English 100

(Types of Nouns)

*Noun- is a word that names something: Examples:

either a person, an animal place, thing or
an event.
*Proper Noun-A proper noun is a
specific name for a particular person,
place, or thing. Proper nouns are always
capitalized in English, no matter where
they fall in a sentence. Because they endow
nouns with a specific name, they are also
sometimes called proper names.
*Proper Nouns with Examples:
*Agatha Christie wrote many books.
*Cleopatra is the cutest kitten ever.
* Let’s go to San Francisco.
* Mr. Bell seems to understand what
students need.
*He never goes anywhere without Sarah.
*There are many important documents at
The Library of Congress.

*Zeus *Common Nouns- A common noun is

the generic name for a person, place, or
*Taj Mahal
thing in a class or group. A common noun
*Jupiter is not capitalized unless it either begins a
sentence or appears in a title.
*Australia
Examples: girl, beach, pencil
*Plesiosaur
*I really want a new pair of jeans.
*Loch Ness Montser
*I wish I could remember the name of that
*Santa Claus
painter.
*Titanic
*They’re all waiting for us at the
*The Bible restaurant.

*King Charles I *I really want to live in the city.

*Bayeux Tapestry *Let’s go to watch a live game at the

stadium.
*A proper noun, names a noun precisely.
Example: *Compound Noun- A compound noun
is a noun made up of two or more words.
*Jupiter Each word makes up part of the meaning of
the noun.
*Iloilo Doctors’ College
*Most compound nouns contain at least one
*Cynthia
noun. Of course, this isn't universally true,
*War and Peace given words like takeoff, but it's a good
point for consideration. The other word or
* Sony
words used to create compound nouns may
*Mahogany be adjectives, prepositions, or verbs. The
second word is often the "main" word, with
the first word modifying it or adding to its
meaning.
*Close Form-These compound nouns
simply push two words together to form a
single word, with no additional punctuation
or spaces.
Examples include softball, redhead, and
keyboard.
*Compound nouns with single
word/closed form:
*I love watching fireflies on warm summer
nights.
*We played softball yesterday.
*Open Form-These are compound nouns
that function as one unique word, but are
still written as two or more separate
words, with a space between each
component.
Examples include post office, middle class,
and attorney general.
*Compound nouns with two words/ Open
Form:
*Let’s just wait at this bus stop.
*Let’s watch the full moon come up over
the mountain.
*Be sure to add bleach to the washing
machine.
*In the open form, to make it plural the "s"
is often added to the noun, as in:
*bills of fare,
*assistant secretaries of state
*notaries public
*full moons
*Hyphenated Form-These compound
nouns connect two or more words with one
or more hyphens between them.
Examples include six-pack, five-year-old,
and son-in-law.
*My mother-in-law is coming for a visit.
*Some over-the-counter drugs can have
serious side effects.
*In hyphenated words, usually the "s" goes
at the end of the noun, as in:
*daughters-in-law
*mayors-elect
*Sometimes the "s" is at the end, as in :
*go-betweens
*higher-ups
*When a compound noun is a single word,
make it plural by adding s to the end. If the
compound noun is hyphenated or composed
of two separate words, remember to add s
only to the word that is plural.
one mother-in-law ⇒ two mothers-in-law
(There are two mothers, not two laws.)
*two mothers-in-law
one director general ⇒ two directors general
(There are two directors, not two generals.)
*two directors general
*Compound nouns can be written three
ways:

