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A category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. In English the main parts of speech are noun, pronoun, adjective, determiner, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

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A word that names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

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A word that names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

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Proper nouns name a particular person, place, thing or idea and begin with a capital letter. (United States, June, and Lowes).

Common nouns do not name a particular person, place or thing and do not need capitalization. (country, month, and school)

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Nouns: Types of Nouns With Examples | Grammarly

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Nouns are everywhere in our writing. But what are all the types of nouns you come across, and how do you use them?

A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or modifier.

Some noun examples include:

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Types of nouns

Nouns form a large proportion of English vocabulary, and they come in a wide variety of types.

Nouns can name a person:

Nouns can name a place:

Nouns can name things:

Things might include intangible things, such as concepts, activities, or processes. Some might even be hypothetical or imaginary things.

Proper nouns vs. common nouns

One important distinction to be made is whether a noun is a proper noun or a common noun. A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, or thing and is always capitalized.

Tina is the name of a specific person.

Old Faithful is the specific name of a geological phenomenon.

The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun, sometimes known as a generic noun. A common noun is the generic name of an item in a class or group and is not capitalized unless appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.

Girl is a common noun; we do not learn the identity of the girl by reading this sentence, though we know the action she takes. River is also a common noun in this sentence.

Types of common nouns

Common or generic nouns can be broken down into three subtypes: concrete nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is something that is perceived by the senses; something that is physical or real.

Doorbell and keyboard name real things that can be sensed.

Conversely, an abstract noun is something that cannot be perceived by the senses.

Courage is an abstract noun. Courage can't be seen, heard, or sensed in any other way, but we know it exists.

A collective noun denotes a group or collection of people or things.

Pack as used here is a collective noun. Collective nouns take a singular verb, as they refer to the collection of people or things they identify as one entity-in this case, the singular verb is.

Pride is also a collective noun.

Nouns and number

All nouns are either singular or plural in number. A singular noun refers to one person, place, thing, or idea and requires a singular verb, while a plural noun refers to more than one person, place, thing, or idea and requires a plural verb.

Forming plural nouns

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

Note the plural verb are.

Countable nouns vs. uncountable nouns

Concrete and abstract common nouns can be further classified as either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted, even if the resulting number would be extraordinarily high (like the number of humans in the world). Countable nouns can be singular or plural and can be used with numbers and modifiers like a/an, the, some, any, a few, and many.

Uncountable nouns, or mass nouns, are nouns that are impossible to count, whether because they name intangible concepts (e.g., information, animal husbandry, wealth), collections of things that are considered as wholes (e.g., jewelry, equipment, the working class), or homogeneous physical substances (e.g., milk, sand, air). Although most of these nouns are singular in form, because they refer to things that can't be isolated and counted on their own, they are never used with the singular indefinite article a or an. Singular concrete uncountable nouns can often be expressed in countable units by adding a countable noun like piece (with of). On their own, uncountable nouns can be modified by the definite article, the, or indefinite adjectives like some.

Nouns and the possessive case

The possessive case shows the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. That relationship can be ownership, possession, occupancy, a personal relationship, or another kind of association. The possessive of a singular noun is formed by adding an apostrophe and the letter s.

The cat possesses the toy, and we denote this by use of -' s at the end of cat.

Here, the possessive case indicates the relationship between Casey and their sister.

In the above example, the possessive case is denoting that novel is in the role of object in relationship to release; someone released the novel.

The possessive of a plural noun that ends in - s or - es is formed by adding just an apostrophe.

The possessive of an irregular plural noun is formed by adding - 's.

When a singular noun ends in the letter s or z, the general rule of adding - 's often applies.

This is a matter of a style, however, and some style guides call for leaving off the s after the apostrophe.

Whichever style an organization or writer chooses should be used consistently.

Functions of nouns

Nouns take on different roles based on their relationships to the rest of the words in a sentence.

Nouns as subjects

Every sentence must have a subject, and that subject will always be a noun or pronoun. The subject of a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is doing or being or experiencing whatever is described by the verb of the sentence.
Maria played the piece beautifully.
The noun Maria is the subject of this sentence; it tells us who is performing the action described by the sentence's verb ( played).

Nouns as objects

Nouns can also be objects of a transitive verb in a sentence. An object can be either a direct object (a noun that receives the action described by the verb) or an indirect object (a noun that receives direct object).

In both of the above sentences, the noun salt is the direct object of the verb passed; the salt is what Cleo passed. In the second sentence, there is also an indirect object: the noun Otto. Otto is the person to whom Cleo passed the salt; Otto is the recipient of the salt. A good way to identify an indirect object in a sentence is to ask yourself to whom/what or for whom/what something is being done.

Nouns as subject and object complements

Another role nouns sometimes perform in a sentence is that of a subject complement. A subject complement normally follows a linking verb such as be, become, or seem and gives more information about the subject of the sentence.

