Types Of Nouns – Definition With Examples

These are the different types of nouns with examples.

TYPES OF NOUNS – Definition of a noun and its different types to learn about and understand with some examples.

What is a noun? This is a word that refers to a person, place, or thing, and when we say “things”, it could mean inanimate objects, abstract concepts, and activities. There are cases when phrases and other parts of speech function like nouns and can be the subject of a sentence.

Jogging is a fun exercise.

In the sentence, jogging is a verb that behaves like a noun and at the same time, the subject of a sentence.

Different types of nouns

• Common nouns – The words that are undefined or generic people, places, or things. They are only capitalized when they are at the beginning of a sentence.

Examples:

1. house
2. cat
3. girl
4. foot
5. country

• Proper nouns – The words that distinguish a specific person, place, or thing and they are required to be capitalized. These names are the brand names or personal names.

Examples:

1. Starbucks 
2. Jenny
3. New York City
4. China
5. Monday
6. Dr. Smith
7. Kleenex
8. Porsche 

• Singular nouns – The words that refer to only one person, place, or thing.

Examples:

1. cat
2. dog
3. girl
4. boy
5. country
6. day

• Plural nouns – The words that refer to more than one person, place, or thing.

Examples:

1. cats
2. dogs
3. girls
4. boys
5. countries
6. days

• Concrete nouns – The words that refer to what can be perceived through the five senses – see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. 

Examples:

1. furniture
2. dances
3. music
4. air
5. bacteria
6. virus
7. atoms

• Abstract nouns – The words that refer to intangible ideas or what cannot be perceived by the five senses.

Examples:

1. love
2. democracy
3. respect
4. trust
5. kindness
6. courage 
7. independence

• Collective nouns – The words that function as a singular noun while referring to a group of people or things.

Examples:

1. crowd
2. committee
3. sum of money
4. basketball team
5. army
6. pack
7. collection
8. troupe 
9. class
10. band

• Compound nouns – The words that combine two or more words into one which can appear as a single word, multiple words used separately, or words connected by hyphens.

Examples:

1. bedroom
2. water tank
3. rainfall
4. passer-by 
5. washing machine
6. dry-cleaning
7. mother-in-law
8. input
9. swimming pool 

• Countable nouns – The words that refer to something that you can count. They are also known as count nouns.

Examples:

1. 10 books
2. a dog
3. a house
4. pair of shoes
5. a dozen eggs

• Uncountable nouns – The words that refer to something that you cannot count.

Examples:

1. salt
2. advice
3. luggage
4. seafood
5. stars
6. sand
7. cup of tea
8. a lot of homework