Introduction

Nouns are a diverse group of words, and they are very common in English. Nouns are a category of words defining things—people, places, items, concepts. The video below is brief introduction to them and the role they play:

Now that you’ve seen and identified some nouns, let’s get started. In this outcome we will discuss nouns and their proper function in language.

Functions of Nouns

As we’ve already learned, a noun is the name of a person (Dr. Sanders), place (Lawrence, Kansas, factory, home), thing (scissors, saw, book), or idea (love, truth, beauty, intelligence).

Types of Nouns

Of the many different categories of nouns, a couple deserve closer attention here.

Common vs. Proper Noun

vs.

Common nouns are generic words, like tissue. They are lower-cased (unless they begin a sentence). A proper noun, on the other hand, is the name of a specific thing, like the brand name Kleenex. Proper nouns are always capitalized.

• common noun: name
• proper noun: Ester

Concrete vs. Abstract Noun

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Concrete nouns are things you can hold, see, or otherwise sense, like book, light, or warmth.

Abstract nouns, on the other hand, are (as you might expect) abstract concepts, like time and love.

• concrete noun: rock
• abstract noun: justice

The rest of this section will dig into other types of nouns: count v. non-count nouns, compound nouns, and plural nouns.

Regular Plural Nouns

A plural noun indicates that there is more than one of that noun (while a singular noun indicates that there is just one of the noun). English has both regular and irregular plural nouns.

Let’s start with regular plurals: regular plural nouns use established patterns to indicate there is more than one of a thing.

Recognize nouns marked with plural form –s.

We add the plural suffix –s to most words.

• apple → apples
• key → keys
• computer → computers

However, after sounds s, z, sh, ch, and j, we add the plural suffix –es.

• box → boxes
• wish → wishes
• kiss → kisses

After the letter o.

We add the plural suffix –es to most words that end in o.

• tomato → tomatoes
• hero → heroes

We add the plural suffix –s to words of foreign origin (Latin, Greek, Spanish, etc.)

• piano → pianos
• photo → photos
• video → videos

After –y and –f, –fe

When a word ends in y and there is a consonant before y, we change the y to i and add –es.

• baby → babies
• fly → flies

When a word ends in –f or –fe, we change the f to v and add –es.

• leaf → leaves
• life → lives
• scarf → scarves
• calf → calves
• loaf → loaves

Irregular Plural Nouns

Irregular plurals, unlike regular plurals, don’t necessarily follow any pattern, and require a lot of memorization. Mastering this type of pluralization uses a different region of your brain than regular pluralization, meaning it’s an entirely different skill set than regular pluralization. So don’t get too frustrated if you can’t remember the correct plural. If you’re ever in doubt, the dictionary is there for you.

No Change (Base Plurals)

In some words, the singular form is used for both singular and plural.

• fish
• deer
• sheep
• offspring
• series
• species

Mid-Word Vowel Change

In a few words, the mid-word vowels are changed to form the plural. This video lists all seven of these words and their plurals.

Plural –en

• child → children
• ox → oxen
• brother → brethren
• sister → sistren

Borrowed Words –i, –en, –a, –es, –ae

In words borrowed from Latin and Greek, the plural from the original language is used.

Singular –us; Plural –i

• cactus → cacti
• fungus → fungi
• syllabus → syllabi

In informal speech, cactuses and funguses are acceptable. Octopuses is preferred to octopi, but octopi is an accepted word.

Singular -a; Plural –ae

• formula → formulae (sometimes formulas)
• vertebra → vertebrae
• larva → larvae

Singular –ix, –ex; Plural –ices, –es

• appendix → appendices (sometimes appendixes)
• index → indices

Singular –on, –um; Plural –a

• criterion → criteria
• bacterium → bacteria
• medium → media

Singular –is; Plural –es

• analysis → analyses
• crisis → crises
• thesis → theses

Count vs. Non-Count Nouns

Count Nouns

A count noun (also countable noun) is a noun that can be modified by a numeral (three chairs) and that occurs in both singular and plural forms (chair, chairs). The can also be preceded by words such as a, an, or the (a chair).

Quite literally, count nouns are nouns which can be counted.

Non-Count Nouns

A non-count noun (also mass noun), on the other hand, has none of these properties. It can’t be modified by a numeral (three furniture is incorrect), occur in singular/plural (furnitures is not a word), or co-occur with a, an, or the (a furniture is incorrect).

Again, quite literally, non-count nouns are nouns which cannot be counted.

Determining the Type of Noun

In general, a count noun is going to be something you can easily count—like rock or dollar bill. Non-count nouns, on the other hand, would be more difficult to count—like sand or money. If you ever want to identify a singular non-count noun, you need a phrase beforehand—like a grain of sand or a sum of money.

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is a noun phrase made up of two nouns, e.g. bus driver, in which the first noun acts as a sort of adjective for the second one, but without really describing it. (For example, think about the difference between a black bird and a blackbird.)

Figure 1. A crow is a black bird, while a blackbird is a specific species of bird.

Compound nouns can be made up of two or more other words, but each compound has a single meaning. They may or may not be hyphenated, and they may be written with a space between words—especially if one of the words has more than one syllable, as in living room. In that regard, it’s necessary to avoid the over-simplification of saying that two single-syllable words are written together as one word. Thus, tablecloth but table mat, wine glass but wineglassful or key ring but keyholder. Moreover, there are cases which some people/dictionaries will write one way while others write them another way. Until very recently we wrote (the) week’s end, which later became week-end and then our beloved weekend.

There are three typical structures of compound nouns.

Types of Compound Nouns

Short compounds may be written in three different ways:

• The solid or closed forms in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist of short units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples are housewife, lawsuit, wallpaper, basketball, etc.
• The hyphenated form in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. This category includes compounds that contain suffixes, such as house-build(er) and single-mind(ed)(ness). Compounds that contain articles, prepositions or conjunctions, such as rent-a-cop and mother-of-pearl, are also often hyphenated.
• The open or spaced form consisting of newer combinations of usually longer words, such as distance learning, player piano, lawn tennis, etc.

Hyphens are often considered a squishy part on language (we’ll discuss this further in Text: Hyphens and Dashes). Because of this, usage differs and often depends on the individual choice of the writer rather than on a hard-and-fast rule. This means open, hyphenated, and closed forms may be encountered for the same compound noun, such as the triplets container ship/container-ship/containership and particle board/particle-board/particleboard. If you’re ever in doubt whether a compound should be closed, hyphenated, or open, dictionaries are your best reference.

Plurals

The process of making compound nouns plural has its own set of conventions to follow. In all forms of compound nouns, we pluralize the chief element of a compound word (i.e., we pluralize the primary noun of the compound).

• fisherman → fishermen
• black bird → black birds
• brother-in-law → brothers-in-law

The word hand-me-down doesn’t have a distinct primary noun, so its plural is hand-me-downs.

Self-Check