All About Nouns

Nouns are the part of speech used to label or name an abstract idea, a person, place, animal or thing. Nouns are normally the first words a small child learns and uses. There are many different types of nouns, along with various uses.

These proceeding sentences contain words in bold, which are all different kinds of nouns:

Avant-garde is a celebrated type of art.

The onset of summer brought cheer to many.

Computer graduates have good jobs awaiting them.

Was Nietzche an existentialist?

Ella Fitzgerald is one of the most popular jazz singers in history.

As I'm sure you noticed, nouns vary based on the type and usage. Nouns can be employed in sentences as a subject, a subject complement, an indirect object, a direct object, an object complement, an adjective, an adverb, or an appositive. This article includes some of these uses and noun types.

Plural Nouns

Many nouns are altered from the singular form into the plural form to suggest a number of two or more through the addition of "s" or "es." Other nouns of the singular form are turned into the plural form by changing the last letter of the word before adding "s." There are different procedures for different words. Some of the words that end in the letter F can be changed into the plural form by taking off the "f" and adding "ves". Words that end in "y" change to plural by elimination of the "y" and the addition of "ies."

Examples:

Half (singular) - halves (plural)
Rash (singular) - rashes (plural)
Story (singular) - stories (plural)
Fruit (singular) - fruits (plural)

Some nouns irregularly form the plural. A writer well-versed in the language should have a solid grasp of what these words are. Find a dependable reference, such as language websites or a respected dictionary.

Examples:

Criterion (singular) - criteria (plural)

Cactus (singular) - cacti (plural)

Gender in Nouns

Almost all common nouns, for instance "helper" or "student", can be used to label a man or a woman. In the past, gender would change the form of many English nouns, with the addition of "ess," among other suffixes, to the male form of the noun. Because of recognition of gender equality, it is quite rare for gender-specific nouns to be used these days. With that said, some nouns with male and female forms still live on today, particularly in categories that pertain to occupations.

Apart from the types and uses talked about above, there are other kinds of nouns with varying purposes. If English is your second (or third) language, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with well-written English literature in order to become more confident in your use and application of nouns and other parts of speech.