What are nouns?

Nouns refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. They make up the subjects, direct objects, and indirect objects in a sentence.

What are examples of nouns?

Nouns can be living things (Keanu Reeves or cat), places (beach or Detroit), things (ruler or PlayStation 5), or ideas (nihilism or the theory of evolution). 

What are the different types of nouns?

Common nouns refer to general things (like parks), and proper nouns refer to a specific thing (like Yellowstone National Park). Nouns can also be plural or singular, depending on how many there are, and countable or uncountable, depending on how their plural form is used.

Plural nouns, unlike collective nouns, require plural verbs. Many English plural nouns can be formed by adding -s or -es to the singular form, although there are many exceptions. 

Example: tax—taxes, cat—cats, house—houses.

Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted, even if the number might be extraordinarily high (like counting all the people in the world). Countable nouns can be used with a/an, the, some, any, a few, and many.

Example: 

Here is a cat.

Here are a few cats.

Here are some cats.

Uncountable nouns are nouns that come in a state or quantity which is impossible to count; liquids are uncountable, as are things that act like liquids (sand, air). They are always considered to be singular, and can be used with some, any, a little, and much.

Example:  

An I.Q. test measures intelligence.

Students don’t seem to have much homework these days.

Possessive nouns are nouns which possess something; i.e., they have something. You can identify a possessive noun by the apostrophe; most nouns show the possessive with an apostrophe and an s.

Example: The cat’s toy was missing.

When a singular noun ends in the letter s or z, the same format often applies. 

Example: Mrs. Sanchez’s coat is still hanging on the back of her chair.

Plural nouns ending in s take only an apostrophe to form a possessive.

Example: My nieces’ prom dresses were exquisite.

How do you identify a noun in a sentence?

Nouns usually have articles (the, a, or an) before them in a sentence, but not always. Sometimes you’ll see adjectives or words like “some” or “this” before nouns. Aside from the first word in a sentence, if a word is capitalized then it’s a noun, such as a person’s name.