Page 30 - DENG103_English - I

Unit 3: Parts of Speech: Noun and Pronoun

Concrete nouns Notes

A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through
your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of
a abstract noun.
The highlighted words in the following sentences are all concrete nouns:

The judge handed the files to the clerk.
Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves.
The real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new lift.
The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board.

Abstract nouns

An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your
five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun. The highlighted words in the
following sentences are all abstract nouns:
Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought.
Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood.

Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp.
Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically.

Countable nouns

A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it
names anything (or anyone) that you can count. You can make a countable noun plural and
attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable
nouns and collective nouns.
In each of the following sentences, the highlighted words are countable nouns:
We painted the table red and the chairs blue.
Since he inherited his aunt’s library, Raman spends every weekend indexing his books.

Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock.
The mango tree lost three branches in the typhoon

Non-countable nouns
A non-countable noun (or mass noun) is a noun which does not have a plural form, and
which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable noun
always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Non-countable nouns are similar to collective
nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns.
The highlighted words in the following sentences are non-countable nouns:
Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen.

The word “oxygen” cannot normally be made plural.
Oxygen is essential to human life.

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