Lesson 8 Nouns
8.1 Definition
A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence,
nouns answer the questions who and what. Eg.

The cat ran after the mouse.
( cat and mouse are nouns).
8.2 Position
8.2.1 Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the,
this, that, these, those, my, your, his, her, its, our, their, such, etc.), eg.

a relief

an afternoon
my house
such stupidity


8.2.2 Nouns can also come after a quantifier (quantifiers are a lot of, many, much,
a few, every, each, all, most, both, half, some, any, no, etc.), eg.




a lot of money
two people
every student
no pain, no gain
8.2.3 Nouns often come after one or more adjectives:

a great relief

a peaceful afternoon
the tall, British doctor
my brown and white house


8.3 Noun phrases
A noun phrase is a noun or a pronoun + a determiner and/or a quantifier and/or
adjective(s). Eg.

a great relief
(a is the determiner, great the adjective, relief the noun)
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
a lot of her friends

(a lot of is the quantifier, her the determiner, friends the noun)
each of the brown panels
(each of is the quantifier, the the determiner, brown the adjective, panels the
noun)
8.4 Functions of a noun in a sentence
A noun can be the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, the subject and object
of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Eg.

subject of a verb: Doctors work hard.

object of a verb: He likes coffee.
subject and object of a verb: Teachers teach students.
object of a preposition: She went to school.


But the subject or object of a sentence is not always a noun. It could be a noun, a
pronoun or a noun phrase. In the sentence “My students work hard,” the noun is
“students” but the subject is “My students.”
8.5 Classification
8.5.1 A noun can be concrete or abstract.
8.5.1.1 A concrete noun is something you can touch, see, etc. Eg.


I am holding my cat.
The cat is running after the mouse.
The animals cat and mouse in the sentences above are concrete nouns.
8.5.1.2 An abstract noun refers to abstract objects, like ideas, concepts, etc. Eg.


She loves music.
He was searching for knowledge.
The abstract concepts of music and knowledge in the sentences above are both
nouns.
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8.5.2 A noun can be proper or common.
8.5.2.1 A proper noun represents a unique entity, and always begins with a
capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence; eg.


She visited New York every year.
Christmas is in December.
New York, Christmas, and December are all proper nouns.
8.5.2.2 A common noun describes a class of entities, eg.


She traveled to New York by plane.
George is the only boy in the class.
Plane, boy and class in the sentences above all refer to classes of entities.
8.5.3 A noun can be countable or uncountable.
8.5.3.1 A countable noun, also called count noun, has both a singular and a
plural form. To form the plural, we usually add an “s” or “es.” Eg.


cat--cats
stewardess--stewardesses
8.5.3.2 An uncountable noun is also called a non-count noun, or a mass
noun.
8.5.3.2.1 An uncountable noun usually cannot be expressed in a plural
form. These nouns are substances, concepts, etc. (see also 8.5.1.2 abstract
noun) that cannot be divided into separate elements; we cannot “count” them.
Eg.

milk, water, air, money, food, art, love, happiness, advice, information,
news
8.5.3.2.2 We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a
singular verb, and this, that and it to denote the noun. Eg.


This news is very important. I’ll read it right away.
Your luggage looks heavy.
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8.5.3.2.3 We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable
nouns. We cannot say “an information” or “a music.” But we can say a
something of, eg.

a piece of news

a bottle of water
a grain of rice

8.5.3.2.4 We can use some, any, a little, and much with uncountable nouns:

I've got some money.

Have you got any rice?
I've got a little money.
I haven't got much rice.


8.5.3.3 Nouns that can be both countable and uncountable
Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a
change of meaning.




There are two hairs in my coffee! (countable)
I don't have much hair. (uncountable)
There are two lights in our bedroom. (countable)
Close the curtain. There's too much light! (uncountable)
8.5.4 Compound nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound
noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other
combinations. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by
adjectives and other nouns. There are 3 forms of compound nouns:
8.5.4.1 Open or spaced - space between words, eg.

tennis shoe, bus stop, full moon, washing machine, school teacher, apple
tree
8.5.4.2 Hyphenated - hyphen between words, eg.

mother-in-law, grown-up, good-for-nothing, house-builder, blue-green
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8.5.4.3 Closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words, eg.

bedroom, football, blackboard, software, sunrise, toothbrush, passersby,
highlight
Two or more nouns together – noun as adjective (see also 9.2.5 Noun
as Adjective)
A noun is a person, place, thing or idea; and an adjective is a word that describes a
noun. But sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the
8.5.5
first noun acts as an adjective (see also 8.5.4
Compound noun). Eg.

history teacher

bus driver
Hong Kong basketball team coach
(we can have more than one “noun as adjective”; here Hong Kong,
basketball and team are all “nouns as adjective,” describing coach.)

8.5.6 Collective noun
A collective noun refers to a group of objects, where the objects can be people,
animals, emotions, inanimate things, concepts, or other things. Eg.

committee, team, school, church, group, class, tribe, troop, colony, flock,
congress
8.5.6.1 It is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular
or plural verb form depending on the context. Eg.

The advisory committee was established in 1998.
(refer to the committee as an ensemble)

The committee were not able to reach a consensus.
(refer to individual committee members)
8.5.6.2
eg.

However, certain collective nouns customarily use plural verb form,
police, people, cattle, poultry, livestock
Examples of their use include:


The police are caught lying again.
How many people are in space right now?
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
Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions.

