What is a noun?

Person, place, thing, or idea!

 When someone asks “what is that?” or “what are those?” We generally answer with a noun or a proper noun of some kind. A noun is just a the above describes, a person, place, thing, or idea.

 This can be just about anything you may have encountered. Shops, merchants, and buildings are nouns. Man, woman, and potato are also nouns. Nouns can also include animals and inanimate objects. Horse, donkey, and chair are nouns.

 Earlier I mentioned places. Examples of places which are nouns could be city, town, or lake. We can also get into specifics like I did earlier with shops but some more examples could be bathroom, bedroom, boardroom. These are all examples of concrete nouns, that is to say they’re nouns which we can taste, touch, hear, see, or smell.

Abstract Nouns

 Earlier I also mentioned ideas as nouns, but these are usually what we refer to as abstract nouns. These are nouns which you can’t see, taste, touch, hear, or smell. They’re things that we think about or feel on an emotional level. Examples of these are freedom, happiness, sadness, absurdity, worry, and fear.

 How are you feeling about this blog? That feeling is an abstract noun.

“Bravery is being the only one who knows you are afraid.”

-Franklin P. Jones

 In this quote, we have one abstract noun, can you guess what it is? If you said “bravery” you’d be right, well done!

Subjects and Objects

 “The man played his guitar.” That last sentence has two nouns. Do you know what they are?

 If you said man and guitar, you’d be right. But these two nouns play two different roles in the sentence. The subject is the noun which does some kind of action, and the object is that noun which is acted upon. So if we say “The woman eats a sandwich.” Which noun would you say is the subject? Which noun is the object? If you said that the woman is the subject and the sandwich is the object, then you’re on a roll!

Proper Nouns

What is a proper noun?

 Simply put, a proper noun is the name of a noun. This can be as simple as “Hello, my name is Robert!” In this sentence, Robert is the proper noun.

 It isn’t limited to people however, it can also include the names of any noun. “Let’s go to Coral Square Mall.” In this sentence “Coral Square Mall” refers to the name of a shopping mall. Take a moment to think about the proper nouns you see and use everyday. Do the shops in your town have special names?

 Before moving on to Abstract Nouns as Proper Nouns, let’s do a quick review.

“Said Ferdinand to Isabelle, his plan sounds kind of hazy.

Said Isabelle to Ferdinand, I’ll bet this guy is crazy.”

 What are the proper nouns in these sentences? If you said Ferdinand and Isabelle, you’d be right, great job!

Abstract Nouns as Proper Nouns

 Some ideas have specific names, this usually means that the idea is a school of thought or a subject of study. Examples of this could be ideologies or religions. You can’t see these ideas, only the people who adhere to them or symbols of these ideas. It’s important to note that specific languages are a little more complicated. You can interact with the products of language such as writing or hearing someone speak. You cannot interact with the language itself with any of the five senses.

 Let’s have a quick review,

“Anna is studying the history of Cynicism.”

In this example, our subject Anna is studying an idea which is the object, Cynicism. You can interact with cynicism with any of the five senses, you can only understand it and have an opinion of it.

NEW VOCABULARY WORD

Idol

 Common, concrete noun

•  The subject of undue worship of praise
•  A symbol of something divine or spiritual
•  A famous person