UNIT No.

1
NOUN

Noun is a word that is the name of something (such as a person, animal, place, thing, quality, idea, or
action) and is typically used in a sentence as subject or object of a verb or as object of a preposition.

Types:

There are several different types of noun, as follows:

Common Noun:

A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in general, e.g. boy, country, bridge, city, birth,
day, happiness.

Proper Noun:

A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, or thing, e.g. Steven, Africa, London,
Monday. In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters.

Concrete Noun:

A concrete noun is a noun which refers to people and to things that exist physically and can be seen,
touched, smelled, heard, or tasted. Examples include dog, building, coffee, tree, rain, beach, tune.

Abstract Noun:

An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions - things that cannot be seen or
touched and things which have no physical reality, e.g. truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship, humour.

Collective Noun:

Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things, e.g. audience, family, government, team, jury. In
American English, most collective nouns are treated as singular, with a singular verb:

 The whole family was at the table.

In British English, the preceding sentence would be correct, but it would also be correct to treat the
collective noun as a plural, with a plural verb:

 The whole family were at the table.

NOTE: A noun may belong to more than one category. For example, happiness is both a common noun
and an abstract noun, while Mount Everest is both a concrete noun and a proper noun.

Count and Mass Noun:

Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns (or count nouns) are those that refer to
something that can be counted. Uncountable nouns (or mass nouns) do not typically refer to things that
can be counted and so they do not regularly have a plural form.

Rule 1:

The nouns such as – Jury, choir, committee, council, crowd, herd, orchestra, team, government, mob,
community, union, club, opposition, firm, flock etc. are used as collective nouns to denote a group. They
are considered to be singular and a singular verb is used with them. But when the individual member is
discussed in collective noun it is taken as plural. The jury are divided in their opinion.

Example:

Incorrect: The committee have submitted its report.

Correct: The committee has submitted its report.

Rule 2:

The unit of measurement (such as - hour, pound, kilo, mile, meter…etc.) is always used in the singular form
in the structure –‘Half + a/an + unit of measurement’; as, ‘Half a kilo’, ‘Half an hour’.
Note: The unit of measurement (such as – hour, pound, kilo, mile…etc.) is also used in the singular form
in the structure – ‘A + half + unit of measurement’; as, ‘A half kilo’, ‘A half hour’.

Example:

Incorrect: Only half hour left to finish this work.

Correct: Only half an hour is left to finish this work.

Rule 3:

A plural noun is used after ‘one and a half’; as ‘One and a half kilos’, ‘One and a half chapters’, etc.
While ‘A/An + singular noun + and + a half’ is used in English Language; as,

Example:

Correct: A kilo and a half.

Correct: ‘An hour and a half’.

Rule 4:

The structure – ‘Numeral Adjectives + plural noun + and + a half’ or Numeral Adjectives + and + a half +
plural noun is used in the English Language. Numeral Adjectives: One, two, three, four…..etc. some, all,
many, few…..etc. are called Numeral Adjectives; as,
‘Two kilos and a half’. ‘Five hours and a half’. ‘Two and a half kilos’.

Rule 5:

A plural noun is used after ‘Cardinal Adjectives except one’. Cardinal Adjectives: One, two, three, four,
five, six….etc. are called Cardinal Adjectives; as ‘Five kilometers’
Cardinal number is a number denoting quantity (one, two, three, etc.), as opposed to an ordinal number
(first, second, third, etc.)

Example:

Incorrect: I have fifty rupee.

Correct: I have fifty rupees.

Rule 6:
Generally, the plural of a proper noun is not possible. But the plural of a proper noun can be formed (=made)
by adding ‘s’ according to need.

Example:

Incorrect: There are two Ahmad in my class.

Correct: There are two Ahmads in my class.

Rule 7:

The nouns such as – barracks, corps, crossroads, Innings, headquarters, précis, series, species, offspring,
aircraft, craft, swine are used in the same form both in singular and plural.

Example:

Incorrect: All the police barrack of Bahawalpur are old.

Correct: All the police barracks of Bahawalpur are old.

Rule 8:

The structure – ‘Noun + preposition + same noun’ is always used in the singular. A singular noun is always
used before preposition and after a preposition; as’

Example:

Incorrect: Village after village have been swept away.

Correct: Village after village has been swept away.

Rule 9:

A plural noun or a plural pronoun is used after these phrases – one of, each of, either of, neither of, any one
of, a few of, very few of, half of, a lot of, a large number of etc.

Example:

Incorrect: One of the boy was innocent.

Correct: One of the boys was innocent.

Rule 10:

If we add ‘s’ or ‘es’ to some Adjectives, they become plural nouns; as’

Example:

We have to taste the sweets and bitters of our lives.

Rule 11:

Some nouns always remain in plural form. They take plural verb. These nouns have no singular form. These
are -
Assets, alms, amends, annals, archives, ashes, arrears, athletics, auspices, species, scissors, trousers, pants,
clippers, bellows, gallows, fangs, measles, eyeglasses, goggles, belongings, breeches. bowels , braces
,binoculars, dregs, earnings, entrails, embers ,fetters, fireworks, longings, lees, odds ,outskirts, particulars,
proceeds, proceedings ,riches, remains, shambles, shears, spectacles , surroundings ,tidings ,tactics ,tongs
,vegetables, valuables, wages etc.
Means — in the sense of income: Means always takes a plural verb. In the sense to achieve some end:
Means takes a singular verb. When 'a' or 'every' is used before Means', it is singular.
Examples:

Incorrect: My means was reduced substantially. (income)

Correct: My means were reduced substantially.
Correct: Every means are good if the end is good. (way of doing)
Correct: Every means is good if the end is good.

