Types of nouns

Common or proper

Common nouns

Examples

• name general persons, places, things, ideas

• begin with lowercase

religion beauty
student knowledge
country rain

Proper nouns

Examples

• name specific persons, places, things, ideas

• begin with capital letter

Hinduism President Mitterand
Philip Washington Monument
Vietnam Renaissance

Count or noncount (common nouns only)

Count nouns

Examples

• name persons, places, things, or ideas that can be counted

• have plural forms

girl girls
city cities
goose geese
philosophy philosophies

Noncount nouns

Examples

• name things or abstract ideas that cannot be counted

• cannot be made plural

water patience
silver knowledge
furniture air

Singular or plural (both common and proper)

Singular nouns (count and noncount)

Examples

• represent one person, place, thing, or idea

backpack rain
country beauty
woman Nile River
achievement Block Island

Plural nouns (count only)

Examples

• represent more than one person, place, thing, or idea

• must be count nouns

backpacks Ural Mountains
countries Falkland Islands
women achievements

Specific (definite) or general (indefinite) (count and noncount)

Specific nouns

Examples

• name persons, places, things, or ideas that can be identified within a group of the same type

The students in Professor Martin’s class should study.

The airplane carrying the senator was late.

The furniture in the truck was damaged.

General nouns

Examples

• name categories of persons, places, things, or ideas (often plural)

Students should study.

Books bridge gaps between cultures.

The airplane has made commuting between cities easy. [Airplane as a class of transportation]