5th Class English Noun Noun

Real-Life Example

Shopping List- To help yourself understand what a concrete noun is, you can create a shopping list for the grocery store or mall. Each letter of the alphabet must be represented on the list and must include concrete nouns that can actually be found in the type of chosen.  

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to:-

• Understand nouns as a part of speech and its grammatical usage. 
• Analyse different kind of nouns and distinguishing factors between them.
• Develop the idea of using the nouns in proper context.  

QUICK CONCEPT REVIEW

Definition: A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.  

KINDS OF NOUN

There are five different kinds of noun:

(a)    Proper Noun: It is the name of particular person or place and is always written with a capital letter. Eg. Shah Jahan constructed some of the remarkable monuments in India. Indira Ghandi, the first woman prime minister of India, was dynamic lady.

(b)   Common Noun: It is a name which is common to any and every person or thing of the same kind. E.g. Boys like to play cricket and football. Small towns are growing today at a faster rate.

(c)    Collective Noun: It denotes a number of persons or things grouped together as one complete whole. Eg. It is very interesting to study and view the constellations in a clear sky. Different band of musicians are performing at the concert.

(d)    Material Noun: It denotes the matter or substance of which things are made. Eg. Iron and steel industry is a key industry in our country. There has been a significant increase in the price of gold.

(e)   Abstract Noun: It is the name of some quality, state or action considered to be part from the thing to which it belongs. Eg, Patience is the best remedy for every trouble. Knowledge and wisdom are complementary to each other.  

Pictures/Examples:

(A) PROPER NOUN

1.       Rabindranath Tagore was the first Nobel laureate of India.

2.       The holy Vedas are the oldest texts of Hindu mythology.  

(B) COMMON NOUN

1.       An umbrella saves us from the scorching heat of the sun and heavy rains.  

(C) COLLECTIVE NOUN

1. Bee hive is reared in large scale production of honey.    

(D) MATERIAL NOUN

1.       Petrol is very precious as it speeds up our mobility from one place to another.  

(E) ABSTRACT NOUN

1.                   Laughter is the best medicine in a stressful situation.  

A. Words Showing Collection

B. Formation of Nouns from Adjectives

Misconcept / Concept

Misconcept: Collective nouns are plural.

Concept: When a collective noun provides the sense of ?togetherness? it should be treated as singular noun. But when it provides the sense of ?separation? it should be treated as plural noun. Eg. The committee has submitted its report. The jury were divided in their opinion.

Important Tips

There are some nouns which are plural in form but may be used in singular sense. Eg. Mathematics, Statics, Economics, etc. Eg. My mathematics book is the heaviest of all. But when mathematics equals to mathematical calculations and economics equals to economic facts them these should be treated as plural nouns. Eg. Your mathematics are not as weak as that of me.

When two nouns are joined together to point out the same thing or person then it should be treated as singular. Eg. bread and butter is my favourite breakfast.

When a proper noun becomes a common noun then articles (a, an, the) should be used before that common noun. Eg. Kalidas is the Shakespeare of India.

'The' should not be use before an abstract noun. Eg. Honesty is the best policy. Charity begins at home. Abstract nouns are never used in the plural form.

'The' should not be used before material noun. Eg. Wheat is exported to many countries of the world. But when material noun is particularised then ?the? should be used before that material noun. Eg. The gold of America is precious.  

C. Formation of Nouns from Verbs

D. One-Word Substitution

Gender Formation: There are four types of gender-

(a)    Masculine: male animal or human Example: man, deer

(b)   Feminine: female animal or human Example: woman, doe.

(c)    Common: when we are not sure if the person or animal is male or female Example: parent, adult, child

(d)   Neuter: for non-living things Example: book, table.  

Plural Formation:

There are various rules to form plurals.

(a)    Add 's' to the singular noun. Example: girl-girls, boy-boys

(b)   Add 'es' to the singular noun which ends with 'ch', 'sh' or 'x'.

Example: branch- branches, brush-brushes, tax- taxes.

(c)    Words which have 'y' in the end and there is a consonant before 'y', 'y' changes into 'i' and then we must add 'es' Baby-babies, lady- ladies

(d)   We add ?es? to the words ending with o. Example: mango-mangoes. But there are exceptions to this rule. Example: photo-photos, cargo-cargos.

(e)   Words ending with f/fe will change into ?v? and then ?es? added. Example: thief-thieves, knife- knives.

(f)     In few words we add ?en? Example: child- children, ox-oxen.

(g)    Few words are alike in their singular and plural forms. Deer, sheep, salmon, aircraft, spacecraft, series, species.

(h)   Words with numbers before them will be said in singular form but if here is no number written before them they may be said in plural form as well. Example: 2pair of socks, 10 thousand. If there is no number- pairs, thousands, dozens, hundreds.

(i)      Collective noun is said in singular form only. Example: herd, army, bouquet, etc.

(j)     There are few objects which are said in plural even they are singular. Example: scissors, tongs, jeans, trousers, spectacles, etc.

(k)    There are few objects which are said in plural even they are singular.   Example: honesty, kindness.

(l)      For compound words we add ?s? to the main word. Example: mother-in-law changes to mothers-in-law, commander in chief changes to commanders-in-chief.