*Note: Two-word proper nouns can also
be classified as compound nouns.
Remember that proper nouns name specific
people, places, and things.
Example:
*Angkor Wat
*Atlantic Ocean
*Eiffel Tower
*Nelson Mandela
*The best way to try to make some sense of
this complex member of the English
language is to get a sense of how compound
nouns are formed.
*List of examples in groups that indicates
the parts of speech that make up each
compound noun.
*adjective/adjective: red-orange, turquoise
blue, golden yellow (Red-orange is one of
this year's most popular colors.)
*adjective/noun: blackboard, full moon,
top hat (The teacher needed help erasing the
blackboard.)
*adjective/verb: dry-cleaning, public
speaking, wet sanding (Be sure to pick up
the dry-cleaning on your way home.)
*noun/noun: toothpaste, wallpaper, fish
tank (Toothpaste now comes in many
flavors.)
*noun/preposition: love-in, hanger on,
passer-by (During the 1960s, a love-in was a
form of peaceful protest.)
*noun/verb: haircut, snowfall, photo shoot
(Go get a haircut before the photo shoot.)
*preposition/noun: underworld, bystander,
afterlife (Many mythologies feature an
underworld.)
*preposition/verb: output, backbone,
overthrow (The CEO wanted to increase her
factory's output of new products.)
*verb/noun: swimming pool, breakwater,
washing machine (I can't wait to dive into
that swimming pool.)
*verb/preposition: takeout, check-in,
drawback (Let's order takeout for dinner.)
*The rules on whether to use a hyphen, a
space, or nothing between the words in a
compound noun are inconsistent. In other
words, some exist in all three forms (rare),
some exist in two forms (common), and
some exist is just one form (most common).
*some guidelines on whether to hyphenate a
compound noun or whether to write it as one
word or two.
*Use a Hyphen to Speed Up Reading:
If the one-word version exists, use it. If
you're unsure whether to use the two-word
version or the hyphenated version, then opt
for the hyphenated version. Joining the
words in a compound noun with a hyphen(s)
is useful to show that the words are the same
grammatical entity. It speeds up reading.
Compound nouns with prepositions are
nearly always hyphenated because it
prevents the prepositions being read as
different grammatical entities.
*Use Your Spellchecker Carefully:
It's a good idea to test for the one-word
version with a spellchecker or a dictionary.
Note that you can't test the hyphenated
version or multiple-word version with a
spellchecker because it will test the spelling
of each word (even with the hyphenated
version). In other words, if you check "pick-
pocket" or "pick pocket" (which should be
"pickpocket"), your spellchecker will not
highlight it as an error.
*More Specific Guidance on Hyphenating a
Compound Noun
Here is some more specific guidance on
whether to hyphenate a compound noun.
Notice that none of the guidance gives a
definitive rule. There are always exceptions.
*noun + noun
Examples: cowboy, toothpaste, rainforest,
sunflower, eyeball, bus stop
Guidance: Usually one word but frequently
two
*noun + verb
Examples: haircut, rainfall, snowfall, photo
shoot
Guidance: Usually one word but sometimes
two
*noun + preposition
Examples: passer-by, hanger-on
Guidance: Nearly always hyphenated
*noun + gerund
Examples: ballet dancing, mountain
climbing, copy-editing, care-giving,
bookkeeping
Guidance: Usually two words but
frequently hyphenated or rarely one word
*one-syllable noun + [do-er]
Examples: bookmaker, stock taker,
caregiver, cabdriver, winemaker, frame-
maker,
Guidance: Usually one word but
occasionally hyphenated
*two-or-more-syllable noun + [do-er]
Examples: cabinet-maker, barrel-maker,
potato grower, chicken farmer, pheasant
plucker
Guidance: Usually hyphenated but
frequently two words
*noun+ [non-principal words]+ noun
Examples: daughter-in-law, jack-of-all-
trades, mother-of-pearl, birds-of-prey, son-
of-a-gun
Guidance: Usually hyphenated
*verb+ preposition
Examples: make-up, sign-off, take-out,
check-in, build-up
Guidance: Nearly always hyphenated
*verb-ing (participle) + noun
Examples: flying saucer, washing machine,
swimming pool, running shoes, cooking-oil
Guidance: Nearly always two words but
sometimes hyphenated to eliminate
ambiguity
Examples: input, uproar, underpass, output,
undercut
Guidance: Nearly always one word
*preposition + noun
Examples: underworld, underground,
*Compound Nouns as Compound
outpatient, afterlife, offspring
Adjectives- This is a key point. If your
Guidance: Nearly always one word multi-word compound noun is being used as
an adjective to describe another noun, then
*adjective + noun
hyphenate it (regardless of whether it is
Examples: black market, red tape, free will, usually hyphenated or not). For example:
full moon, blackboard, greenhouse, highway
Guidance: Usually two words but
sometimes two
*Use a Hyphen to Eliminate Ambiguity You
should use a hyphen to eliminate ambiguity
or to prevent a reading stutter. Ambiguity or
a reader stutter (when readers check back to
ensure they've understood the meaning) can
occur when the first word of the pairing is a
substance (e.g., "water" or "ink"). For *Collective Noun-are names for a
example: collection or a number of people or things.
*some examples of common collective
nouns:
*People: board, choir, class, committee,
family, group, jury, panel, staff.
*Animals: school, flock, herd, pod, swarm
*Things: bunch, collection, fleet, flotilla,
pack, set.

