Types of Noun

search our site by Craig Shrives

The Nine Types of Noun

Nouns are everywhere! They are extremely common because they are the words we use to name people, places, and things. Every single noun fits into at least one of nine noun types. Before we talk about the nine different noun types, we must first discuss the two noun categories.

• common nouns (e.g., man, dog, city)
• proper nouns (e.g., Simon, Bonzo, Paris)

Common Nouns and Proper Nouns

A common noun is the word used for something. In other words, it is the word that appears in a dictionary. For example:

• car, man, bridge, town, water, metal, ammonia

A proper noun is the specific name given to a person, place, or thing (e.g., a personal name or a title). For example:

• Michael, Africa, Peking, The Tower of London, Uncle George, The Red Lion
(A proper noun always starts with a capital letter.)

The difference between common nouns and proper nouns becomes clearer when they're side by side.

Common Noun	Proper Noun
dog	Butch
building	Taj Mahal
car	Ford Mustang
city	Boston
movie	Puss in Boots
street	Carnaby Street

The Nine Types of Common Noun

Now that we know the difference between common nouns and proper nouns, we can look at the nine different noun types. These are all common nouns.

(1) Abstract nouns

Abstract nouns are things you cannot see or touch.

• fear, anger, comfort

Show me an infographic

(2) Concrete nouns

Concrete nouns are things you can see and touch.

• gerbil, igloo, zoo

Show me an infographic

(3) Collective nouns

Collective nouns represent groups.

• team, gang, choir

Show me an infographic

(4) Compound nouns

Compound nouns are made up of two or more words.

• mother-in-law, bus stop, snowman

Show me an infographic

(5) Gender-specific nouns

Gender-specific nouns are male or female.

• lady, boy, waiter

Show me an infographic

(6) Gerunds

Gerunds end "-ing" and come from verbs.

• singing, talking, thinking

Show me an infographic

(7) Non-countable nouns

Non-countable nouns have no plural.

• milk, water, patience

Show me an infographic

(8) Countable nouns

Countable nouns can have a plural.

• coin, note, robot

Show me an infographic

(9) Verbal nouns

Verbal nouns come from verbs, but they're not gerunds.

• development, drawing, attack

Show me an infographic

More Detail about the Types of Noun

Before we look at the different types of noun in more detail, it is worth highlighting a noun often fits into several noun types. For example:

Noun Type	Example
	"son-in-law"	"determination"	"committee"
Abstract Noun (cannot be seen or touched)
Concrete Noun (can be seen or touched)
Collective Noun (represents a group)
Compound Noun (consists of two or more words)
Gender-specific Noun (is masculine or feminine)
Gerund (formed from a verb and ends "-ing")
Non-countable Noun (cannot be pluralized)
Countable Noun (can be pluralized)
Verbal Noun (formed from a verb but has no verb-like traits)

(1) Abstract Nouns

An abstract noun is something you cannot see or touch (e.g., "bravery," "hate," "joy"). Here are some more examples of abstract nouns categorized under conceptual headings:

Heading	Examples
Feelings	anxiety, fear, sympathy
States	freedom, chaos, luxury
Emotions	anger, joy, sorrow
Qualities	courage, determination, honesty
Concepts	opportunity, comfort, democracy
Moments	birthday, childhood, marriage

An abstract noun is the opposite of a concrete noun. Read more about abstract nouns.

(2) Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun is something you can see or touch (e.g., "tree," "cloud," "garlic"). Here are some more examples of concrete nouns:

• abbey, banjo, camel, daughter, eclipse, fawn, gerbil, hatchet, igloo, jackal, kangaroo, locket, monsoon, nuts, owl, palm, quill, raspberries, sea, tavern, usher, vulture, wasps, xylophone, yacht, zoo

A concrete noun is the opposite of an abstract noun. Read more about concrete nouns.

(3) Collective Nouns

A collective noun is the word used for a group of people or things (e.g., "team," "group," "choir"). Here are some more examples of collective nouns:

• band, board, choir, class, company, congregation, crew, crowd, gang, horde, jury, mob, group, pack, party, team, tribe, bunch, cluster, fleet, range, gaggle, herd, hive, school, shoal, pride, swarm, tribe

Singular or Plural? Writers are sometimes unsure whether to treat a collective noun as singular or plural. In fact, a collective noun can be singular or plural depending on the sense of the sentence. For example:

• That team is the worst in the league.
(Here, the collective noun "team" is treated as singular.)

• The team are not communicating among themselves.
(This time, "team" is treated as plural because the focus is on the individuals within the team.)

Read more about collective nouns. Read more about treating collective nouns as singular and plural.

(4) Compound Nouns

A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words (e.g., "court-martial," "water bottle," "pickpocket"). Some compound nouns are hyphenated, some are not, and some combine their words to form a single word. For example:

Hyphenated compound nouns:

• mother-in-law
• forget-me-not
• paper-clip

Two-word compound nouns (also called "open compound nouns"):

• black market
• board of members
• washing machine

One-word compound nouns (also called "closed compound nouns"):

• blackbird
• anteater
• snowman

Read more about using hyphens in compound nouns. Pluralizing a Compound Noun. To form the plural of a compound noun, pluralize the principal word in the compound. When there is no obvious principal word, add "s (or "es") to the end of the compound. For example:

• Mothers-in-law
(Pluralize the principal word "mother.")
• Paper-clips
(Pluralize the principal word "clip.")
• Forget-me-nots
(Here, there is no principal word, so add "s" to the end.)

Read more about compound nouns. Read more about forming the plurals of compound nouns.

