Nouns: Its Types and Functions

Nouns (Source: S. Chauhan Institute of English)

All words come in the category of  Parts of Speech in English

 language.

These are: Noun, Pronoun, Adjective, Verb, Adverb,

Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection

 Let us discuss each category of the words.

1. Noun

The name of a thing, a person, a place and an idea is called a noun.

Types of Nouns

1. Proper Noun 2. Common Noun 3. Collective Nouns  4. Abstract Noun

1. Proper Noun

1. The name of a particular or specific person, an institution,

 and a place is called

proper noun.

A proper noun always begins with a capital letter.

For example:

Names of persons: Mohan, Sohan, Rita, etc.

Names of places: Delhi, Calcutta, Ambala, etc.

Names of institutions: Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra,

 D.A.V. College, etc.

2. Common Noun: A common noun is the name given to include

the persons or the

things of the same kind.

For example

Car, truck, table, tree, hospital, temple, school. man, dog, etc.

 3. Collective Noun: The words which are used to denote or represent a collection of persons or things are called collective nouns. For example: Army, crowd, flock, fleet, etc.

1. Army is a collection of soldiers.

2. Crowd or a mob is a collection or group of people.

3. Flock is a collection of animals ,especially of sheep or birds

4. Fleet is a collection of ships.

5. A number of artistes, dancers, acrobats:  troupe

6. A number of ladies  : Bevy

7. A number of bees  :    swarm

8 A collection of books :   library

9. A number of cattle, swine   herd

10. A number of chicken hatched at the same time:    brood

11 A number of directors of a company:    board

12. A number of drawers :    chest

13. A collection of fish :   shoal/school

14.  A collection of flowers     :   bunch/ bouquet

15. A number of fruit trees :  orchard

16. A number of geese:  gaggle

17. A collection of grapes, bananas, keys:  bunch

18.A number of hounds, wolves: pack

19. A number of judges  :   bench

20. A number of people at a religious meeting: congregation

21. A number of people listening to a musical show

  or concert :   audience

22.A number of people watching a match :  spectators

23. A number of people collected or gathered

24. without any specific purpose   :   crowd

25. A number  of people gathered for

26. some common purpose:   assembly

27. A number of people gathered

   for some destructive purpose:  mob

28.A number of savage people:  horde

29.A number of pigs, puppies :  litter

30. A number of players, oxen or horses

yoked together:  team

31.A set of rooms  :  suite /swit/

32. A number of sailors  :  crew

33. A number of sheep :  flock

34.A number of ships, cars      :    fleet

35. A number of soldiers :  army, troop: battalion, regiment

36. A number of stars:  constellation

37.A collection of sticks  :   bundle

38.A number of thieves   : pack

39.A number of trees  :    clump

40. A collection of wood, hay piled together: stack

 

Abstract Noun:

It is the name given to a quality, an idea or a thought, an action

 and a state or condition.

For example:

Sympathy, kindness, truth, wisdom, smile, theft, attack

Abstract nouns are formed by adjectives, verbs and also from

common nouns.

For example: kind- kindness, honest - honesty,

Obey -  obedience,  grow -  growth

Child -  childhood,  mother -  motherhood

Nouns have further classification:

Number:     (a) Singular noun: a boy, a girl      

(b) Plural noun : boys, girls

Gender:      (a) Masculine Gender: boy     (b) Feminine Gender: girl

Pick out the nouns from the following sentences:

Test Exercise

1. Our cricket team should not play for the crowd.

2. Always believe in truth.

3. Why don’t you attend your class regularly?

4. He is a lecturer in Physics.

5. The committee will decide the case.

6. He was rewarded for his bravery.

7. Failures are the stepping stones to success.

8. Charity begins at home.

9. I love to remember the days of my childhood.

10.  Hope sustains life.

Characteristics of Nouns:

1. Nouns can be countable and uncountable

Countable

2. Countable Nouns can be singular and plural

3. Nouns can be in Feminine and Masculine Gender

4. Nouns can be the subject, object and complement to a subject

or an object

Nouns can be countable and uncountable

Countable Nouns: chair, book, rupee, car, bench, etc.

Uncountable Nouns: anger, honesty, money

Countable Nouns can be singular and plural

Singular Nouns            Plural Nouns

Pen                                Pens

Ox                                 Oxen

Woman                        Women

Man                              Men

Gentleman                   Gentlemen

Nouns can be in Feminine and Masculine Gender

Boy                   Girl

Man                Woman

Ox                    Cow

Cock                Hen

Nouns can be the subject, object and complement to a subject or an object

Noun as a Subject:

This boy is very sweet.

They have not done their work.

My elder brother studies in class XII.

determiners/Adjectives     Real subject

This                                     Boy

------                                   They(Pronoun)

My elder                             brother

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nouns as objects:

He has helped me.

I am writing a letter.

He gave me a book to read.