*Also, when the first word of the pairing

ends "ing" (i.e., when it's a present
participle), a hyphen helps to avoid reading
stutter. For example:
*Examples:
* Our class took a field trip to the natural
history museum.
*The herd of bison ran across the prairie,
leaving a massive dust cloud in its wake.
*This year’s basketball team includes three
players who are over six feet tall.
* Napoleon’s army was finally defeated at
Waterloo.
*Concrete Noun- is a noun that you can
see, hear, smell, touch, and taste.
*Examples of Concrete Nouns in a
Sentence:
*The house at the end of the street belongs
to Mark.
*Where did I leave my book about little
brown bats?
* I left my backpack on the bus, so Mr.
Smith, our driver, had to bring it to my
classroom.
*Abstract Noun- refers to intangible
things, like actions, feelings, ideals,
concepts and qualities.
Examples: Favorite, bravery, childhood,
anger, friendship
Example: clarity, beauty, chaos, despair,
bravery, crime, grief, brilliance, victory,
happiness, brutality, wealth.
*I have a dream that one day this nation
will rise up and live out the true meaning of
its creed.“
* Love is patient; Love is kind
*There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty that
makes human nature rise above itself, in acts
of bravery and heroism.
*Material Noum-refers to a material or
substance from which things are made such
as silver, gold, iron, cotton, diamond and
plastic. *She has three dogs.
*I own a house.
*I would like two books please.

*Uncountable Noun-are for the things

that we cannot count with numbers.
*Uncountable nouns are used with a
singular verb. They usually do not have a
plural form.

*The use of coal has decreased over the

years.
*Copper is a good conductor of electricity.
* Calcium is good for bones.
*He is wearing a cotton shirt.
*We wear clothes made up of wool in the
winter.
*My father has a shop for diamonds.

*Countable Noun-are for things we can

count using numbers.
*The singular form can use the determiner
"a" or "an".

*They may be the names for abstract ideas

or qualities or for physical objects that are
too small or too amorphous to be counted
(liquids, powders, gases, etc.).
Examples: tea, sugar, water ,air, rice, sand,
salt, paint
*Would you like some coffee? Ex: The boy’s pencil snapped in half.
*The noun coffee in the sentence will be *In this sentence it is clear that the pencil
considered as uncountable because it's belongs to the boy; the ’s signifies
referring to the drink in general. ownership.
*He ordered a coffee *Plural Possessive Nouns
*The noun coffee in the second sentence When a plural noun ends with an "s,"
will be considered as countable, because it's simply add an apostrophe to make it
referring to a cup of coffee. possessive. Here are examples of plural
possessive nouns:
Ex:
• Americans' ideals
*He did not have much sugar left.
• Babies' shoes
*There is so much dust on the floor.
• Cabbages' nutrition
*The water in the river is refreshing.
• Donors' cards
*Possessive Noun-A possessive noun is
a noun that possesses something. • Eggs' color

*A possessive noun shows ownership by • Frogs' croaking

adding an apostrophe, an "s" or both. • Garages' fees
*Singular Possessive Nouns • Hampers' conditions
• Apple's taste • Igloos' construction
• Book's cover *When a plural noun does not end with an
• Boss's car "s," add an apostrophe and an "s" to make it
possessive. Here are examples of plural
• Cat's tuna possessive nouns:
• Computer's keyboard • Cattle's pasture
• Diabetes's symptoms • Geese's eggs
• Fish's eggs • Women's clothes
• Fez's size • • Children's toys
Florida's climate • Mice's traps
• Goddess's beauty • People's ideas
• Gym's rules • Feet's toenails
• Feet's toenails
• Nuclei's form Take note: children - irregular children + ’s
• Cacti's thorns *Possessive Nouns Referring to Places,
Churches and Universities
• Octopi's legs
• Saint Anthony's
• Oxen's diet
• The grocer's
• Die's roll
• The dentist's
• Lice's size
• Saint Mary's
• Hippopotami's strength
• The vet's
• Fungi's location
• The chiropractor's
• Formulae's indication
• Domino's
*When a noun ends in the letter s or an s
sound, the same format applies. This is a • McDonald's
matter of style, however, and some style
• Frankie's
guides suggest leaving off the extra s.
• Dillard's
•I have been invited to the boss’s house for
dinner. • Macy's
•The trainer flipped a fish into the walrus’s *Plural nouns ending in an s simply take an
open mouth. apostrophe at the end to form a possessive
noun.
*Plural nouns ending in an s simply take
an apostrophe at the end to form a • That is mine.
possessive noun. chickens = chickens’
• My car runs great.
*The chickens’ eggs were taken by the
farmer early in the morning. • His work is good

*There are many plural nouns in English . • Her diet is working

that are irregular and do not end in s.
*To form a possessive irregular noun we
should add ’s
children + ’s
• The bag is hers.
• The house is ours.
• I see your coat. (singular)
• It is all yours. (plural)
• Their smiles are welcome. (singular)
• The fault is theirs. (plural)
• Its name is The Tower.
*To make a compound word possessive,
you usually add apostrophe + s to the end of
the word,
Example: Mother-in-law's car,
Five-year-old's birthday.
*If the compound word is plural, it can get a
little strange with two "s" sounds close
together,
*as in: (fathers-in-law's attire.)
*It would be better to reword the sentence so
the plural compound word does not need to
be possessive:
*The attire of the fathers-in-law.