Kinds of Noun in English Grammar

Kinds of Noun:

1. Common Noun
2. Proper Noun
3. Collective Noun
4. Abstract Noun
5. Material Noun
6. Countable Nouns 
7. Uncountable Nouns 

A Noun is a word used as the name of a person, place or thing.
Note:The word thing is used to mean anything that we can think of.
Look at the sentence:
      Rehan was a wise king.
The noun Rehan refers to King, but the noun king might be applied to any other king as well as to Rehan . We call Rehan a Proper Noun, and a king a Common Noun.

Similarly:

     Seema is a Proper Noun, while girl is a Common Noun.
     Shahid is a Proper Noun, while boy is a Common Noun.
     Karachi is a Proper Noun, while city is a Common Noun.
     Pakistan is a Proper Noun, while country is a Common Noun.
The word girl is a common noun, because it is a name common to all girls, while Seema is a Proper Noun because it is the name of a particular girl.

1. Common Noun

 A Common Noun is a name given in Common to every person or thing of the same class or kind.
     [ Common here means shared by all]

2.  Proper Noun
Proper Nouns are always written with a capital letter at the beginning.
 A proper Noun is the name of some particular person or place.
     [ Proper means one's own. Hence a Proper Name is a person's own name.]

3. Collective Noun
Collective noun is the name of a number (or Collection) of persons or things taken together and spoken off as one whole;as,
     Crowed, mob, team, flock, herd, army, fleet, jury, family, nation, parliament, committie.
     A fleet = a collection of ships or vessels.
     An Army = a collection of soldiers.
     A crowed = a collection of people.
     The police dispersed the crowed.
     The French army was defeated.
     The jury found the prisoner guilty.

4. Abstract Noun
An abstract noun is usually the name of a quality, action or state considered apart from the object to which it belongs; as,
Quality: Goodness, kindness, whiteness, darkness, hardness, brightness, honesty, wisdom, bravery.
Action: Laughter, theft, movement, judgement, hatred.
Sate: Childhood, boyhood, youth, slavery, sleep, sickness, death, poverty.

The names of Arts and science (eg. Grammar, music, chemisty, etc. ) are also abstract nouns.

We can speak of a brave soldier, a strong man, a beautiful flower, But we can think of these qualities apart from any particular person or thing, and speak of bravery, strength, beauty by themselves. So also we can speak of what persons do or feel apart from the persons themselves, and give it a name. The word abstract means drawn off .

Abstract Nouns are formed from-
   (1) From adjectives;as,
         Kindness from kind, honesty from honest.
         [most abstract nouns are formed thus]

    (2) From Verbs;as,
         Obedience from obey; growth from grow.
    (3) From common Nouns; as,
          Childhood from child, slavery from slave.

5. Material Noun
Material noun is the name of things from which others things are prepared.
Eg. Iron , Wood, Milk, Cotton

6.  Countable nouns / Countables
Countable nouns are the names of objects, people etc, that we can count e.g book, pen, apple, boy, sister, doctor, horse.

7. Uncountable Nouns  / Uncountables 
Uncountable nouns are names of things, which we can not count e.g milk, sugar, oil, gold, honesty. They mainly denote substances and abstract things

note: countable nouns have plural forms, while uncountable nouns do not. For example we can say "books" but we can not say milks.

Exercises 

 Exercise 1
Note: Point out the nouns in the following sentences, and say whether they are Common, Proper, Collective or Abstract:-

1. The crowed was very big
2. Always speak the truth 
3. We all love honesty.
4. Our class consist of twenty pupils. 
5. The elephant has great strength
6. Solomon was famous for his wisdom. 
7. Cleanliness is next to goodness.
8. We saw a fleet of ships in the harbor. 
9. The class is studying grammar.
10. The river overflows its banks every year. 
11. A committee of five was appointed.
12. The soldiers were rewarded for their bravery.
13. Without health there is no happiness.
14. I recognized your voice at once.
15. Our team is better than theirs.
16. Never tell a lie
17. Wisdom is better than strength.
18. He sets a high value in his time. 
19. I believe in his innocence.
20. This room is thirty feet in length.
21. I often think of the happy days of child hood. 
22. The streets of some of our cities are noted for their crookedness.

Exercise 2
Note: Write the Collective Nouns used to describe a number of:-
     (1) Cattle                    (2) Soldiers                    (3) Sailors
Note: Write the qualities that belong to boys who are:-
     (1) Lazy                     (2) Cruel                        (3) Brave                       (4) Foolish
Exercise 3
Note (1): Form Abstract Nouns from the following Adjectives:-

Long	Strong	Wide	Board	High
Young	True	Wise	Tree	Poor
Humble	Short	Good	Proud	Just
Decent	Prudent	Vacant	Brave	Vain
Cruel	Dark	Sweet	Novel	Sane
Bitter	Deep	Human	Quick	ignorant

Note (2): Form Abstract Nouns from the following Verbs:-

Laugh	Believe	Choose	Defend	Free
Obey	Serve	Move	Think	See
Live	Hate	Conceal	Protect	Judge
Expect	Please	Seize	Advise	Pursue
Excel	Act	Flatter	Punish	Relieve
Know	Starve	Depart	Die	Converse
Steal	Occupy	Persevere	Succeed	discover

Note (3): Form abstract nouns from the following Common nouns:-

King	Infant	Mother	Priest	Friend
Man	Owner	Agent	Boy	Captain
Thief	Rogue	Hero	Bond	Rascal
Woman	Regent	Beggar	Pirate	Patriot
Bankrupt	Author	Coward	Pilgrim	Glutton

Kinds of Noun in English grammar