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Definition of a noun.

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that name is a noun. A noun is a word that names a person, animal, place, thing, idea, or concept.

A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing (Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle East, Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish, Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always capitalized.

Common nouns name everything else, things that usually are not capitalized. A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. A Noun Clause contains a subject and verb and can do anything that a noun can do:

What he does for this town is a blessing. A Noun Phrase, frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related

words acting as a noun: the oil depletion allowance; the abnormal, hideously enlarged nose.

A concrete noun names a person, animal, place, or thing that you can actually see, touch, taste, hear, or smell.

An abstract noun names an idea, feeling, emotion, or quality that cannot be detected by your five senses.

Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name anything that can be counted (four books, two continents, a few dishes, a dozen buildings); mass nouns (or non-count nouns), which name something that can't be counted (water, air, energy, blood); and collective nouns, which can take a singular form but are composed of more than one individual person or items (jury, team, class, committee, herd). We should note that some words can be either a count noun or a non-count noun depending on how they're being used in a sentence.

Of course Mr. Kevin is serious about nouns. He sent me to let you know how serious he is.

A compound noun is made up of two or more words used together: shoelace, keyboard, flashlight, applesauce, notebook, bedroom

A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb. A clause can be usefully distinguished from a phrase, which is a group of related words that does not contain a subject-verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or "running down the street" or "having grown used to this harassment."

Learning the various terms used to define and classify clauses can be a vocabulary lesson in itself. This handout categorizes clauses into independent and dependent clauses. This simply means that some clauses can stand by themselves, as separate sentences, and some can't. Another term for dependent clause is subordinate clause: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning. The subordinate clause is created by a subordinating conjunction or dependent word.

An independent clause, "She is older than her brother" (which could be its own sentence), can be turned into a dependent or subordinate clause when the same group of words begins with a dependent word (or a subordinating conjunction in this case): "Because she is older than her brother, she tells him what to do."

Clauses are also classified as restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. (The words essential and nonessential are sometimes used and mean the same thing as restrictive and nonrestrictive, respectively. British grammarians will make this same distinction by referring to clauses with the terms defining and non-defining.) A nonrestrictive clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence; it can be removed from the sentence without changing its basic meaning. Nonrestrictive clauses are often set apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma or a pair of commas (if it's in the middle of a sentence).

Relative clauses are dependent clauses introduced by a Relative Pronoun (that, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, and of which). Relative clauses can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive.

Independent Clauses could stand by themselves as discrete sentences, except that when they do stand by themselves, separated from other clauses, they're normally referred to simply as sentences, not clauses. The ability to recognize a clause and to know when a clause is capable of acting as an independent unit is essential to correct writing and is especially helpful in avoiding sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

Needless to say, it is important to learn how to combine independent clauses into larger units of thought. In the following sentence, for example,

Bob didn't mean to do it, but he did it anyway.

we have two independent clauses — "Bob didn't mean to do it" and "he did it anyway" — connected by a comma and a coordinating conjunction ("but"). If the word "but" is missing from this sentence, the sentence would be called a comma splice: two independent clauses would be incorrectly connected, smooshed together, with only a comma between them.

Clauses are combined in three different ways: coordination, subordination, and by means of a semicolon. Coordination involves joining independent clauses with one of the coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and sometimes* so. Clauses thus connected are usually nicely balanced in length and import.

Subordination involves turning one of the clauses into a subordinate element (one that cannot stand on its own) through the use of a Subordinating Conjunction (sometimes called a dependent word) or a Relative Pronoun. When the clause begins with a subordinating word, it is no longer an independent clause; it is called a dependent or subordinate clause because it depends on something else (the independent clause) for its meaning. There are other ways of combining ideas — by turning independent clauses into various kinds of modifying phrases. Again, see the section on Avoiding Primer Language.

Semicolons can connect two independent clauses with or without the help of a conjunctive adverb (transitional expression). Semicolons should be used sparingly and only when the two independent clauses involved are closely related and nicely balanced in terms of length and import.

The Functions of Nouns in Sentences

1. Subject of the sentence: The subject of the sentence tells us what the sentence is about.

2. Predicate Noun (also Predicate Nominative or Subjective Complement): A predicate noun comes after a linking verb (to be, to become, to remain) and is equivalent to the subject but renames it in different terms. Mike will become the president of the company.

3. Appositive (noun in apposition) An appositive is a noun or phrase that comes after another noun (or pronoun), and identifies, explains or gives more information about that word. If the appositive is needed to identify the noun (restrictive appositive) then no comma is used. If the appositive provides only additional, accompanying information about the noun – it is called nonrestrictive appositive and it should be set off from the rest of the sentence with commas (dashes, colons and parentheses can also be

used). Appositives in the first three sentences are nonrestrictive. They are not essential to the meaning of the sentence

4. Direct object of a verb A direct object is a noun that receives the action of a verb. To verify whether a sentence contains a direct object, place question [whom?] or [what?] after the verb. If nothing answers these questions, you know that there is no direct object.

