Noun

             

INDEX :- 

•  Introduction
•  Definition of Nouns
•  Noun and Noun Phrase
•  Kinds of Nouns

1.  Proper nouns
2.  Common nouns
3.  Collective nouns
4.  Material nouns
5.  Abstract nouns

• Nouns: Countability

1.  Countable nouns
2.  Uncountable nouns

• Nouns: Gender

1. Masculine and Feminine forms
2.  Common/dual gender

 Introduction:- 

               Nouns are naming words. Every language has its own set of nouns and the list is

open ended i.e. newer nouns one added to the older ones with the changing times.

 Definition of Nouns

      A Nouns is the name of a person place or thing. A thing includes a quality (fear) a

material (gold), a collection (herd, army), a state (adherence) and an action (cheat,

mock, movement)

 Noun and Noun Phrase

A noun is often called a' noun phrase. A noun phrase can be a single-word noun:

Teachers love their pupils. (noun phrase: teacher)

But a noun phrase is usually longer than a single word because it consists of an

adjective or a determiner plus a noun.

A good teacher loves his pupils. (noun phrase: a good teacher)

                                              Kinds of Nouns

 

Nouns can be classified into five kinds:

1. Proper nouns

2. Common nouns

3. Collective nouns

4. Material nouns

5. Abstract nouns

 Proper nouns:- 

                   A proper noun is the name of a particular person or thing, i.e. a name used for an

individual person or place, river, or mountain etc.:

Example:  Mary, Rahul, Godavari, India, Everest

 Common nouns

               A common noun refers to any and every person or thing of the same kind or class,

not to a particular person or thing:

Example: cow, dog, girl, boy, man, woman.

Common nouns       Proper nouns

Girl                              Sunita

Dog                             Tommy

Man                             Akshay

Collective nouns

             A collective noun is the name of a collection, group of people, or things of the

same kind: class, team, government jury, federation.

More example:- 

Material nouns

         A material noun is the name of a material, substance, or ingredient things are made

of. They can be articles of food or drink as well:

Example:- iron, copper, steel, gold, coal, silver, rice, wheat, milk, water, tea, sugar

Note: A material noun is a type of common noun but a distinction is made between

the two. A common noun is usually a countable noun but a material noun is an

uncountable noun.

Example:- The cow gives us milk.

Cow is a common noun (countable), but milk is a material noun (uncountable).

Abstract nouns

An abstract noun is the name of a quality, state, or concept:

Example:- beauty, sweetness, childhood, love

Note:   Concrete nouns are names of material things, i.e. things having a material

form, shape or size. Abstract nouns are the names of qualities found in various

kinds of objects. Since they have no material form, they cannot be seen or touched.

We can know of them only through our mind:

Concrete nouns    Abstract nouns

sugar                         sweetness

book                          beauty

milk                           hatred

Justification:-    We can see sugar but cannot see sweetness, so sugar is a concrete noun and

sweetness an abstract noun. In short, concrete nouns refer to physical properties

and abstract nouns to mental roperties.

Nouns: Countability

     Nouns are of two kinds from the viewpoint of countability:-

      a) Countable nouns             b) Uncountable nouns

Countable nouns

        Nouns that can be counted are called countable nouns:

Example:-     a book , one book,   two books

                       an egg,  one egg ,    two eggs

Generally a noun used in answer to the question 'how many' ? is a countable noun:

Example:-  How many shows did you watch?

                    I watched 2 shows.

                  

Note: Common nouns and collective nouns are by and large countable.

 

Uncountable nouns:- 

            Nouns that cannot be counted are called uncountable nouns:

Example:-   milk, water, ink, sugar, butter.

                    (not, a milk, one water, two sugar)

       A noun used in answer to the question 'how much'? is an uncountable noun.

When we want to refer to the quantity of these items we use values of measurement which are countable:

Example:-     How much milk do you need?

                      We need a litre of milk.

Note:- 

 a) Material nouns and abstract nouns are uncountable. So are proper

nouns, though they can be used as countable nouns in special situations:

There are two Indias :-   the rural and the urban.

b) Certain nouns can be used both as countable and uncountable

depending on the context.

Uncountable                                          Countable

I prefer chicken to fish.                 These chickens are lovely.

Petrol catches fire easily.              Shall we make a fire out here?

