The Noun

A noun is a part of speech that denotes a person, animal, place, thing, or

idea. Every language has words that are nouns. As you read the following
explanations, think about some words that might fit into each category.
 Person – man, Plato, Sharon, grandfather, person, etc;
 Animal – horse, cat, elephants, flamingo, etc;
 Place – restaurant, church, market, etc;
 Thing – book, desk, ball, sofa, etc;
 Idea – rules, love, kindness, emotion, etc;

Proper Nouns vs. Common Nouns

A proper noun is a specific name of a person, place, thing. It is always
written with a capital letter. ( John, Paris, Earth, etc)
A common noun is the generic name of a class or group. It is not written with
a capital letter. (girl, ball, cattle, etc)

The plural of nouns

Many English plural nouns can be formed by adding -s or -es to the singular
form.
Ex: cat – cats
Egg – eggs
! A plural noun is followed by a verb with a plural form :
Those cats are mine.
There are many exceptions:
1. A noun ended in consonant + y –y turns to I + es country – countries
2. A noun ended in vowel + y – y + s boy – boys
3. A noun ended in “s”, “z”, “sh”, “ch” add “es” to the singular noun:
Ex: class – classes wish - wishes
Bus – buses mass - masses
4. A noun ended in “f” turns “f” to “v” and adds “es”:
Wife – wives leaf – leaves
Knife – knives shelf – shelves
! there are some exceptions: beliefs, roofs, cliffs, cuffs, chiefs
5. A noun ended in “o” adds “es”:
Potato – potatoes hero – heroes
Tomato – tomatoes
! There are some exceptions: pianos, photos, banjos, zeros, zoos