Noun

Noun

A Noun is used as the name of a person, thing, place, idea and quality of a person, a thing and a place.

1. Kinds of Noun

(a) Common Noun: – It is the name given common to every person or a thing of the same kind. It is not a name of any particular person or thing or place. E.g.: boy, girl, teacher etc.

(b) Proper Noun: – It is the name given to some particular person, thing or place. E.g.: Delhi, Sania, India, Jupiter.

(c) Collective Noun: – It is the name of a collection of persons and things treated and spoken together as a whole. E.g.: fleet, audience, class, committee, crowd, mob etc.

(d) Abstract Noun: – It is the name of a quality, idea, concept or state. E.g.: beauty, youth, honesty, death etc.

(e) Material Noun: – Such as gold, coal, wheat, tea.

2. Number of a Noun

Singular

Plural

3. Gender of a Noun

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Rule- 1

(A)

(a) Uncountable Nouns are used in the singular forms only.

(b) Indefinite article is not used before them.

(c) They are not used with plural verbs.

(d) ‘Much’ or ‘Some’ are used in place of ‘Many’ for denoting plurality.

Example: Advice, information, hair, luggage, business, work, word (in the sense of promise message, discussion) mischief, bread, scenery, abuse, vacation, evidence, employment alphabet, poetry, food, furniture, baggage, fuel, paper, equipment, machinery, material etc. E.g.:

(i) He gave me an information.  (remove ‘an’)

(ii) You should be true to your words. (Use ‘word’ in place of ‘words’)

(iii) He was punished for committing many mischiefs.  (Use ‘much mischief’ in place of ‘many mischiefs’)

(iv) Young persons dislike the advices of the elderly people. (Use ‘advice’ in place of ‘advices’)

(B) These nouns may be used to denote singularity as follows: –

(i) a piece/a word of advice.

(ii) a word of abuse.

(iii) an act of mischief.

(iv) a piece of work.

(v) a piece/loaf of bread.

(vi) an article of luggage.

(C) These nouns may be used to denote plurality as follows: –

(i) much/some advice.

(ii) a lot of many words/many pieces of advice

(iii) two pieces/loaves of bread.

(iv) words of abuse.

Rule- 2

There are some of the collective nouns which are used with plural verbs. E.g.:

(a) cattle, gentry, peasantry, poultry, clergy, people, majority, folk.

(b) The nouns- committee, jury, House, ministry, family, mob, crowd, audience, police, team, number, board, staff, public are used with singular verbs when they are used as a body or group and not as members.

(c) When these nouns denote members or individuals, the verb is used in plural form.

(i) Cattles are grazing in the field. (Use ‘cattle’ in place of ‘cattles’)

(ii) Majority is in favour of this proposal. (Use ‘are’ in place of ‘is’)

(iii) The committee is unanimous on this issue. (Correct)

(iv) The committee are divided and there is bitterness among the members. (Correct)

(v) The peoples of all the countries should work for peace. (Correct)

(vi) The average Hindu family in India consists of four members. (Correct)

(vii) His family are not agreed on this point.  (Correct)

(viii) The audience was spell bound.     (Correct)

(ix) The audience were forbidden to occupy chairs.            (Correct)

(x) The Police has become insensitive. (Correct)

(xi) The Police were posted all over the route. (Correct)

(xii) The team are full of high spirits. (Correct)

(xiii) The team is at the top in this competition. (Correct)

Note: ‘Peoples’ is used when we talk of the people of different countries.

Rule- 3

‘Offspring, deer, fish, sheep’- are expressed as singular or plural only by the use of verb. Both in singular and the plural they have the same form.

(i) Sheeps are economically useful. (Use ‘Sheep’ in place of Sheeps’)

(ii) A sheep is grazing in the field. (Correct)

Note: ‘Fishes’ may be used in the sense of different number and kind.

Rule- 4

Some of the nouns (ending in ‘s’ or ‘es’) are used with singular verb.

(A) Branches of learning. E.g.:, Mathematics, Physics, Mechanics, Politics, Statistics, Statics, Economics.

Note: Statistics as subject is used with singular verb. Statistics when taken as a collection of data is used with plural verb.

(B) Diseases.

E.g.: Mumps, Measles, Rickets etc.

(C) Games and sports.

E.g.: Billiards, Aquatics, Gymnastics, Athletics etc.

(D) Titles of books.

E.g.: Three Musketeers, Gulliver’s Travels, Arabian Nights, War and Peace, Tales from Shakespeare.

(E) Descriptive names of countries.

E.g.: United States, United Arab Emirates etc.