(5) Gender-Specific Nouns

A gender-specific noun refers to something specifically male (e.g., "man," "boy," "bull") or a female (e.g., "woman," "girl," "vixen"). Below are some more examples of gender-specific nouns:

Always masculine:

• actor, boy, brother, emperor, father, gentleman, grandfather, grandson, headmaster, husband, man, master, mister, nephew, prince, son, steward, uncle, waiter, wizard

Always feminine:

• actress, aunt, daughter, empress, girl, granddaughter, grandmother, headmistress, lady, lioness, lioness, madam, mistress, mother, niece, princess, princess, sister, stewardess, stewardess, tigress, tigress, waitress, waitress, wife, witch, woman

Read more about gender-specific nouns

(6) Gerunds

All gerunds end "-ing." A gerund is a noun formed from a verb (e.g., running quickly, guessing a number, baking cakes). Here are some examples of gerunds in sentences.

• Running the tap will clear the air pocket.
(This is formed from the verb "to run.")
• She is known for talking quietly.
(This is formed from the verb "to talk.")
• My highlight was visiting New York.
(This is formed from the verb "to visit.")

Be careful. Not every word that ends "-ing" is a gerund. Present participles are formed from verbs and they also end "-ing." In fact, the present participle of a verb and the gerund are always identical. The difference is how they are used. Gerunds are used like nouns, but present participles are used as adjectives or to form verb tenses. For example:

• I like baking.
(This is a gerund.)
• I need some baking powder.
(This is a present participle used as an adjective.)
• She was baking a cake.
(This is a present participle used to form the past progressive tense.)

Gerunds are different to other nouns because they maintain some of their verb-like properties. More specifically, gerunds can take direct objects and be modified by adverbs. This makes them useful for writing concise sentences that flow naturally.

• The quick development of the process is essential.
(This eight-word sentence is clunky. There is no gerund.)
• Quickly developing the process is essential.
(In this six-word sentence, a gerund has been modified by the adverb "quickly" and has the direct object "the process." It is two words shorter than the first example and more natural sounding.)

Read more about gerunds.

(7) Non-Countable Nouns (Mass Nouns)

A non-countable noun (or mass noun as it's also known) is a noun without a plural form (e.g., "food," "music," "ice"). Non-countable nouns usually fall into one of the following categories: concept, activity, food, gas, liquid, material, item category, natural phenomenon, or particles. Here are some more examples of non-countable nouns shown in the categories.

Category	Example
Concept	bravery, honesty, patience
Activity	playing, reading, sleeping
Food	bread, butter, milk
Gas	air, helium, hydrogen
Liquid	coffee, petrol, water
Material	concrete, wood, metal
Item Category	luggage, money, software
Natural Phenomenon	gravity, snow, sunshine
Particles	dust, flour, sugar

Non-countable nouns are the opposite of countable nouns. Read more about non-countable nouns (mass nouns).

(8) Countable Nouns

A countable noun is a noun that can be pluralized (e.g., "cat/cats," "argument/arguments," "device/devices"). Here are some more examples of countable nouns:

• aardvark, backbone, coin, daffodil, eagle, face, gorilla, house, igloo, jaguar, koala, log, man, note, orange, package, queen, robot, suitcase, table, udder, vacation, waltz, xylophone, yacht, zombie

Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns. Read more about countable nouns.

(9) Verbal Nouns

A verbal noun is a noun that has no verb-like properties despite being derived from a verb (e.g., a building, an attack, a decision). Being normal nouns, verbal nouns can be modified by adjectives, be pluralized (if the sense allows), and be followed by prepositional phrases (e.g., "...of men," ...by me"). Here is another example of a verbal noun:

• I am responsible for the funny drawing of the monster.
(Notice that the verbal noun has been modified by the adjective "funny." It could also be pluralized to "drawings," and it precedes a prepositional phrase "of the monster.")

Gerunds are sometimes called verbal nouns, but there is a distinction. Compare the example above with this example featuring "drawing" as a gerund:

• I am responsible for drawing the funny monster.
(This time, the word "drawing" is a gerund. It cannot be modified by an adjective, it cannot be pluralized, and it cannot be followed by "of the monster." It has, however, taken a direct object ("the funny monster"), which a verbal noun cannot do.)

Read more about verbal nouns.

Noun Phrases and Noun Clauses

In real-life sentences, nouns rarely appear by themselves. Most nouns appear in noun phrases or noun clauses.

• Noun Phrase. A noun phrase is a group of two or more words that is headed by a noun. For example:
• How much is the doggy in the window?
(Here, the noun phrase is shaded. The head noun is bold. The other words are modifiers.)
• Noun Clause. A noun clause is a clause (i.e., a group of words with its own subject and verb) that plays the role of a noun. For example:
• Whatever you wish is my command.
(The noun clause is shaded. The clause subject is "you," and the clause verb is "wish.")

Let's end this lesson with this point. There are lots of different types of noun, and, most of the time, your noun will appear in a noun phrase (i.e., it will be accompanied by some modifiers). These noun phrases (and even noun clauses) will all have one thing in common: they can all be replaced with a pronoun. For example:

• How much is he?
(Here, the noun phrase "the doggy in the window" has been replaced by the pronoun "he.")
• It is my command.
(The noun clause "Whatever you wish" has been replaced by the pronoun "it.")

This is a great test for a noun, a noun phrase, or a noun clause: Can you replace it with a pronoun? Read more about noun phrases. Read more about noun clauses.

Video Lesson

Here is a short video summarizing the different types of noun.

Printable Test