In this sentence, the noun teacher is being used as a subject complement. A teacher is what Mary is.

A related function of nouns is to act as an object complement, which provides more information about the direct object of a sentence with a transitive verb.

Husbands is a noun used as an object complement in this sentence. Verbs that denote making, naming, or creating are often followed by nouns behaving as object complements.

Nouns as appositives

A noun used as an appositive immediately follows another noun in order to further define or identify it. You can also say that the second noun is in apposition to the first noun.

Michael is an appositive here, further identifying the noun phrase my brother. Appositives can be restrictive or nonrestrictive; in the above example, we can see from the fact that it is set off between commas that Michael is nonrestrictive-that is, it could be left out of the sentence without leaving out essential information about who is six years old. In other words, we can surmise that Michael is the writer's only brother; telling us his name is extra information about him. Here is a version of the same sentence where the appositive is used restrictively, without being set off by commas:

In this case, the appositive Michael is providing information that is essential for narrowing down which brother the writer is telling us about. We can infer that they have multiple brothers, and understand that it is the one named Michael who is six years old.

Nouns as modifiers

Sometimes, nouns can be used to modify other nouns, functioning like adjectives. When they do this, they are often called attributive nouns. .

Speed is normally a noun, but here it is acting as an adjective to modify demon.

Noun FAQs

What are nouns?

Nouns refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. They serve as the subjects, direct objects, and indirect objects in a sentence, along with other roles.

What are some 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, countable or uncountable, and possessive or not possessive.

How do you identify a noun in a sentence?

Nouns often have articles ( the, a, or an) before them in a sentence, but not always. Sometimes you'll see adjectives like red or some before nouns. Aside from the first word in a sentence, if a word is capitalized, then it's most likely a proper noun, such as a person's name.

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What Is a Noun? Definition, Types, and Examples

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Find out all about the proper uses and types of nouns. Use our handy examples as a reference and you will never be confused about noun use again!

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A word used instead of a noun.  It is a substitute for a noun.

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A word used instead of a noun.  It is a substitute for a noun.

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Jim outran the animals.

He outran them
Other examples:  (he, him, his, she, her, hers, and it)

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Definition

A pronoun (I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.) is a word that takes the place of a noun. In the sentence Joe saw Jill, and he waved at her, the pronouns he and her take the place of Joe and Jill, respectively. There are three types of pronouns: subject (for example, he); object (him); or possessive (his).

Rule 1. Subject pronouns are used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence. You can remember subject pronouns easily by filling in the blank subject space for a simple sentence.

___ did the job.
I, he, she, we, they, who, whoever, etc., all qualify and are, therefore, subject pronouns.
NOTE
In informal English, most people tend to follow to be verbs with object pronouns like me, her, them. Many English scholars tolerate this distinction between formal and casual English.

In addition to subject pronouns, there are also object pronouns, known more specifically as direct object, indirect object, and object of a preposition (for more detail, see the definition of a verb in the Finding Nouns, Verbs, and Subjects section). Object pronouns include me, him, herself, us, them, themselves.

He is the only one of those men who is always on time.
The word who refers to one. Therefore, use the singular verb is.

Sometimes we must look more closely to find a verb's true subject:

He is one of those men who are always on time.
The word who refers to men. Therefore, use the plural verb are.

In sentences like this last example, many would mistakenly insist that one is the subject, requiring is always on time. But look at it this way: Of those men who are always on time, he is one.

Pronouns that are singular ( I, he, she, everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody, no one, nobody, someone, somebody, each, either, neither, etc.) require singular verbs. This rule is frequently overlooked when using the pronouns each, either, and neither, followed by of. Those three pronouns always take singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.

Exception 1: The singular pronouns I and you take plural verbs.

Exception 2: When each follows a noun or pronoun in certain sentences, even experienced writers sometimes get tripped up:

Incorrect: The women each gave her approval.
Correct: The women each gave their approval.
Incorrect: The words are and there each ends with a silent vowel.
Correct: The words are and there each end with a silent vowel.

These examples do not contradict Rule 6, because each is not the subject, but rather an adjunct describing the true subject.

Examples:
Tranh is as smart as she/her.
If we mentally complete the sentence, we would say Tranh is as smart as she is. Therefore, she is the correct answer.

Zoe is taller than I/me.
Mentally completing the sentence, we have Zoe is taller than I am.

Daniel would rather talk to her than I/me.
We can interpret this sentence in two ways: Daniel would rather talk to her than to me. OR Daniel would rather talk to her than I would. A sentence's meaning can change considerably, depending on the pronoun you choose.

The possessive pronouns yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs, and whose never need apostrophes. Avoid mistakes like her's and your's.

The only time it's has an apostrophe is when it is a contraction for it is or it has. The only time who's has an apostrophe is when it means who is or who has. There is no apostrophe in oneself. Avoid "one's self," a common error.