The hurricane shattered our cities and villages. shattered what? - our cities and villages

I placed all students on a waiting list. placed whom? - all students

Tom and Jerry ate the entire cake. ate what? - the cake

5. The indirect object receives the action of the verb indirectly and it always comes before the direct object. In the following examples, direct objects are underlined, the indirect objects are shown in color and imaginary [to] or [for] are placed in brackets.She baked [for] Mr. Smith a pie. Should I buy [for] my daughter a bicycle? Save [for] me a seat at the concert. The teacher told [to] the girls a story.

6. Object of the prepositionA preposition is a word that shows location, movement, or direction. Common prepositions are of, on, to, in, near, below, beneath, beside, over, across, with, by, for, and under. In the wrong mood, beneath the sea, near the raging volcano, above the trees and houses

7. Object Complement (Objective Complement)

An object complement is a noun that completes or adds to the meaning of the direct object. Objective complements usually follow the noun (or nouns) they modify and used when the direct object would not make complete sense by itself.

The country elected Mr. Smith president. My sister called the salesperson charlatan and a fraud. She considered the car a lemon.

Singular and Plural Nouns Formation of Plural Nouns Singular means one of something. Plural means more than one.

The Rule-You can make most nouns plural by just adding -s one tree - four trees one boat – a river full of boats

The Rule-If the noun ends with -s, -ch, -sh, -x, or -z, add -es to make it plural. witness–witnesses church – churches dish– dishes fox - foxes buzz – buzzes

The Rule-If the noun ends with -y and the letter before the -y is a vowel, add -s to make the noun plural.

boy–boys bay – bays key – keys toy - toys

The Rule-If the noun ends with -y and the letter before the -y is a consonant, change the -y to -i and add -es to make the noun plural.

army – armies supply - supplies sky - skies

The Rule- Nouns ending in -ff become plural by adding -s tariff - tariffs sheriff - sheriffs plaintiff - plaintiffs

The Rule-The inconsistency of rules is shown in the plurals of nouns which ends in –f or -fe Some become plural by replacing the -f to -v and adding -s or -es

knife - knives wife - wives half - halves leaf - leaves

The Rule-Other nouns ending in -f or -fe become plural by only adding -s belief - beliefs proof - proofs chief - chiefs

You should be able to pass the Tutor Charlotte English Grammar Written Practice Exam on Nouns-100 questions. Please study this lesson carefully including the vocabulary.

List of 106 Irregular Nouns

  Singular Plural

  A

    Singular Plural

  L

  addendum addenda  alga algae  alumna alumnae  alumnus alumni  analysis analyses  antenna antennas, antennae  apparatus apparatuses  appendix appendices,

appendixes  axis axes

  B  bacillus bacilli  bacterium bacteria  basis bases  beau beaux  bison bison  buffalo buffalos, buffaloes  bureau bureaus  bus busses, buses

  C  cactus cactuses, cacti  calf calves  child children  corps corps  corpus corpora, corpuses  crisis crises  criterion criteria  curriculum curricula

  D  datum data  deer deer  die dice  dwarf dwarfs, dwarves  diagnosis diagnoses

  E  echo echoes  elf elves  ellipsis ellipses  embargo embargoes

  loaf loaves  louse lice

  M  man men  matrix matrices  means means  medium media  memorandum memoranda  millennium millenniums,

milennia  moose moose  mosquito mosquitoes  mouse mice

  N  nebula nebulae, nebulas  neurosis neuroses  nucleus nuclei

  O  oasis oases  octopus octopi, octopuses  ovum ova  ox oxen

  P  paralysis paralyses  parenthesis parentheses  person people  phenomenon phenomena  potato potatoes

  R  radius radii, radiuses

  S  scarf scarfs, scarves  self selves  series series  sheep sheep  shelf shelves  scissors scissors  species species  stimulus stimuli

  emphasis emphases  erratum errata

  F  fireman firemen  fish fish, fishes  focus focuses  foot feet  formula formulas  fungus fungi, funguses

  G  genus genera  goose geese

  H  half halves  hero heroes  hippopotamus hippopotami,

hippopotamuses  hoof hoofs, hooves  hypothesis hypotheses

  I  index indices, indexes

  K  knife knives

  L  leaf leaves  life lives

  stratum strata  syllabus syllabi, syllabuses  symposium symposia,

symposiums  synthesis syntheses  synopsis synopses

  T  tableau tableaux  that those  thesis theses  thief thieves  this these  tomato tomatoes  tooth teeth  torpedo torpedoes

  V  vertebra vertebrae  veto vetoes  vita vitae

  W  watch watches  wife wives  wolf wolves  woman women

  Z  zero zeros, zeroes