You are on page 1of 10

1.

Nounsand Their Types

Everyone and everything around us has a name. They are naming words.
Naming words are also called nouns.
Read these sentences.
Gopal saw the cows grazing in the
field. They had bells tied around
their necks.
The highlighted words are nouns.
Anoun isthe name of a person (Gopal),
a place (field), an animal (cows)or athing (bells, necks).
Nouns can be of several types.
Let's learn about each of them indetail.
Common Proper
Types of Nouns

Collective Material

Abstract
Common Nouns

Acommon noun is the general name of a person, a place, an animal or a thing.


People Places Animals Things
boy house giraffe book
girl garden monkey stone
doctor school squirrel guava
carpenter market eagle Sugar
Proper Nouns
Aproper noun is the special name given to a particular person, place,
or thing. Aproper noun always begins with a capital letter.
anima
People Places Animals
Mahesh Bhopal Tommy (dog) Things
months of the year
Sonia India Kitty (cat) days of the week
Mr Gupta China Black Beauty (horse) names of rivers,
Ms Chand National Museum Dolly (sheep) mountains, seas
and oceans

Collective Nouns

A
collective noun is a noun that refers to a group of
of the same type. people, animals or things
Read these examples of collective nouns.
. a crowdof people
" atroupe of dancers
a troop of apes
" amob of
kangaroos
" achain of islands
" abundle of
nerves
Let'slearn some more
examples of collective nouns.
People Animals
an army of soldiers Things
an army of ants
a band of a bouquet of flowers
a
musicians a caravan of camels a bunch of keys
board of directors aflock of birds
a choir of a clump/grove of trees
singers a gaggle of geese
a fleet of ships
People Animals Things
aclass of students a herd of cattle agalaxy of stars
a crew of sailors a hive/swarm of bees ahedge of bushes
aflock of tourists a host of sparrows alibrary of books
a panel of experts a litter of cubs/pups a pack of cards
a staff of employees a murder of crowS a quiver of arrows
a team of players a pack of wolves/dogs a wad of notes
Abstract Nouns

There are some nouns that do not name any person, place, animal or thing.
They name qualities, relationships, feelings and ideas which we can think of
or feel but cannot see or touch. Such nouns are called abstract nouns.
Let's read some examples of abstract nouns.
Qualities: truth, honesty, kindness, loyalty, beauty
Relationships: friendship, companionship
Feelings: love, hatred, devotion, anger, joy, happiness, sadness
Ideas: bravery, honour,wisdom, freedom, curiosity, democracy
Now, let's read how we use abstract nouns in sentences.
" John is known for his honesty.
" Neha and Meera are known inour school for their friendship.
" Suresh danced with happiness when he was declared the winner.
" Sneha's parents have given her complete freedom to take up any
subject she wishes to study in Class XI.

Many abstract nouns end with -y,-ity, -th,-dom, -ness or -ment.


Read how these abstract nouns have been formed from other words.
" honest-honesty real-reality
true-truth wise-wisdom
" kind-kindness amaze-amazement

3
Material Nouns

Amaterial noun refers to the material or substance from


which
are made.

Nouns such as diamond, gold, silver, iron,


things
rubber and plastic are material nouns. copper, wool, wood,
petrol, diesel,
Exercises
A Circle the proper nouns and
underline the common
nouns in these sentences. One has been done for you.
1 lhave named my dog(Spice,.
2 Panka)is an electrician.
3 Charles
Dickenswrote the novelÖliver Twist.
4
Garima's birthday falls inJuly
5 Richa sawthe
Statue of Libert)when she went to New
6 The Amazon is the York
largest river that flows through South
7 Saima,
Abdul)and Simran went for shopping on Friday America
8 Istudied in(St.
Mary's Convendin Alahabad.
B
Fill in the blanks with
collective nouns from the box. One has been
1 a done for you
2
....ock..... tourists
a ...
of hive
of sparrows pack
3
4
a.h.o.A.nd.....f directors host
a.....L.... of wolves
flock

6
a..l......of
a..ixe
books string
of bees
cloud
7 a...ud .... of dust
board
8 a ....AA..
...A.AA...of pearls library
C Make abstract nouns from these words. One has been done for you.
1 poor .RANerty.. 2 good
free
3 ma.and.at... 4 confident .solhidka.a..
grow
5 6 disappoint ..adhioani
7 jealous generous

Countable and Uncountable Nouns


Nouns are countable or uncountable.
Anoun that can be counted is called a countable noun.
Anoun that cannot be counted is called an uncountable noun.
Read this paragraph.
Hema and Mohan went to the market. Hema bought twelve eggs, six pencils,
two pens, one pencil box, three books and one school bag. Mohan bought two
kilosof sugar, three litres of milk,two loaves of bread and six cakes of soap.
Allthe words in blue in the paragraph are nouns. The nouns eggs, pencils, pens,
pencil box, books and school bag can be counted and are countable nouns.
The nouns sugar,milk, bread and soap cannot be counted and are uncountable
nouns.We can have two sp0onfuls of sugar but not two sugars, or we can have
a glass of milk, but not a milk.

