A Complete Guide to English Nouns (Types & List of Nouns)

Figuring out the intricacies of the English language can be both a fun task and an increasingly convoluting one. There’s so much that needs to be taken into consideration, it’s no wonder it’s considered to be one of the hardest languages in the world to learn.

Today we’re going to take a look at nouns and what exactly they are. It’s good to have an idea of how nouns work and should be applied to sentences before you use them so that you can make the best use of your vocabulary and language skills. It’s not nearly as hard as you might think, so don’t worry.

Table of Contents

Noun

What is a Noun?

A noun, in its simplest terms, is a word that is used to identify a class of people, places, or things. There are special types of nouns that can also be considered, like the abstract noun or the proper noun, which we’ll go through in the next section. But for now, we just want to focus on the meaning of a noun and where it’s usually found in a sentence.

Generally, most sentences are only ever used to talk about a noun, so it’s no wonder they’re one of the most important types of words in the English language.

Types of Nouns with Examples

Common Nouns

The most common type of noun. Most words fall into this category and it features words like “man”, “park”, or “train”.

Proper Nouns

A noun that is referring to a specific place or person. They are always capitalized. So “Terry”, “United States” and “Canada” are all proper nouns.

Concrete Nouns

Referring to nouns in their material form. Generally, you can physically touch these nouns. “Dog”, “tree”, “building” are concrete nouns.

Abstract Nouns

On the opposite end to concrete nouns, abstract nouns are used to name ideas and concepts, rather than physical things. Like “love”, “freedom” and “happiness”.

Collective Nouns

These refer to a group of people or things. So, “gang”, “herd”, or “class” work for collective nouns.

Compound Nouns

These are nouns that are made up of more than one word. I.E. “policewoman”, “cowboy“, “highway”.

Countable Nouns

Nouns that can be counted, either singular or plural. They generally are found in a sentence referring to numbers, “I have four handles” or “I read a book”