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There are many different types of nouns. A noun will belong to more than one type: it will be proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective.

1.    Proper Nouns

You always write a proper noun with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical document institutions, organizations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun.

Example:

• Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.

2.   Common Nouns

A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general

Sense usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a

sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun.

Example:

• Many child-care workers are underpaid.

3.   Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of an abstract noun.

Example:

• The judge handed the files to the clerk.

4.   Abstract Nouns

An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you cannot perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun.

Example:

• Buying the air-conditioner was an afterthought.

5.   Countable Nouns

A Countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. You can make a countable noun plural and attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns and collective nouns.

Example:

• We painted the table red and the chairs

6.   Non-Countable Nouns

A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Non-countable nouns are similar to collective nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns.

Example:

• Oxygen is essential to human life.

The word "oxygen" cannot normally be made plural. Since "oxygen" is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb "is" rather than the plural verb "are.

7.   Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognize collective nouns in order to maintain subject-Verb agreement. A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun.

Example:

• The class was startled by the bursting light bulb.

8.   Possessive Nouns

The possessive expresses ownership, usually of the following noun, and often

corresponds to a structure with of.

Example:

• Khan's wrath = the wrath of Khan

Most singular possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe + s.

Common Possessive

 singular bird bird's

plural birds birds’

Most plural possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe following the s-ending of the plural.

the bird's territory = the territory of the bird

the birds' territory = the territory of the birds

If a noun is plural but does not end in s, the possessive is formed by adding apostrophe+s.

	Common	Possessive
Singular	woman	Woman's
Plural	woman	Women's

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