Nouns

1. The Louvre is stunning. (subject noun: The Louvre)
2. Marco ate dinner with Sara and Petra. (subject noun: Marco; object nouns: dinner, Sara, Petra)
3. Honesty is the best policy. (subject noun: honesty; object noun: policy)
4. After the election, we celebrated our new governor. (object nouns: governor, election)
5. I slept. (0 nouns)

Look for the nouns in these sentences.

1. Mrs. Garcia makes a great pumpkin pie. (subject noun: Mrs. Garcia; object noun: pie)
2. We really need to water the garden. (object noun: garden)
3. Love is sweet. (subject noun: love)
4. Sam loves New York in the springtime. (subject noun: Sam; object nouns: New York, springtime)
5. Lin and her mother and father ate soup, fish, potatoes, and fruit for dinner. (subject nouns: Lin, mother, father; object nouns: soup, fish, potatoes, fruit, dinner)

Why isn’t the word pumpkin  a noun in the first sentence? Pumpkin  is often a noun, but here it is used as an adjective that describes what kind of pie.

Why isn’t the word water  a noun in the second sentence? Here, water  is an action verb. To water the garden  is something we do.

BE CAREFUL!

Words can change to serve different roles in different sentences. A word that is usually a noun can sometimes be used as an adjective or a verb. Determine a word’s function in a sentence to be sure of its part of speech.

How is the word love  a noun in the third sentence and not in the fourth sentence? Love  is a noun (thing) in sentence 3 and a verb (action) in the sentence 4.

How many nouns can a sentence contain? As long as the sentence remains grammatically correct, it can contain an unlimited number of nouns.

TEAS Test Prep: Types of Nouns

A. Singular and Plural Nouns

Nouns can be singular or plural. A noun is singular when there is only one. A noun is plural when there are two or more.

The book has 650 pages.

KEEP IN MIND . . .

Some nouns are countable, and others are not. For example, we eat three blueberries, but we do not drink three milks. Instead, we drink three glasses of milk  or some milk.

Book  is a singular noun. Pages  is a plural noun.

Often, to make a noun plural, we add -s  at the end of the word: cat/cats. This is a regular plural noun. Sometimes we make a word plural in another way: child/children. This is an irregular plural noun. Some plurals follow rules, while others do not. The most common rules are listed here:

B. Common and Proper Nouns

Common nouns are general words, and they are written in lowercase. Proper nouns are specific names, and they begin with an uppercase letter.

Examples:

C. Concrete and Abstract Nouns

Concrete nouns are people, places, or things that physically exist. We can use our senses to see or hear them. Turtle, spreadsheet, and Australia  are concrete nouns.

Abstract nouns are ideas, qualities, or feelings that we cannot see and that might be harder to describe. Beauty, childhood, energy, envy, generosity, happiness, patience, pride, trust, truth, and victory  are abstract nouns.

Some words can be either concrete or abstract nouns. For example, the concept of art  is abstract, but art that we see and touch is concrete.

We talked about art. (abstract)

She showed me the art  she had created in class. (concrete)

TEAS Test Tips for Identifying Different Types of Nouns

1. Concrete Nouns

   • Tip: Concrete nouns refer to things that can be physically seen, touched, or measured. Ask yourself if you can interact with the noun using your senses.
   • Examples: dog, chair, mountain
   • Question to Ask: Can I see or touch it?

2. Abstract Nouns

   • Tip: Abstract nouns name ideas, feelings, or concepts that cannot be physically touched or seen.
   • Examples: love, freedom, happiness
   • Question to Ask: Can I experience it with my senses, or is it a concept?

3. Countable Nouns

   • Tip: Countable nouns are things you can count. They have singular and plural forms.
   • Examples: book/books, apple/apples, chair/chairs
   • Question to Ask: Can I count it? Does it have a singular and plural form?

4. Common Nouns

   • Tip: Common nouns refer to general items, people, or places and are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence.
   • Examples: city, dog, teacher
   • Question to Ask: Is it a general person, place, or thing?

5. Proper Nouns

   • Tip: Proper nouns name specific people, places, or things and are always capitalized.
   • Examples: New York, John, Eiffel Tower
   • Question to Ask: Is this a specific name or title? Is it capitalized?

Let’s Review!