall of clowns
A brace/A wince of dentists
An amalgamation of metallurgists
An amble of walkers
An ambush of widows
An army of soldiers
A roll of drummers
An attitude/A grunt of teenagers
An audience of listeners
An eloquence of lawyers
An embarrassment /A persistence of parents
An entrance of actresses
An expectation of heirs
An expectation of midwives
An obscurity/A rhyme of poets
An illusion of magicians
An impatience of wives
An imposition of in-laws
An obeisance of servants
An observance of hermits
An obstruction of dons
Compound Noun
Sometimes two or three nouns appear together, or even with other parts of speech, and create idiomatic compound nouns. Idiomatic means that those nouns behave as a unit and, to a lesser or greater degree, amount to more than the sum of their parts.
Example: six-pack, A two-day meeting, five-year-old, and son-in-law, snowball, mailbox, etc.
Exercises
1. Find out nouns from the following sentences and classify them.
1. Always speak the truth
2. We all love honest people.
3. Kolkata is my city.
4. He was my class teacher.
5. A committee of five was appointed.
6 The students are learning grammar.
7. Without health there is no happiness.
8. Never tell a lie.
9. Wisdom is better than strength.
10. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India.
2. Make sentences with the following nouns:
Boy, Lion, Hero, peacock, Bull, Wife, Queen, Lady, Woman, Nun, Grandfather, Dog, Goose, Niece.
3. Identify the following nouns.
Tree, Box, Ox, Man, Boy, Class, Brush, Dish, Branch, Ratio, Photo, Logo, Baby, Lady, Story, Army, thief, wolves, knives, lives, halves.
4. Answer the following questions.
a. What is a noun?
b. What are the functions of a noun in a sentence?
c. How compound nouns are made? Give examples.
d. What is a collective noun?
5. Answer the following questions.
a. What is the difference between a common noun and a proper noun?
b. What is the difference between a countable noun and uncountable noun?
c. What are the differences between a concrete noun and an abstract noun?
d. What are the works of a noun in a sentence?
e, Can you write some sentences without nouns? Give two examples.
6. Read the following passage and identify the class of the nouns.
a. A Bengali Brahmin from Calcutta with ancestral gentry roots in Burdwan district and Jessore, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old. At the age of sixteen, he released his first substantial poems under the pseudonym Bhānusiṃha (“Sun Lion”), which were seized upon by literary authorities as long-lost classics.
b. Tagore modernised Bengali art by spurning rigid classical forms and resisting linguistic structures. His novels, stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays spoke to topics political and personal. Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works, and his verse, short stories, and novels were acclaimed—or panned—for their lyricism, colloquialism, naturalism, and unnatural contemplation. His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India’s “Jana Gana Mana” and Bangladesh’s “Amar Shonar Bangla”. The Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.
c. The original surname of the Tagores was Kushari. They were Rarhi Brahmins and originally belonged to a village named Kush in the district named Burdwan in West Bengal. One of the early biographers of Rabindranath Tagore was Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyaya.
d. Tagore returned to Jorasanko and completed a set of major works by 1877, one of them a long poem in the Maithili style of Vidyapati. As a joke, he claimed that these were the lost works of newly discovered 17th-century Vaiṣṇava poet Bhānusiṃha.
e. In 1890 Tagore began managing his vast ancestral estates in Shelaidaha (today a region of Bangladesh); he was joined there by his wife and children in 1898. Tagore released his Manasi poems (1890), among his best-known works.
7. Change the pronouns in the given sentences with nouns.
a. It is a great epic.
b. He is a nice speaker.
c. She is a freedom fighter.
d. He is a great poet.
e. She has a library.
8. Use the following nouns in complete sentences.
a. Tajmahal
b. Book
c. Car
d. Salt
e. Air
f. Mahabharata
g. Kolkata
h. Water
i. Hand
j. Face
k. Stone