(F) Some other nouns are Innings, Series, News, Summons. E.g.:

(i) The measles have broken out in the town. (Use ‘has’ in place of ‘have’)

(ii) Politics are a dirty game. (Use ‘is’ in place of ‘are’)

(iii) These news are disappointing. (Say ‘this news is’)

(iv) A/The summons has been served on him. (Correct)

(v) A series of matches are being played. (Use ‘is’ in place of ‘are’)

(vi) Two series of matches was played last year. (Use ‘were’ in place of ‘was’)

Rule- 5

Some nouns in singular and plural forms

Rule- 6

Some of the nouns are generally used in the plural form with plural verb.

Trousers, breeches, Jeans, Scissors, spectacles, shears, scales, Alms, thanks, proceeds, riches, contents, credentials, orders, refreshments, requirements, customs, rations, archives, annals, ashes, arrears, assets, stairs, spirits, statistics (data), quarters, earnings, manners, outskirts, savings, auspices (support), surroundings.

E.g.:,

(i) My scissors is not sharp. (Use ‘are’ in place of ‘is’)

(ii) My spectacles is very costly. (Use ‘are’ in place of ‘is’)

(iii) A pair of spectacles has been bought by me. (Correct)

(iv) Order for his transfer has been issued.    (Incorrect)

(v) Orders for his transfer have been issued. (Correct)

Rule- 7

A compound noun (numerical + noun) is not used in plural if a noun does the work of an adjective. E.g.:

(i) Ten-day tour

(ii) A ten-mile race

(iii) A ten-year old boy

(iv) He is ten years old.

(v) A five-rupee note

(vi) Five-foot long room

Rule- 8

Nouns expressing number are used in singular with numerical adjectives.

Two hundred, two thousand, five dozen, two score, two million, three lakh. E.g.:

I gave him two hundreds rupees. (remove ‘s’ in ‘hundreds’)

I gave him five dozens pencils. (remove ‘s’ in ‘dozens’)

There are hundreds of partially built houses. (Correct)

Rule- 9

Use of Apostrophe with ‘s’

(A) The use of apostrophe with ‘s’ is not correct in the case of non-living things. It is restricted only to living things, time, weight, distance, amount or personified nouns.

(i) The table’s wood. (Incorrect)

(ii) Boy’s hand.

(iii) Time’s march.

(iv) A one-kilometre’s journey

(v) A rupees’s worth.

(vi) A night’s journey

(VD) A metre’s length.

(viii) Nature’s laws.

(LU) A week’s holiday

(B) Two nouns in the possessive case denote plural form. When apostrophe with ‘s’ is used with one noun, it expresses singular form. E.g.:.

(1) Sheela and Rohit’s father. (the father of both Sheela and Rohit)

(1) Sheela’s and Rohit’s fathers are meeting today. (fathers of Sheela and Rohit)

(C) With compound nouns apostrophe with ‘s’ should be added only with the last word.

(i) Mother-in-law’s behaviour

(ii) Maid-servant’s absence.

(D) Pronouns are written by omitting apstrophe but ‘s’ is added. E.g.:

(i) Yours truly

(ii) Its colour

(ii) Hers

(iv) It’s (It is)

(E) Possessive case is indicated by apostrophe without ‘s’ after Plural nouns or words ending with ‘s:

(i) John Keats’ poems.

(ii) Girls’ Hostel

(iii) Dickens’ novels.

(iv) Jesus’ sake.

(v) Kalidas’ works.

(F)

(a) ‘Else’ combined with indefinite pronouns (somebody, anybody, nobody etc.) is expressed in possessive case as somebody else’s in place of somebody’s else.

(b) The correct expression ‘whose else’ should be used in place of the wrong expression ‘who else’s’. However ‘who else’ is correct. (Say somebody else’s)

(i) This is not my book. This is somebody’s else (Correct)

(ii) Who else is coming?

(iii) Who else’s book is this? (Use ‘whose else’ in place of ‘who else’s’)

Note: Who should be converted into possessive ‘whose’. So whose else’ is correct.

Rule-10

Two adjectives denoting different meanings and qualifying the same noun are plural and are used with plural verbs. E.g.:,

(1) Cultural and social life in India are changing.

(ii) Summer and winter vacation are compulsory in our schools.

 Rule- 11

Noun after preposition is repeated in singular form. E.g.:

(i) Word for word.

(ii) Hour after hour.

(iii) Door to door.

Rule- 12

The use of fractions.

(1) One and a half years are wasted.

(ii) A year and a half is wasted.

(ii) One and a half hours are wasted.

(iv) An hour and a half is wasted.

Plural form of some Singular nouns