I need your help

Determiners/adjectives               objects (real)

------                                                   me

a                                                         letter

a                                                         book

your                                                   help

Nouns as subject complements:

She is a teacher.

My friend is very sad these days.

This is not a right approach.

It is not true.

Subject                       Complement

She                              a teacher

My friend                    very sad

This                             a right  approach

 

Formation of Nouns

Abstract nouns can be formed by adding suffixes, such as,

acy, age, ance, al, dom, ence, hood, ity, ice, ment, ness, ship, sion, th, tion, ty, y,

Private      Privacy     short      shortage      break    breakage     arrive     arrival

Assist      assistance king      kingdom     absent    absence        boy         boyhood

Equal        equality     moral    morality      coward   cowardice   pay        payment

Blind         blindness friend    friendship   decide    decision       bear       birth

Act            action        repeat   repetition   loyal      loyalty          unite      unity

Some other abstract nouns

Verbs/ Adjectives    Abstract Nouns             Verbs              Abstract Nouns

Advise                   advice                      bind                 bond                     choose                   choice                do                      deed

Feed                        food                                       fly                   flight

Go                           gait                                        high                 height

Know                      knowledge                           lend                  loan

Lose                       loss                                       practise            practice

Prove                      proof                                    shake                shock

Sow                        seed                                      strike                stroke

Weigh                     weight                                 believe            belief

Brave                      bravery                               depart              departure

Fail                          failure                                  flow                flood

Give                        gift                                       hate                 hatred

Hot                         heat                                     laugh               laughter

Live                        life                                       please              pleasure

proud                    pride                                    see                   sight

sit                           seat                                   speak               speech

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOUNS PLURAL IN FORM USED AS PLURAL	PLURAL IN FORM USED AS SINGULAR	ONLY  SINGULAR FORM
These nouns have two parts but are joined together: Scissors, tongs, Pincers, spectacles, bellows, gallows, trousers, shoes, breeches, shorts, knickers, braces , Nouns used in plural are: premises, wages, intestines Thanks, assets, odds, remains, goods, annals, gallows,  the Himalayas, orders, and some adjectives used as nouns such as the old, the poor, the rich, etc.	News, physics, mathematics, innings, politics, summons, Economics, etc.	Advice, furniture, information,  luggage, nonsense, progress, rubbish, weather, fruit, audience, poetry, hair, advice, mischief, alphabet, abuse, scenery, issue, fleet, brick and stone, bread and butter, bread, on foot, machinery, work Note: never put a or an before them directly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adverbs

Adverbs

Read the following sentences loudly:

1.The girls cheered loudly.

2.She met me there.

3.The school will remain closed tomorrow.

4.My mother always gets up early in the morning.

Now answer the following questions:

1.How did the girls cheer?

     Ans: loudly.

    2. Where did she meet me?

     Ans: there.

    3. When will the school remain closed?

Ans.: tomorrow

In the above sentences, loudly, there, tomorrow and always are adverbs because these are giving more information about the verbs.

The adverbs not only qualify the verbs, but they add to the meaning of adjectives and adverbs also.

     For example

1.The scene is very beautiful.

2.He is running very fast.

1.Adverbs of manners: tell how an action is done in the present, past and in future.

      Such adverbs are formed with the suffixes like -ly, ily, etc.

      Examples

      loudly, carefully, quickly, wrongly, hurriedly

      Easily , happily, readily,

·     The child slept peacefully.

·     He worked hard to get good marks.

·     He asked his father respectfully if he would give him        Rs. 1000/-.

·     He climbed the tower carefully.

·     He solved all the sums easily.

1.Adverbs of time tell us about the time of action

  Examples:

         Today, tomorrow, yesterday, before, after, now, then,               tonight, earlier, recently, lately, yet, still, just now

·     He has finished his work just now.

·     She ahs seen this film recently.

·     He met me yesterday.

·     Will you go to Delhi tomorrow?

2.Adverbs of frequency tell us how often and how frequently an action takes place. daily, everyday, often, always, sometimes, seldom, never, ever, frequently, once, twice, thrice

       Examples:

·     Once there was a king.

·     He always goes to a temple.

·     She eats fruit twice a day.

·     Sometimes I do yoga and meditation.

3. Adverbs of place tell us about the place of action.

          Examples

          There, here, inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs

·     What were you doing outside the temple?

·     The mouse hid itself inside its hole.

·     He went up the hill.

·     I saw her coming downstairs.

4.Adverbs of degree

Hard, harder, hardest, fully, completely...

Examples;

(i)   She sang loudly.

(ii)  She sang louder than her sister.

(iii) She sang loudest of all other singers of the team.

(iv) She was utterly responsible for the delay.

5.Adverbs of interrogation: These adverbs are used to frame questions.

Examples:

· Why do you tell a lie?

· Where do you come from?

· When do you get up?

· How do you pass your time these days?

Exercise: Underline the Adverbs in the following sentences

1.It has been raining heavily for the last four days.

2.Have you ever gone late to your school/

3.I had nearly reached my house when the rain started.

