Introduction to Nouns – part 1Introduction to Nouns – part 1

TYPES OF WORDS Common vs. Proper Nouns Concrete vs. Abstract Nouns

TYPES OF WORDS Common vs. Proper Nouns Concrete vs. Abstract Nouns

TYPES OF WORDSTYPES OF WORDS

OPEN WORDS CLOSED WORDS

You can always add new wordsto this class of words. A hundred years ago people didn’t know whata ‘computer’ was and 40 years agonot many people ‘downloaded’ anything. In time, new nouns, verbs,adjectives and adverbs will appear.

You can’t add any new words to thisgroup. For example, in English we have 8 personal pronouns (I, you, he,she, it, we, you, they) and it wouldn’tbe possible to add another pronounto this set.

OPEN WORDS CLOSED WORDS

I. Nouns

II. Adjectives

III. Verbs

IV. Adverbs

I. Pronouns

II. Determiners

III. Prepositions

IV. Conjunctions

• There are 80 million nouns in the English language. They can be divided in several different ways:

I. COMMON NOUNS vs. PROPER NOUNSII. CONCRETE NOUNS vs. ABSTRACT NOUNS

III. POSSESSIVE NOUNS IV. SINGULAR vs. PLURAL NOUNS

V. COUNTABLE NOUNS vs. UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

*These are not all of the groups that nouns could be segregated into, but they are the most important ones for a student of English to understand.

NounsNouns

• We use nouns to give names to things. We use nouns when we answer questions like ‘what?’ or ‘who?’

OPEN WORDS - Nouns

CAT MARYFLOWER

CANADAROBIN HOOD ARMCHAIR

Common vs. Proper NounsCommon vs. Proper Nouns

• COMMON NOUNSrefer to general categories of things:

OPEN WORDS – Nouns – TYPES OF NOUNS

• PROPER NOUNSrefer to specific people, places, objects

and are usually written with a capital letter:

CAT ARMCHAIR Mary

Canada

Robin Hood

Leonardo Di Caprio

War and Peace

New York

BAG

OFFICE

REMEMBER!

• PROPER NOUNS don’t usually take determiners ‘a’ and ‘the’.

– I went to Jamaica for holiday. NOT: I went to the Jamaica for holiday– Have you read ‘Hamlet’? NOT: Have you read the ‘Hamlet’?– I would love to meet Tina Turner. NOT: I would love to meet the Tina Turner.

REMEMBER!

• PROPER NOUNS can in time turn into COMMON NOUNS. It happens when a brand becomes so popular that people start to use its name with reference to items produced by other companies.

hoover = any vacuum cleaner

‘Where do you keep your hoover?’

biro = any pen

‘Do you have a biro I could borrow?’

Concrete vs. Abstract NounsConcrete vs. Abstract Nouns

OPEN WORDS – Nouns – TYPES OF NOUNS

• CONCRETE NOUNSrefer to things which you can see, feel,

hear, smell, taste:

• ABSTRACT NOUNSrefer to things that you cannot touch or

measure – emotions, ideas, etc:

TELEPHONE

SIGN

LOVE

BEAUTY

COURAGE

WISDOM

BUS / PEOPLE

KNOWLEDGE

HOPE

NEW YORK

REMEMBER!

• Some ABSTRACT NOUNS (but never CONCRETE NOUNS) can be used in sentences like:

– It is a wonder (that) he didn’t get killed.– It is a pity (that) I hadn’t met him earlier.– It would be a crime to leave her like that.

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