Nouns are words that name people, places or things. Nouns come in many different forms. Some nouns can belong to several different groups as the various divisions are not mutually exclusive.

Types of Nouns

Common nouns are general names for people, places, and things.

e.g.: backpack, friend, holiday, mall school, teacher, video

Proper nouns are names for specific people, places and things. Proper nouns always being with a capital letter.

e.g.: Weston Collegiate Institute, Henry, Labor Day, Mrs. List, Nintendo, Saturday, Toronto

Concrete nouns name people, places, and things that you can see, touch, taste, here, or smell.

e.g.: fire, library, music, perfume, pizza, snow, woman

Abstract nouns name ideas, feelings, or qualities.

e.g.: beauty, democracy, fairness, health, kindness, love, sadness

Collective nouns name groups of people, places, or things.

e.g.: class, club, committee, humankind orchestra, ensemble

Compound nouns are made up of two or more words. Compound nouns can be common, proper, singular, plural, concrete, abstract or collective in their nature. The can be written as one word, two words or as a hyphenated set.

e.g.: baseball, daydreams, electric guitar, jack-o'-lantern

Singular nouns name only one person, place, idea, or thing.

Plural nouns name more than one person, place, idea, or thing.

Making A Singular Noun Plural

1. Add an 's' to the end of most singular nouns to make them plural.
dog + s = dogs cat + s = cats test + s = tests

2. Add an 'es' to the end of most singular nouns ending in ch, s, sch, sh, x, or z, to make them plural.
dog + s = dogs cat + s = cats test + s = tests