Definition
A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that name is a noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing is almost always capitalized. A proper noun used as an addressed person's name is called a noun of address. Common nouns name everything else, things that usually are not capitalized.
A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. A Noun Clause contains a subject and verb and can do anything that a noun can do:
What he does for this town is a blessing.
A Noun Phrase, frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related words acting as a noun:
Several accidents have been reported involving passengers falling from trains .
A rumor circulated among the staff that he was being promoted to Vice President . (instead of "A rumor that he was being promoted to Vice President circulated among the staff.")
The time had come to stop spending money foolishly and to put something away for the future . (instead of "The time to stop spending money foolishly and to put something away for the future had come.")
That hard drive was faulty that you sold me . (instead of "That hard drive that you sold me was faulty.")
What business is it of yours? (instead of "What business of yours is it? ")
Categories of Nouns
Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name anything that can be counted.
Mass nouns (or non-count nouns), which name something that can't be counted.
Collective nouns, which can take a singular form but are composed of more than one individual person or items.
We should note that some words can be either a count noun or a non-count noun depending on how they're being used in a sentence:
b. He had many troubles. (countable)
c. Experience (non-count) is the best teacher.
d. We had many exciting experiences (countable) in college.
Whether these words are count or non-count will determine whether they can be used with articles and determiners or not. (We would not write "He got into the troubles," but we could write about "The troubles of Ireland."
Some texts will include the category of abstract nouns, by which we mean the kind of word that is not tangible, such as warmth, justice, grief, and peace. Abstract nouns are sometimes troublesome for non-native writers because they can appear with determiners or without: "Peace settled over the countryside." "The skirmish disrupted the peace that had settled over the countryside." Try to be careful when dealing with abstract nouns and make sure to check the context in which it is being used.
Forms of Nouns
Nouns can be in the subjective, possessive, and objective case. The word case defines the role of the noun in the sentence. Is it a subject, an object, or does it show possession?
· The English professor [subject] is tall.
· He chose the English professor [object].
· The English professor's [possessive] car is green.
Nouns in the subject and object role are identical in form; nouns that show the possessive, however, take a different form. Usually an apostrophe is added followed by the letter s (except for plurals, which take the plural "-s" ending first, and then add the apostrophe).
Almost all nouns change form when they become plural, usually with the simple addition of an -s or -es. Unfortunately, it's not always that easy and certain words pluralize differently such as the words “geese” and “oxen".