Examples:
It's been a cold morning.
The thermometer reached its highest reading.
He's the one who's always on time.
He's the one whose wife is always on time.
Keeping oneself ready is important.

Pronouns that end in -self or -selves are called reflexive pronouns. There are nine reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.

Reflexive pronouns are used when both the subject and the object of a verb are the same person or thing.

If the object of a preposition refers to a previous noun or pronoun, use a reflexive pronoun:
Example: Joe bought it for himself.
Reflexive pronouns help avoid confusion and nonsense. Without them, we might be stuck with sentences like Joe helped Joe.
Correct: I worked myself to the bone.
The object myself is the same person as the subject I, performing the act of working.
Incorrect: My brother and myself did it.
Correct: My brother and I did it.
Don't use myself unless the pronoun I or me precedes it in the sentence.

Myself refers back to me in the act of being.

A sentence like Help yourself looks like an exception to the rule until we realize it's shorthand for You may help yourself.

In certain cases, a reflexive pronoun may come first.
Example: Doubting himself, the man proceeded cautiously.
Reflexive pronouns are also used for emphasis.
Example: He himself finished the whole job.
The use of they and their with singular pronouns is frowned upon by many traditionalists. To be consistent, it is a good practice to try to avoid they and its variants (e.g., them, their, themselves) with previously singular nouns or pronouns.
Not consistent: Someone has to do it, and they have to do it well.
The problem is that someone is singular, but they is plural. If we change they to he or she, we get a rather clumsy sentence, even if it is technically correct.
Technically correct: Someone has to do it, and he or she has to do it well.
Replacing an inconsistent sentence with a poorly written one is a bad bargain. The better option is to rewrite.
Rewritten: Someone has to do it, and has to do it well.
Many writers abhor the he or she solution. Following are more examples of why rewriting is a better idea than using he or she or him or her to keep sentences consistent.
Inconsistent: No one realizes when their time is up.
Awkward: No one realizes when his or her time is up.
Rewritten: None realize when their time is up.
Inconsistent: If you see anyone on the trail, tell them to be careful.
Awkward: If you see anyone on the trail, tell him or her to be careful.
Rewritten: Tell anyone you see on the trail to be careful.

When rewriting is not practical and gender-neutrality is desired, use they, them, their, themself, or themselves with singular nouns, proper nouns, and pronouns. (This is sometimes referred to as the singular they, which has a long history in the English language.)
Incorrect: Her and her friend came over.
If we remove and her friend, we're left with the ungrammatical Her came over.
Correct: She and her friend came over. Incorrect: I invited he and his wife.
If we remove and his wife, we're left with the ungrammatical I invited he.
Incorrect: Bill asked my sister and I.
If we remove my sister and, we're left with the ungrammatical Bill asked I.
NOTE
Do not combine a subject pronoun and an object pronoun in phrases like her and I or he and me. Whenever and or or links an object pronoun ( her, me) and a subject pronoun ( he, I), one of those pronouns will always be wrong.

Incorrect: Her and I went home.
Correct: She and I went home. (She went and I went.)

Rule 13. If two people possess the same item, and one of the joint owners is written as a pronoun, use the possessive form for both.

Note: As the above examples demonstrate, when one of the co-owners is written as a pronoun, use possessive adjectives ( my, your, her, our, their). Avoid possessive pronouns ( mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs) in such constructions.

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A pronoun (I, me, he, she, herself, you, it, that, they, each, few, many, who, whoever, whose, someone, everybody, etc.) is a word that takes the place of a noun. There are three types of pronouns: subject (for example, he); object (him); or possessive (his).

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The main word in the predicate of a sentence that expresses action or being.

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The main word in the predicate of a sentence that expresses action or being.

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Action verbs tell what the subject does.(sing)

Verb phrases are verbs made up of more than one word. (is studying)

Other verbs are called helping or auxiliary verbs. (has, have)

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A word that shows the relationship between a noun and some other word in the sentence. 

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A word that shows the relationship between a noun and some other word in the sentence. 

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Tip: Any way that you can throw a ball would be a preposition. (up, down, in, out, and through).

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Basic Prepositions of Place in English | Learn English Prepositions | ESOL prepositions of place

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A word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. 

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A word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun. 

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One adjective can change the meaning of a whole

sentence.

It was a boring day.  It was an exciting day.

An adjective can tell what kind, which one, or how

many.

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A word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb.

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A word that describes or modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb.

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Adverbs that modify verbs answer:

How? (slowly)

Where? (outside)

When? (later)Or

To what extent? (thoroughly)

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Super Easy Examples of Adverbs in English Grammar

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If it stands alone, it is followed by an

exclamation point. (Hey!)
If it begins a sentence, it is set off by a

comma. (Well, I never knew that.)

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A word that connects words or groups of words.

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A word that connects words or groups of words.

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I am going to the store and by the bank.
Conjunctions work…
like a bridge.