1. Definition of Noun
In English grammar, nouns are commonly defined as words that refer to “the name of a person, place, thing, or idea”.
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Furthermore, noun is a word other than a pronoun that belongs to the
word-class that inflects for plural, and that can functions as subject or object in a sentence, can be preceded by articles and adjectives, and can be the
object of preposition.
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From all the definitions above, the writer can say that noun is a word used to describe things, person, or place, and it has certain function in the
sentence structure.
2. Types of Nouns
There are several types of nouns used to make up a sentence in the English language which grammarians have developed a whole series of noun
types, including the proper noun, the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun also called the count noun, the non-
countable noun also called the mass noun, and the collective noun.
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a. Proper Nouns
“A proper noun names a particular person, place or thing.”
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It is always begun with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific
person, place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents, institutions, organizations, religions, their holy texts and their
adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun.
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Evelyn P. Altenberg and Robert M. Vago, English Grammar; Understanding the Basics, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, p. 3
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Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk, A Student’s Grammar of the English language,
England: Pearson Education Limited, 2003, p. 266
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Heather MacFadyen, http:www.writingcentre.uottawa.cahypergrammarnouns.html, January 6
th
, 2012
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John E. Warriner, English Grammar and Composition; First Course, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, 1982, p. 37
As opposed to proper noun, all other nouns are classified as common nouns e.g. document, mayor, girl, desert, country, people.
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b. Common Nouns
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