Table of Contents
Parts of Speech in English: Noun
What are parts of speech With Example ?
The different kinds or classes into which the words in a sentence are divided are called parts of speech.
how many parts of speech ?
There are eight numbers of parts of speech.
These are as follows:
- Nouns
- Pronouns
- Adjectives
- Verbs
- Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Conjunctions
- Interjections
So in this part let’s discuss about the first element of parts of speech ; NOUN
Definition of Nouns;
A noun is the name of a person, place or thing; as George, Mumbai, horse, table, iron, cleverness, goodness, beauty.
- Here thing denotes any object or abstract ideas we can think about, whether it has real existence or not.
Classification of Nouns:
Types of Nouns
Nouns are divided into two classes.
- Concrete
- Abstract
Concrete nouns:
Concrete nouns are the names of all that we can feel with our senses ( by sight, touch etc.) . They are subdivided into four classes. 1. Proper 2. Common or class 3. Collective 4. Material
A concrete noun is the name of an object which has material existence and which can be perceived through the senses; as_ book, man, tree, bird,water, sky.
So now let’s discuss briefly about the subdivisions of concrete nouns.
Proper nouns:
A proper noun is the name of a particular person or place.
(A proper noun is always written in capital letters.)
Ex: He is Ram.
Ram lives in Mumbai.
Here Ram and Mumbai are the particular name of a person and a place respectively. Hence these are proper nouns.
Common nouns:
A common noun is a name which is common to any and every person of things of the same kind.
Ex: Akbar was a wise king.
Hyderabad is a big city.
Smita is a clever girl.
King, girl and city denote no one person in particular, but are common to any or every person or thing of the same kind.
- A proper noun can be used as common noun.
Ex: He is the Shakespeare (the greatest dramatist) of India. He is the Burke(the great orator) of his age.
- Collective noun:
A collective noun denotes a number of persons or things grouped together as one complete whole; as, crowd, flock, fleet, herd, committee, nation, family, team, parliament, regiment, assembly etc.
Ex: The crowd was very big.
Crowd_ a collection of people
A fleet of fifty ships left the harbour.
A fleet_ a collection of ships - Material noun:
A noun of material denotes the matter or substance of which things are made; as gold, silver, iron, glass, cotton, wool, clay, steel, stone etc.
Ex: Ornaments are made of silver and gold.
Bottles are made of glass.
Clothes are made of cotton, wool and silk.
Abstract Noun:
An abstract noun is the name of some qualities , state or action considered to be apart from the thing to which it belongs.
Quality: cleverness, goodness, kindness, wisdom
State: youth, manhood, childhood, boyhood, death, sickness, slavery
Action: Laughter, theft, movement, flight, revenge.
- A concrete noun denotes a thing which can be perceived by the senses. It can be seen, touched, heard, smelt, or tested; and has also a separate existence. An abstract noun relates to something which cannot be perceived by the senses and considered apart from the object to which it belongs. For example_ we know iron is hard, stone is hard, marble is hard. They all possess the quality of hardness. We can think of this quality, i.e, hardness apart from iron, stone, or marble. Hence hardness is an abstract noun; while iron, stone, and marble are concrete nouns.
- Noun of multitude denotes the individuals of the group; hence the verb is plural, although the noun is singular.
Ex_ The committee are quarreling among themselves.
But a collective noun denotes one individual whole; hence the verb must be singular.
Ex_ The committee consists of twelve members.