Word Classes

Nouns

I had discussed prepositions earlier in the day, so now we would be looking at nouns. One of the most important functions of a language, particularly the English language is to give names to persons, things, places, groups, concepts that we come across daily. Nouns perform this function in different dimensions. We have Beth, Mary, Joyce, John, goat, America, goodness, democracy, civilization and others. The various types of nouns are;

1. Proper noun
2. Common nouns 
3. Concrete nouns 
4. Abstract nouns 
5. Countable nouns 
6. Uncountable nouns 

I will discuss them one by one;

1. Proper noun: proper noun names a particular person example: Elizabeth, Mildred, Oliver, Victoria and so on, days of the week such as: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, months of the year like January, February and more, institution, geographical features, languages. All proper nouns begin with capital letters when they are written.
2. Common nouns: common nouns on the other hand name persons or things that share class features or essential general characteristics. These in dog, stone, table, farmer, teacher and others you should find out. Common nouns can form a unit or a class that needs to be referred to as a complete whole. This class is called, 'collective nouns' examples: a crowd of people, a fleet of ships, a battalion of soldiers, a bevy of ladies, a troupe of dancers, a crew of sailors, a congregation of worshippers, a team of players, a host of angels, a clutch of eggs.
3. Concrete nouns: concrete nouns name objects and substance that exist in the physical world of things. Examples; clock, table, stone, bottle, key, book, fan. 
4. Abstract nouns: this type of noun name quality, states, actions, conditions, emotions which can neither be touched nor seen. Examples; faith, joy, goodness, confidence, truth, favour, sweetness. 
5. Countable nouns: countable nouns refer to items that are separable into identifiable or numerable units. Countable nouns take the articles 'a' and 'an' in their singular forms and are generally classified into singular and plural forms. Examples; box boxes, boy boys, ox oxen, child children, passerby passers-by, datum data, city cities, man men, table tables, house houses.
6. Uncountable nouns: these are mass nouns which can not be expressed in terms of singular or plural. Examples; water, sand light, luggage, oil, accommodation and others.