Classification of Nouns Explained

A Simple Explanation of the Eight Types of Nouns for Homeschoolers

Sep 25, 2009

There are several types of nouns in the English language and this can become confusing for young students. Here is an explanation of the eight common types of nouns.

There are many types of nouns that can be used in the English language. Children are usually taught that nouns are people, places, things or abstract ideas. There are no fewer than eight ways in which to classify a noun and it is important that homeschooled students and parents understand each of them.

Eight Types of Nouns

1. Proper Nouns: These are nouns that refer to very specific people, places or things. The rule of thumb is that these nouns should be capitalized. This type of noun applies to places such as Illinois, names of people such as Jessica and the names of places or institutions like Queen's University.

2. Common Nouns: These nouns are general in nature and are not capitalized. Take for example the proper noun St. Brice's Church; because of its reference to a specific church, it is a proper noun. But the word "church" used on its own is a common noun. This is a because it does not make reference to a specific church.

3. Countable Nouns: These nouns can be either singular or plural in nature and they are usually used in conjunction with words that reference quantity, such as most or many. Take for example the word table; it can be used as a singular noun "a table" or a plural noun "many tables".

4. Collective Nouns: These nouns, as their title implies, refer to a group. Collective nouns often reference a specific group. Take for example a "brigade of firemen" or a "grove of trees."

5. Abstract Nouns: Abstract nouns can be a little tricky to master because they refer to concepts, ideas and philosophies instead of physical things. For example abstract nouns can be things like courage, fear, hate and generosity.

6. Uncountable Nouns: These nouns cannot be counted they are often referred to as mass nouns. For example when saying, "The pool was full of water." The uncountable noun in this sentence is water. These nouns cannot be used in a plural form.

7. Concrete Nouns: These are nouns such as desk, water, Kevin, and cotton. These nouns can all be touched, smelt, tasted or seen. In order to be a concrete noun, it must be perceived by using one of the five senses.

8. Pronouns: These nouns can take the place of a noun when referring to people places or things. In English the personal pronouns are I, you, he, she, it and they. Depending on their function within a sentence these nouns can take on their possessive forms or their objective case. For example in the sentence, "She danced around the room," she is a singular personal pronoun. In the sentence "Allana danced around her room," her is a possessive form of the personal pronoun.

There are many activities that can be used to teach children the concept of nouns. One such activity involves giving each child a picture from a magazine or newspaper, which she can cut out and glue onto a larger sheet of brightly colored paper. Each child is then given brightly colored markers or pens and asked to list all of the nouns contained in the picture around it. This activity will easily indicate whether the child understands the concept of nouns. This process can be repeated for the various forms of nouns.

Another activity for teaching nouns is to post a large sheet of paper on the wall. Label the sheet in three columns, people, places and things. Have the children cut out magazine pictures that correspond with each column. To make this more challenging, children can look for varying types of nouns and post them as well.

It is important for young students to recognize the various forms of nouns. This can also be accomplished in a variety of manners including daily reading, worksheets, writing exercises and drills.

The copyright of the article Classification of Nouns Explained in Homeschooling is owned by Karrie Emms. Permission to republish Classification of Nouns Explained in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.