English Grammar - What are the Different Types of Nouns?

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     We all remember from school that a noun is a person, place, or thing.

     I bet you forgot that there many types of nouns!

     Nouns are usually the first parts of speech that students learn because they are concrete and students can easily visualize nouns.  Younger students also learn the proper spellings of nouns because nouns can be associated with pictures.  As students move to higher grades, they learn that there are several types of nouns.

     Your child can improve his or her writing by being familiar with the different types of nouns.  Whether your child is writing a sentence, report, or personal narrative, he/she must know the different forms of nouns.

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns represent a specific person, place, or thing.  Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.  Some proper nouns are: days of the week, names of people, organizations, countries, and religions.

Common Nouns

Common nouns refer to a general person, place, or thing.  Common nouns only begin with a capital letter when they start a sentence.  Some examples of common nouns are: dog, man, and car.

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns are words that you cannot see, touch, feel, taste, or smell.  Some examples of abstract nouns are: crime, happiness, and evolution.  Notice how these examples are also common nouns.  The word Judaism is a proper and abstract noun.

Concrete Nouns

Concrete nouns are the opposite of abstract nouns.  Concrete nouns are words that you can see, touch, feel, taste, and smell.  Some examples of concrete nouns are: house, shoe, and tree.  Notice that these examples are also common nouns.  My friend ‘David’ is a proper and concrete noun.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are names of groups of people, animals, or things.  Some examples of collective nouns are: herd, class, and tribe.

Plural Nouns

Plural nouns indicate that there is more than one person, places, or things.  For example: boys, countries, dogs. 

Possessive Nouns

Possessive nouns indicate possession and usually have an apostrophe and an ‘s’.  For example: David’s, the dog’s bone.

Irregular Nouns

Irregular nouns are nouns that are in plural form but do not have an ‘s’ at the end.  For example: wolf=wolves, life=lives.

     Understanding the various types of nouns will help your child in any writing assignment in school because the writing will be more descriptive and detailed.

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