Verbal Ability - Nouns

Definition of a Noun

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, quality, animal, idea or activity.

For Example

  • Person − Mahima

  • Thing − Disk

  • Animal − Duck

  • Activity − Navigation

  • Place − Delhi

  • Quality − Weight

  • Idea − Intelligence

Types of Nouns

Proper Nouns

The names used for specific things, places, and people. For example — Jon, Paris.

Common Nouns

The names used for things in general. For example — table, house.

Concrete Nouns

The objects that can be identified through one of the five senses. For example – phone, chair.

Abstract Nouns

The names denoting quality, feeling or idea. For example – freedom, justice.

Count Nouns

Count nouns are those that can be counted. They are singular or plural. Plurals usually end with “s.” For example — Singular – Card, Plural – Cards.

Important

Most nouns ending in ‘s’, ‘sh’, ‘o’, or ‘ch’ sounds need an ‘-es’ suffix to be plural. Nouns ending in a consonant followed by ‘y’ become plural by ending with ’ies’.

For Example

  • Singular — Bus (Ends with ‘s’ sound)

    Plural — Buses

  • Singular — Dish (Ends with ‘sh’ sound)

    Plural — Dishes

  • Singular — Potato (Ends with o’ sound)

    Plural — Potatoes

  • Singular — Church (Ends with ‘ch’ sound)

    Plural — Churches

  • Singular — Mystery (Ends with ‘y’ sound)

    Plural — Mysteries

Irregular Nouns

These are nouns that don’t end with either “s” or ‘es’ as suffixes in plural.

For Example

  • Singular — Mouse

    Plural — Mice

  • Singular — Ox

    Plural — Oxen

Uncountable Nouns

These are nouns that cannot be counted and usually do not have a plural form.

For Example

  • Happiness
  • Sand
  • Oil

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things. Unlike uncountable nouns, they can usually be counted, so they usually have plural forms.

For Example

  • Singular — Batch

    Plural — Batches

Possessive Nouns

These names are called possessive as they express ownership. They commonly use “of.” For example – An act of God.

Most singular possessives are formed by adding an apostrophe and “s.” If the noun is plural, the possessive form becomes “s” and apostrophe.

For Example

  • Singular Subject: Boy
  • Singular Possessive: Boy’s
  • Plural Subjects: Boys
  • Singular Possessive: Boys’

Important

If the plural noun does not end with an “s,” the possessive is formed by adding apostrophe and “s.”

For Example

  • Singular Common: Woman
  • Singular Possessive: Woman’s
  • Plural Common: Women
  • Plural Possessive: Women’s
  • Plural Possessive: Oxen’s
verbal_ability_nouns.htm