The poultry are fed with organic feed.
The livestock have to be fed every day.

8.5.6.3 When people is used as a countable noun, as “a people” in the
singular form, or “peoples” in the plural form, it refers to a race or races. The
meaning is different from people used as a collective noun. Eg.


A people is in danger of extinction. = (A race is in danger of extinction.)
Indigenous peoples are divided into at least 5,000 peoples ranging from the
forest peoples of the Amazon to the tribal peoples of India and from the Inuit
of the Arctic to the Aborigines in Australia. (from International Work Group
for Indigenous Affairs)
8.5.6.4 When poultry is used as an uncountable noun, it refers to “meat of
domestic fowls”. Again, the meaning is different from poultry used as a
collective noun. Eg.

Fresh poultry is rather expensive today. = (Fresh meat of poultry is rather
expensive today.)
8.5.7 Verbs acted as nouns, such as gerunds and infinitives (see also Lesson 5
Verbs: Gerunds, Infinitives, and Participles).
8.5.7.1 Use of nouns vs use of gerunds
In a sentence, if there is a place for a noun, and a noun can be used,
then the noun should be used instead of the gerund. Eg.


I am fond of study. / not: I am fond of studying.
Flush the toilet after use. / not: Flush the toilet after using.
8.6 The possessive form
8.6.1 When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something,
we usually add ‘s to a singular noun, whatever the final consonant, eg.




the boy’s ball
the boss's office
Charles’s friends
Burns’s poems
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
the witch’s malice
8.6.2 An exception to the above rule is when adding ‘s to a singular noun is
awkward to pronounce, then we add only an apostrophe ‘ to the singular noun. Eg.






Jesus’ teachings
Moses’ laws
Sophocles’ plays
Isis’ temple
for conscience’ sake
for righteousness’ sake
In the case of the first four examples, they are commonly replaced by:




the teachings of Jesus
the laws of Moses
the plays of Sophocles
the temple of Isis
8.6.3 For plural nouns that end in -s, the possessive form is to add an apostrophe ‘.
Eg.



the boys’ ball
in two weeks’ time
the horses’ stables
8.6.4 For plural nouns that do not end in -s, the possessive form is to add ‘s. Eg.


the children’s father
the women’s clothing store
8.6.5
Possessive with names
8.6.5.1


We very often use possessive ‘s with names, eg.
This is Mary’s car.
Where is Ram’s telephone?
8.6.5.2 When a name ends in -s, we usually treat it like any other singular
noun, and add ‘s:
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
This is Charles’s chair.

They are Thomas's brothers.
8.6.5.3 But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add
the apostrophe ‘:


Who was Jesus’ father?
St Thomas’ Hospital
Connors' war

8.7 Noun ending
There are certain word endings (suffixes) that show that a word is a noun. In English,
many abstract nouns are formed by adding suffixes to adjectives or verbs. Eg.


-ity > nationality
-ment > appointment
-ness > happiness
-tion > relation
-hood > childhood
-ful> spoonful




8.8 Plural or Singular noun after "No".
8.8.1
8.8.2
For uncountable nouns, use singular.
For smaller countable nouns, use plural; for bigger countable items, use
singular.
8.8.3 For things that can only be singular, use singular; for things that can be
plural, use plural.
Eg.

I have no paper.

I have no money. (uncountable noun)
I have no trust in politicians. (uncountable noun)
I have no books. (smaller countable noun)
I have no hamburgers left. (smaller countable noun)
I have no car. (bigger countable noun)
She has no house. (bigger countable noun)
He has no wife. (bigger countable noun)






(uncountable noun)
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
He has no heart. (things that can only be singular)

He has no legs. (things that can be plural)
8.9 Common Confusions
8.9.1
Art vs Arts
8.9.1.1
Used as a noun, art (藝術 -- the skill acquired by experience, study,
or observation; or the conscious use of skill and creative imagination in the
production of aesthetic objects) are both uncountable and countable (when
referred to different kinds of art). Eg.





It is difficult to master the art of cooking.
There has never been an exhibition of Indonesian art ever held in our small
college.
Drawing, painting, and sculpture are arts.
Government funding for the arts (各種藝術) has been cut.
fine arts (各種藝術)
8.9.1.2 As a noun, arts in plural form refer to a branch of learning, as in
liberal arts (文科). Eg.



She received a bachelor's degree in arts in 2011.
The school places equal emphasis on the arts and sciences.
Most universities have a college of liberal arts and sciences that offer a wide
range of degrees, from English to engineering.
8.9.1.2 Art and arts can also be used as adjectives, when art refers to artistic
藝術的, and arts refers to things about a branch of learning. Eg. (see 9.5.7)

She prefers art films to commercial films.

She studied architecture and art history at the university.
The mission of the Arts Faculty is to contribute to knowledge in different
ways.


The Arts degree offers a sound foundation and skillset for many interesting
careers.
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“the” + singular countable noun to refer to those things or people in
general. Eg.
8.9.2

The customer can return defective goods within two weeks of purchase. =
Customers can return defective goods within two weeks of purchase.
Sometimes, “a” + singular countable noun can also refer to things or
people in general. Eg.
8.9.3

A customer with a membership card will be given a10 percent discount. =
Customers with membership cards will be given a10 percent discount.
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