NOUN:
The noun is a naming word. It refers to person, place, things, or animals.
Eg: Vaibhav, Chennai, pen, cow…..with this noun is classified into 5 types in major.
PROPER NOUN is the name of a particular person or place.
Eg: George, Banaras …
COMMON NOUNis the name of a group of persons or things.
Eg: Boy, town,….
COLLECTIVE NOUN is the name of a group or collection of similar persons, animals, or things.
Eg: a Group of boys, a fleet of soldiers,…
ABSTRACT NOUN is the name of a quality that persons or things have, action they take, or state they find themselves in. You cannot touch it but can feel it.
Eg: Honesty, happiness, music, freedom.
MATERIAL NOUN: These are raw materials or objects, existing in nature.
Eg: iron, stones, furniture….
MASCULINE: A noun that denotes male sex.
Eg: boy, bull, dog
FEMININE: A noun that denotes female sex.
Eg: girl, cow, bitch
COMMON: A noun that denotes either a male or a female.
Eg: servant, child, student
NEUTER: It denotes lifeless things.
Eg: pen, pencil, books,…
Ways of forming feminine nouns
By using different words:
| Masculine | Feminine |
| Bachelor | Maid/spinster |
| Dog | Bitch |
| Bull | Cow |
| Drone | Bee |
By adding a syllable ‘-ess’…
| Lion | Lioness |
| Heir | Heiress |
| Peer | Peeress |
| Poet | Poetess |
| Host | Hostess |
By adding ‘-ess’ after dropping the vowel ending.
| Executor | Executrix |
| Master | Mistress |
| Tempter | Temptress |
| Abbot | Abbess |
| Signor | Signora |
By adding a word suffix or prefix
| He-goat | She-goat |
| Bull-calf | Cow-calf |
| Peacock | Peahen |
| Milkman | Milkmaid |
| Grandfather | grandmother |
SINGULAR: It denotes only one thing or person.
Eg: boy, pen
PLURAL: It denotes more than one.
Eg: boys, girls…
Adding ‘s’ to plural form:
| Pen | Pens |
| Girl | Girls |
| Pencil | Pencils |
| Dwarf | Dwarfs |
| Chief | Chiefs |
Adding ‘es’ to plural form for the words ending with’s, ss, sh, ch,x’
| Bus | Buses |
| Glass | Glasses |
| Bush | Bushes |
| Bench | Benches |
| Box | Boxes |
Adding ‘es’ by removing ‘y’
| Baby | Babies |
| story | Stories |
| City | Cities |
| Army | Armies |
| Lady | Ladies |
| Pony | ponies |
Adding ‘ies’ by removing ‘f, fe’
| Wife | Wives |
| Shelf | Shelves |
| Loaf | Loaves |
| Thief | Thieves |
| Wolf | wolves |
Complete change of words
| Child | Children |
| Man | Men |
| Woman | Women |
| Analysis | Analyses |
| Memorandum | memoranda |
Plurals for phrases:
| Mother in law | Mothers in law |
| Father in law | Fathers in law |
| Inspector general | Inspectors general |
| Attorney general | Attorneys general |
| Brother in law | brothers in law |
RULES FOR NOUNS:
- Some nouns are used only in the plural form.
Eg: Scissors, spectacles,…
- Some nouns are used only in the singular
Eg: civics, mathematics, news…
- Some nouns have the singular and plural alike
Eg: sheep, deer, swine, cod
- Abstract nouns and Material nouns are not used in the plural.
Eg: charity, kindness, copper,…
Note: When they are used in the plural, the meaning changes, and they become common nouns.
- Proper nouns are always written with capital letters at the beginning.
Eg: Delhi
- A collective noun usually takes a singular verb and is substituted by singular by a singular pronoun.
Eg: The jury has given its decision.
- A collective noun takes plural a plural verb when the noun gives the meaning of representing the members individually.
Eg: The jury was divided in their decision.
- A material noun and abstract noun do not take articles.
Eg: Cotton is a cash crop.
- Collective nouns, even when they denote living beings, are considered of the neuter gender.
Eg: Debi had a herd of cows. He kept a herdsman to look after it.
- Young children, infants, and the lower animals are referred to as neuter gender.
Eg: The baby loves its toys.
- Objects without life are considered as of
- Masculine gender- if the object gives the sense of strength and violence.
Eg: sun,summer,winter,time,death…
- Feminine gender – – if the object gives the sense of beauty, gentleness,and gracefulness.
Eg: Earth, moon, spring, nature….
- Pair, dozen, score, gross, hundred, thousand,etc,..(units of counting) when used after numbers remain their singular form.
Eg: My friend has two dozen apples.
- Abstract noun and material noun are not used in plural form.
Eg: Care of the old is necessary.
- Use correct form for abstract nouns.
Eg: young-youth, honest-honesty.
- Check spelling errors if any.
- Collective noun follows must take a singular verb. (Phrase with noun must be in plural)
Eg: A bunch of bananas has become expensive.
- Proper doesn’t take articles before it but when it is taken in comparison , it does.