Everything that exists in this universe can be referred through name and each name is a noun.
Nouns are the naming words which identify or denote both living and non-living beings. Words used to represent/identify people, places, animals, birds, insects, plants; objects, ideas etc. are called nouns.
There are five types of nouns:
1. Proper nouns
Proper nouns are the actual names of particular persons, places, organizations, animals, objects or individual beings. Examples: London, Catherine, Elizabeth, Oxford University,
2. Common nouns
Common nouns are the names which are shared by more than one or all members of a particular kind. Examples: bag, box, drawer, teapot, pan, shoes
3. Collective nouns
The names which denote/refer to group or collection of people, animals, places, ideas or objects of same kind are known as collective nouns. Examples: committee, dozen, school, staff, cloud, den, bank, bunch,
4. Abstract nouns
Abstract nouns refer to those intangible nouns which our five senses cannot detect. Feeling, qualities, theories, relationships, ideas and experience are expressed by abstract nouns. Examples: intelligence, foolishness, happiness, doubt, trust, loyalty,
5. Material nouns
Material nouns are the names of the substances which the things are made of. Examples: coal, salt, islands, sky, moon, rock, hair, gold
Common nouns and Proper nouns are two groups in which all nouns can be categorized. Common nouns are further divided into Countable nouns and Uncountable nouns.
Countable Nouns
Countable noun answers the question, how many?
The phrase defines itself. Countable nouns are those which can be counted in numbers. Maximum numbers of nouns are countable. They have both singular and plural forms. In singular from countable nouns can be preceded by an article (a/an/the) whereas in plural form numbers or limiting modifiers can precede the noun. Countable nouns are used with both singular and plural verbs. Examples: Dog, pen, laptop, apple, table, person, insect, elephant, mobile, spoon, marker, cup,
Uncountable nouns
Uncountable noun answers the question, how much?
Just like the phrase countable noun, uncountable noun also defines itself. Uncountable nouns are those which cannot be counted in numbers. We cannot make their plural forms by adding –s/-es. Moreover, we also cannot use articles a/an and limited modifier like ‘any’ before uncountable noun. But expressions like some, a lot of can be used. Also, we should use an exact measurement like a spoon of honey, one pound sugar, a packet of salt etc.
When expressions denoting numbers of objects which hold uncountable nouns are used then –s/es are added in uncountable nouns. For example; two coffees when said means two cups/mugs of coffee. Uncountable nouns are used with singular verbs. Examples: Development, gold, water, hate, love, grain, rice, proof, wisdom, weather, hair, juice, mercury,