26 ESL Troublespots: Nouns and Articles
ESL TROUBLESPOTS
26
Nouns and Articles
The two primary types of nouns in English are proper nouns and common nouns. A proper noun names a specific, unique person, place, thing, calendar item, or idea and is always capitalized.
| Sarah Palin | Lake Erie | Toyota | Tuesday | Marxism |
A common noun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea in general and is not capitalized.
| writer | lake | car | day | ideology |
Common nouns are classified as either count nouns or noncount nouns. A count noun names items that can be counted.
| artists | books | towns |
Count nouns have both singular and plural forms.
| Singular Form | Plural Form |
| one artist | three artists |
| every book | most books |
| each town | all towns |
A noncount noun names items that cannot be easily counted.
| rain | traffic |
Most noncount nouns do not have a plural form.
| Incorrect | Correct |
| advices | advice |
| informations | information |
| vocabularies | vocabulary |
This chapter will help you use these categories—proper noun versus common noun, count noun versus noncount noun—to avoid errors in your writing, especially in your use of articles (a, an, and the).
26a Keep the following guidelines in mind for recognizing and using noncount nouns
Nouns in the following categories are likely to be noncount nouns.
ABSTRACTIONS |
advice, courage, grief, information, knowledge, love, satisfaction, wealth |
FIELDS OF STUDY OR RESEARCH |
chemistry, law, medicine, pollution, sociology, weather |
SPORTS AND GAMES |
chess, football, soccer, tennis |
LIQUIDS |
milk, water |
THINGS THAT CANNOT BE EASILY COUNTED |
rice, sand, snow |
Do not use numbers or plural quantity words before noncount nouns.
Do not use the article a or an with noncount nouns.
Noncount nouns are used with singular verbs.
Some nouns can be noncount or count, depending on whether they refer to something considered as a whole.
NONCOUNT |
Bread is a staple in almost every cuisine. [Bread considered as a kind of food] |
COUNT |
Some breads are made without yeast. [Particular types of bread, such as rye or whole wheat] |
26b Use an article or a demonstrative pronoun (this, that, these, those) with a count noun
26c Use a or an before a singular count noun that does not refer to a specific person, place, object, or concept
When using the articles a and an, remember that a is used before words beginning with a consonant sound and an is used before words beginning with a vowel sound.
| a baby | an eagle |
| a city | an hour |
| a fish | an island |
| a hope | an orange |
| a unicycle | an outrage |
26d Use the before a noun that refers to something specific
Be sure not to omit the article.
26e Use a, an, or the with most singular count nouns considered as general examples; no article is necessary for plural count nouns considered as general examples
26f Use the with plural proper nouns (the United States, the Joneses, the Koreans) and certain types of singular proper nouns
Some singular proper nouns use the.
COMMON NOUN PLUS OF |
the Arch of Triumph, the state of Vermont, the University of Florida |
BUILDINGS |
the Eiffel Tower, the White House |
COUNTRIES NAMED WITH A PHRASE |
the Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom |
HIGHWAYS |
the Kensington Expressway |
HOTELS, MUSEUMS |
the Hilton Hotel, the Guggenheim Museum |
PARTS OF THE GLOBE |
the Equator, the Northwest, the South Pole |
HISTORICAL PERIODS, EVENTS |
the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution |
SEAS, OCEANS, GULFS, RIVERS, DESERTS |
the Red Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Missouri River, the Sahara |
GROUPS OF ISLANDS |
the Hawaiian Islands |
MOUNTAIN RANGES |
the Alps |
26g Do not use an article with most other singular proper nouns