4.How are you?

5.Where from have you found my lost watch?

6.Come forward and get your reward.

7.Don’t go behind. Come openly to say what you want.

8.Go straight for five minutes and you will find a big building there.

9.He usually smokes when he is alone in the house.

10. Immediately he ran towards the village.

11. The mice will play when the cat is away.

12. Make hay while the sun shines.

13. The spider tried nine-times and at last climbed the wall.

14. God is everywhere.

15. I tried hard to pacify him.

16. If you fail, the responsibility will be entirely yours.

17. He cheerfully accepted the offer.

18. Now, you will demand more money from me.

19. She wept bitterly when her father scolded her.

20. He willingly joined the army.

Placement of Adverbs

1.If the verb is transitive (the verb that needs an object), the adverbs of time, manner and place are put after the object.

 If the verb is intransitive (the verb that does not require an object), the adverbs are put after the verb

·     The hungry man ate food greedily.( food is object)

·     She wept bitterly.( There is no object in this sentence)

2.The adverbs of degree, frequency and manner are usually put between the subject and the verb if the verb is only of one word. In case the verb consists of more than one word, the adverb is placed after the first word of the verb phrase.

·     I never abuse anyone.

·     I have never abused anyone.

·     It always rained heavily here.

·     It has always been raining heavily here since last year.

3.To put emphasis on the adverb of time, they can be placed in the beginning of the sentence.

·     Yesterday, I went to Delhi to meet my old friend.

·     Recently I have met Amitab Bachchan.

4.Modifiers of adverbs and adjective are put before them.

·     It is a very lovely car.

·     She sat down quite silently near the window and started shedding her tears.

===============================================

Active and Passive Voice/ Change of Voice

Active and Passive Voice/ Change of Voice

( Source: S. Chauhan Institute of English: 98135-81301)

Dear students, the sentences we write or speak are generally in active or in passive voice.

Question: Can we change all active sentences in passive voice?

Ans. No, we cannot change all the active sentences in passive voice. This is because some active sentences do not need objects.

It means the sentences which need objects can be changed into passive construction.

What are transitive and intransitive verbs?

If the verb in a sentence needs an object, it is called transitive verb. But the verb that does not need any object is called intransitive verb.

So it is necessary to find out an object in an active sentence.

How to find out an object in an active sentence?

(i)                         Pick out the main verb from the sentence.

(ii)                      Put question ‘what’ or ‘whom’ to it.

(iii)                   Answer will be supplied by the object.

(iv)                   If there is only one object in the sentence, it is called direct object.

(v)                      If there are two objects, the one that gives the answer to ‘whom’ is indirect one.

See the following examples:

(i)   I composed an e-mail to my friend yesterday.

Main verb= composed

Question: Composed what?

Answer: e-mail. It is a direct object.

(ii)                      I composed an e-mail to her yesterday.

Question: to whom?

Answer: my friend

So ‘my friend’  is indirect object.

Rules to change active voice in passive voice:

Active sentence:

Subject + verb + object

I          composed   an e-mail   to my friend yesterday.

Passive sentence:

Object             + Verb+           by+      subject

 

An e-mail     was composed        by         me         to my friend yesterday

Active Sentences Subject + verb+ object          1.    (a) V-1 with or             without   ‘s’ or ‘es’          (b) Do/does+ V-1       1.  V-2/did+ V-1       3. is/am/are+ V- 1(ing)          4.was/were+V-1(ing) 5.has/have+V-3 6. had +V-3      7. will/shall have+V-3    8. Sentences with modal  Verbs

Passive Sentences Object+  Verb+  bY + subject  1. Is/am/are + V-3 2. Was/were + V-3 (3) is/am/ are+ being + V-3+by+Sub (4) was/ were+being+V-3+by+Sub (5) has/have+ been +V-3+by+Sub 6.had+V-3+been+V-3+by+Sub 7. will/shall have+ been+ by+ Sub (8) Model. Aux.V+be+V-3-  by+ Sub

B)   Imperative Sentences

        Beginning with:

  V-1    (a) You are ordered to…

           (b) You are advised to…..

           (c) You are told to…..

Do not + V-1 = You are advised not to…..

Please+V-1       You are requested to……

Rules: 

(i)                         Active sentences in Present Simple Tense:

First form of verb with or without ‘s’ or ‘es’ /do, does+ v-1 changed in is/am/are+ v-3

( Source: S. Chauhan Study Centre for English Language: 98135-81301)

Active Sentence 1.  I like sweets.         2.  She always helps the needy students. 3.  I do not tell a lie. 4.  Do you play cricket? 5.  Why do you not obey your elders? 6.  Who teaches you Maths.?

Passive Sentence 1.  Sweets are liked by me 2.  The needy students are always helped by her. 3.  A lie is not told my me. 4.  Is cricket played by you? 5.  Why are your elders not obeyed by you? 6.  By whom are you taught Maths.?