The first words children learn are likely to be nouns, describing things, people or places, or ideas. Nouns also tend to be the first grammatical form that are explained in schools, since it’s easy to give examples of nouns. Pencil, computer, table, window…. they are all solid things that we can see and touch, and are good examples of basic nouns.
When we talk about objects, there can be either just one, or more than one. When there is more than one, we make a plural form, usually by adding the letter -s onto the end. So examples of plural nouns are: pencils, computers, tables, windows.
Collective nouns
Some word are used to describe groups of objects or animals – such as a herd (of cows) or a class (of children). They are not plural words as such, but are words for collections of individuals. They are known as collective nouns.
Proper nouns
In addition to general items or objects, the names given to people or places (or animals, or cars, or books …) are also a form of noun. They are distinguished by having the first letter written as a capital (uppercase). So John, Mr Dickson, Africa, London, Wuthering Heights…. all are examples of names, and are proper nouns.
Abstract nouns
A third category of noun, which can be harder for small children to grasp, is that of ideas or concepts. Words like happiness, anger, rules, truth – all convey ideas and are classified as abstract nouns.
What makes a word a noun?
So why do we group all these disparate kinds of word together? With other parts of speech, such as adjectives, it’s easier to see what they have in common. But an abstract noun seems a long way from a collective noun or a proper noun. Why not give them all distinct names and treat them differently?
The reason for this is that nouns – all of them – can be used in certain ways in sentences. This concept is unlikely to be studied in any great depth in British schools, but if it interests you, there are many websites explaining further. See below.
Why does it matter anyway?
Is there any reason for learning this? It may seem like a lot of academic balderdash, with little practical use. The theory is that a good understanding of English grammar can help when writing, and also when learning foreign languages. However many people succeed in learning second or third languages without any deep knowledge of how grammar works in English. Moreover, there are plenty of successful writers who barely know what a noun is, let alone the various kinds.
Personally, I find it interesting to understand better how our language works. Some people find linguistics fascinating in general; others like to see the logical structure of language. Knowing the correct forms may help in better writing if it doesn’t come naturally, too. But if you have no interest, and your child asks no questions, there is no need to study this topic in depth.
If you want to know more about how nouns are used in sentences in English, the page basic use of nouns explains about subjects and two kinds of object. These are really the only uses that are important for most people. For grammar geeks, there’s a further page on the complex use of nouns in English.
If you would like further examples, here are a few sites that go into more detail:
Ginger Software on nouns – this site looks at several different ways that nouns can be used in sentences. Lots of examples.
Wikipedia on the noun – historical background, very detailed description of how they work, and even more complexity. Fascinating.
See also:
Basic English grammar – why it’s worth studying, an overview of the different parts of speech
Verbs – different forms, tenses, and voices
Pronouns – how to use pronouns, and their different uses in sentences
Adjectives – what adjectives are, how to use them, comparative and superlative forms
Adverbs – what adverbs are, when and how to use them