4.0 Nailing the nouns
Although we will not examine nouns in detail here, we will, however, note some facts about nouns that sometimes perplex the writer.
First of all, remember that nouns are the largest class of words in the English language and are basic to the composition of a sentence along with a finite verb.
A noun is the name of a person, place, animal, thing, idea or quality. In a very simple sentence we can use just a noun and a finite verb, for example, The bell rang. Here the noun, bell, acts as the subject, that is, the thing that is being considered or talked about. Together with the finite verb, rang, it communicates a complete idea. We can call the noun, bell, in the position it occupies in this sentence, the subject, that is the noun that is carrying out the action.
Nouns fall into several categories, below are three of them which are basic to understanding the function of nouns in sentences and clauses.
4.0.1 Common versus Proper Nouns
Common nouns are the ordinary names we give to persons, places, animals, things, such as: bird, dog, sister, brother, friend, town, cinema, university. professor.
Proper nouns are special names we give to some common nouns, such as: Jackie (my bird), Rover (my dog), Janet (my sister), David (my brother), Richard (my friend), Forbes (a town), Hoyts (the local cinema), Australian Catholic University, Professor Gleeson.
4.0.2 Concrete versus Abstract Nouns
Concrete nouns are the names we give to objects that we can literally see, taste, touch, hear or smell: desk, apple, cat, bell, rose.
Abstract nouns are the names we give to concepts that exist in our minds, such as: thought, deed, action, belief, assertion, length, width; and qualities that are known and experienced by the mind but have no concrete form, such as: fear, courage, anger, happiness, reliability.
4.0.3 Countable versus Uncountable Nouns
Countable nouns refer to things or persons that can be counted, such as: Six cabbages, five eggs, two girls, twenty students.
Uncountable nouns refer to things such as qualities, substances and abstract ideas, such as: softness, hardness, roughness, sleekness, milk, butter, sugar, flour, water (Normally we do not refer to these substances in the plural unless we mean types, such as: six butters, three milks.) homework, progress, research, housework. Some nouns can be both countable and non-countable e.g I have had 3 years experience in this field. His experiences during the war have made him very withdrawn.