 Nouns: Gender

Gender is of four kinds:

1. Masculine (denotes male)
2. Feminine (denotes female)
3. Common (denotes both male and female)
4. Neuter (denotes neither male nor female)

Masculine                 Feminine                Common                    Neuter

boy                               girl                        student                       gold

man                             woman                   teacher                         rice

brother                          sister                      doctor                      flower

uncle                             aunt                       child                          river

bull                               cow                        diplomat                     table

Note:      The words masculine and feminine can be used as adjectives to describe the

looks or qualities of human beings. In this sense masculine means: having the

characterstics of a man, so it can be used of a woman or girl as well.

Example:-  The lady standing in the centre has masculine looks.

                    Similarly with feminine. Notice that in this sense masculine/feminine indicates

    characteristics or attributes, not sex.

 Masculine and feminine forms

The feminine of nouns is formed in two ways:

1.  by adding ess to the masculine form
2.  by adding she/girl/woman to the masculine form
3.  By adding ess to the masculine form

1. by adding 'ess' to the masculine form:- 

              Masculine                             Feminine

• actor                                     Actress
• baron                                    Baroness
• count/earl                             Countess
• duke                                     Duchess
• god                                       Goddess
• heir                                       heiress
• host                                       hostess
• hunter                                   huntress
• lion                                       lioness
• master                                   mistress
• murderer                               murderess
• priest                                     priestess
• prince                                    princess
• shepherd                               shepherdess
• tiger                                      tigress
• waiter                                   waitress

Note: 

  a) English has only a small number of feminine forms (noun + ess).

Professional activities are often referred to in the common gender.

The feminine forms authoress, poetess, directress, inspectress are no longer in use.

Example:-   She is the director of this institute. (not, directress)

                    She is an inspector of police. (not, inspectress)

b) The feminine form of hero is heroine.

2.  By adding she/girl/woman:- 

                 

                    Masculine                                    Feminine

• he-goat                                             she-goat
• boy-friend                                        girl-friend
• student                                             woman student
• businessman                                     businesswoman
• policeman                                         policewoman
• sportsman                                         sportswoman
• salesman                                           saleswoman
• statesman                                          stateswoman

 

But in many cases, the feminine form is not derived from the masculine form. In

the examples listed below, the feminine form is a totally new word, not related to

the masculine form phonetically.

                Masculine -   Feminine                             Masculine -   Feminine

• bachelor -    maid/spinster                         gander -            goose
• boar -           sow                                        gentleman -      lady
• boy -            girl                                         hart -                 roe
• brother -       sister                                      horse -              mare
• buck -          doe                                         husband -        wife
• bull/ox -       cow                                        lord -                lady
• bullock -      heifer                                      man -               woman
• cock -           hen                                         nephew -           neice
• colt -            filIy                                        sir -                  madam
• dog -            bitch                                       stag -                 hind
• drake -         duck                                        uncle -               aunt
• drone -          bee                                         wizard -            witch
• father -          mother                                   fox -                 vixen

Common/dual gender

Nouns denoting profession:- 

         Most of the nouns denoting profession/occupation are in the common gender:

ambassador, doctor, minister, pupilartisan ,editor, monarch ,reader

artist ,enemy, monitor ,relation, artiste, engineer, musician ,scientist

author ,fool ,neighbour ,secretary ,baby ,foreigner ,novelist ,servant

captain ,friend, orphan, singer, child ,infant, person, speaker

clerk ,judge ,player, student, collector, lawyer, poet, teacher,

cook ,lecturer, politician ,typist ,cousin, librarian ,president, worker,

criminal ,magician ,principal, writer ,dancer, lagistrate, professor

                    The hindi meaning of given words are given below respectively:- 

(राजदूत, डॉक्टर, मंत्री, छात्र, संपादक, सम्राट, पाठक

कलाकार, दुश्मन, मॉनिटर, संबंध, कलाकार, इंजीनियर, संगीतकार, वैज्ञानिक
लेखक, मूर्ख, पड़ोसी, सचिव, बच्चा, विदेशी, उपन्यासकार, नौकर , कप्तान, दोस्त, अनाथ, गायक, बच्चा, शिशु, व्यक्ति, वक्ताक्लर्क, जज, खिलाड़ी, छात्र, कलेक्टर, वकील, कवि, शिक्षक,रसोइया, व्याख्याता, राजनीतिज्ञ, टाइपिस्ट, चचेरा भाई, लाइब्रेरियन, अध्यक्ष, कार्यकर्ता, अपराधी, जादूगर, प्रधानाध्यापक, लेखक, नर्तक, न्यायधीश, प्रोफेसर)