Language
Kinds of nouns
Tell common, proper, collective and abstract nouns apart.
Every noun is a naming word, but nouns do not all name the same sort of thing. Four kinds are worth knowing by name, because each one behaves a little differently on the page.
Common noun — any one of its kind
boy, town, lake, month. It does not say which boy or which town, so it needs no capital letter unless it opens the sentence.
Proper noun — one particular one
Meera, Delhi, Sunday, March. A proper noun always begins with a capital letter, wherever it stands in the sentence. That capital is the clue you can see.
Collective noun — one word for a whole group
a team of players, a crew of sailors, a pack of wolves, a bundle of sticks. One word, many members.
Abstract noun — something you cannot touch
truth, wisdom, fear, freedom. You cannot see it or hold it, but it is still a thing you can name — and naming words are nouns.
Worked example
Find the four kinds in: "On Monday the whole team showed great courage in the match."
"Monday" is a proper noun.
It names one particular day, and it keeps its capital letter in the middle of the sentence.
Try it together
Let us pull three nouns out of one sentence.
The sentence is: "Our team won the cup on Friday, and their joy filled the ground." Each answer is one word from that sentence.
1.Write the collective noun — the word that stands for a whole group of players.
Have a go
Which of these is an abstract noun?
Ready to practice?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.