Pointsto Remember

Countable Nouns

We can make their plural forms: men, houses, lions, zebras, erasers
4 We can count them anduse numbers before them:
one man, twocities, three monkeys, twenty cars, nine shirts
3 We can use the articles a, an or the before them:
a boy, a bird, an apple, an orange, the teacher, the monument
* We use words such as many, a few,several and a large number of
before them:
many horses, a few pens, several candidates, a large number of watches
Uncountable Nouns

* We cannot make their plural forms: butter, flour, milk, oil, rice
We cannot count themor use numbers before them.
* We use words such as piece, slice, grain, sack and pile before
a piece of chocolate, a slice of cheese, a grain of rice, asack of
apile of wood
them:
flour,
<3 We often use the before them: pass me
the butter, knead the flour
boil the milk, pour the oil, cook the rice
3 We often use words such as much,
little, a large amount of
too much butter, too much rice, little flour, little before them:
milk, alarge
a large amount of money amountof oi
Countable and Uncountable Nouns
We use some and a lot of
before both
some men, some sugar, a lot of sweets,countable and uncountable nouns
a lot of money
* We use any before both
negative sentences.
countable and uncountable nouns in questions and
Read these sentences.
" Are there any
sweets on the table?
. Is there any milk in the
tea?
There aren't any books here.
" There isn't any
flour in the sack.

Exercise
D
WriteC for countable
nouns and U for
done for you. uncountable nouns. One has v
1 salt
2 coin
3 water
4 air
5 bus
7 6 time
coffee
8 lemon
5. Pronouns and Their
Types
A pronounis a word that is used in place of a noun.
Read this paragraph.
Reena works in afactory. Reena goes there daily. Reena Oversees the
of her team. Reena is always cheerful. Everyone likes Reena.
In this paragraph, we have used the noun Reena repeatedly.
Now, read this paragraph.
Reena works in a factory. She goes there daily. She oversees the work of
her team. She is always cheerful. Everyone likes her.
Instead of using the noun Reena repeatedly, we have used it once in
the
beginning and then replaced it with the pronouns she and her.
We use pronouns so that our language is not
clumsy by using the same
nouns repeatedly.

CASE
There are three types of pronouns based on
in a sentence. where or how they are used
o Nominative or subjective case isthe singular or plural pronoun used as
the subject of a sentence.
Read these sentences.
She jumped with joy.
They watched the film today.
Objective case is the
used as the receiver ofsingular
or plural pronoun
an action in a
Read these sentences.
sentence.
" Reemacalled me for the school play.
" He took them home.

18
Possessive case is the singular or plural pronoun that shows possession
in a sentence.
Read these sentences.
e This bag is mine.
. The yellow car is theirs.

TYPES OF PRONOUNS

PersonalPronouns
Personal pronouns represent people, places, animals and things.
I, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it, they and them are personal pronouns.
First Person is the person or noun who speaks. I, me, we and us are
pronouns of the first person.
* Second Person is the person or noun being spoken to. You is the pronoun
of the second person.
* Third Person is the person or noun being spoken about. He, him, she, her,
it,they and them are pronouns of the third person.
Read this conversation.
Seema: I like Neha. She is an intelligent girl. Do you like her, too?
Latika: Yes. She is very sweet.
Look at the pronouns in blue in the sentences above.
" listhe person speaking and is the first person.
" You is the person spoken toand is thesecond person.
She and her are used for the person spoken about (Neha) and
is the third person.

Exercise
A Fillin the blanks with personal pronouns. One has been done for you.
1 Ramesh went to his grandmother's house, but ...she.. was not
at home.

19
2 The lady gave food to the needy man, but
thank ......a did no
3 Meera and Neera are sisters. ... b ...
love to read books
in their leisure time.

4 The teacher told Sohan that ....h. was a good boy and
always obeyed ....Jes..
5 Thedog chased Atul, but...... . could not catch..dho
as ........ha.. had climbed up atree.
6 Mary took her lamb to school, but....J. ran away and
.....C....could not find ...k...

Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns stand for specific nouns. This, that, these and those
are demonstrative pronouns.
o This and that replace singular nouns.
These and those replace plural nouns.
This and these stand for nouns that are close by.
o That and those stand for nouns
that are farther away.
Read these sentences.
. This is very beautiful.
That is not the dress Iwant.
. Theseare r0ses.
Those are empty glasses.
Demonstrative Pronouns and Demonstrative Adjectives
This, that, these and those can
function as demonstrative pronouns as well as
demonstrative adjectives. Demonstrative pronouns replace nouns
demonstrative adjectives are used before nouns. whereas
Read these sets of
sentences.
This is a giraffe.
This giraffe looks weak. (demonstrative pronoun)
That was a bad (demonstrative adjective)
accident.
That acçident was bad. (demonstrative pronoun)
(demonstrative adjective)
20
e These are well-behaved children. (demonstrative pronoun)
These children are well-behaved. (demonstrative adjective)
Those are rotten apples. (demonstrative pronoun)
Those apples are rotten. (demonstrative adjective)

Exercise
B Fill in the blanks with demonstrative pronouns or demonstrative adjectives.
The first one has been done for you.

1 ..hat.. is my house there, but...this.....one here is Shobha's.

2 ..Jh4... tree has green leaves.

3...h.. is my Science notebook.

4 ...JkANR.. birds are beautiful.

5 ..hAL..are Sourav's notebooks.

6 . . . .is my new bicycle.

21

You might also like