Rule 12:

If two adjectives are joined by 'and' and 'The' is used before the first adjective, A plural noun is used after
the second Adjective.

Example:

Incorrect: Dr. S.S. Prasad was an examiner of the Patna and Bihar University.
Correct: Dr. S.S. Prasad was an examiner of the Patna and Bihar universities.

Rule 13:

If two adjectives are joined by 'and' and 'The' used before both Adjectives or each Adjective, A singular
noun is used after the second Adjectives.

Example:

Incorrect: The first and the second chapters of this book are interesting.
Correct: The first and the second chapter of this book are interesting.

Rule 14:

Some nouns look plural in form but have singular meaning. Such nouns take singular verb. These are: news,
innings, politics, summons, physics, economics, ethics, mechanics, mathematics, measles, mumps, rickets,
billiards, draughts, etc.

Rule 15:

Some nouns look singular but have plural meaning. Such nouns take plural verbs. These are: cattle, clergy,
cavalry, infantry, poultry, peasantry, children, gentry, police etc.

Rule 16:

Some nouns are always used in singular. These are uncountable nouns. We should not use article A/An
with such nouns. These are - Scenery, poetry, furniture, advice, information, hair, language, business,
mischief, bread, stationery, crockery, luggage, baggage, postage, knowledge, wastage, money, jewellery,
breakage etc.

We cannot pluralize such nouns by adding `S' or 'es'.

It is incorrect to write sceneries, informations, furnitures.

If hair is used as countable it can be pluralised: e.g., one hair, two hairs.

Example:

Correct: I need three hair of a black horse.

Correct: I need three hairs of a black horse.

Rule 17:
Some nouns have plural meaning. If a definite numeral adjective is used before them they are not pluralized.
e.g., pair, score, gross, stone, hundred, dozen, thousand, million, billion, etc.
Otherwise these nouns can well be pluralized:
Dozens of women, Hundreds of people, Millions of dollars, Scores of shops. Many pairs of shoes, thousands
millions etc.

Rule 18:

If a numeral adjective and a fraction are used with a noun, the noun is used with the numeral and the noun
will be in singular.

Example:

(a) He gave me one rupee and a half.

(b) She gave me two rupees and a quarter.

Avoid the following structure

Example:

(a) He gave me one and a half rupees. (Incorrect)

(b) She gave two and a quarter rupees. (Incorrect)

If the numeral adjective and the fraction refer the multiplication, the noun be placed in the end (after the
fraction) and it must be plural.

Examples:

(a) Your deposits have grown two and a half times within two years.
(b) My salary has increased three and a quarter times within three years.

Rule 19:

Some nouns are known as common gender nouns. They can be used for either sex; Male or Female. These
are called dual gender nouns. Such nouns are: teacher, student, child, clerk, candidate, advocate, worker,
writer, author, leader, musician, politician, enemy, client, president, person, neighbour etc. When these are
used in singular, use third person singular masculine (his) pronoun with them.

Example:

(a) Every candidate should write his (not her) name.

(b) Every person should perform his (not her) duty.
Each, either, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody, neither, anybody are also common gender pronouns.

Rule 20:

Some nouns are used specifically for feminine gender only. i.e., blonde, maid, mid wife, coquette, virgin
etc.
Now a day’s nouns 'bachelor' and 'virgin' are being used for masculine and feminine gender as well.

Rule 21:

Use of Apostrophe with 's'

(A) You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in 's' by adding an apostrophe
and `s' We should use apostrophe in following situations only
(1) Living things — Ali’s book
(2) Thing personified; as — week's holiday
(3) Space time or weight; as — a day's leave
(4) Certain dignified objects; as—the court's orders, at duty's call
(5) Familiar phrases; as —at his wit's end, at a stone's throw

It there are hissing sounds (sounds of sh or s) ending a word, use apostrophe without 's' with such words.
e.g., For Jesus' sake, For conscience' sake, The roses' fragrance etc. (It can be noted that if we use apostrophe
with s with such words it couldn't be pronounced well)

(B) You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in 's' by adding an apostrophe and
a 's,' as in the following example.

Example:

The men's cricket team will play as soon as the women's team is finished.
(C) You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that end in 's' by adding an apostrophe.

Example:

The concert was interrupted by the ‘dogs' barking, the ‘ducks' quacking, and the ‘babies' squalling.

(D) Do not use apostrophe with possessive pronouns

i.e., his, hers, yours, mine, ours, its, theirs etc.
Yours faithfully, yours truly, ours garden, his pen, hers purse, theirs room.

(E) Use apostrophe with the last word in following titles.

Example:

Governor-general's instructions.
Commander-in-chief's orders.
My son-in-law's sister.

(F) Do not use 'Double apostrophe'. Avoid double apostrophe in a sentence.

Example:

Incorrect: My wife's secretary's mother has expired.

Correct: The mother of my wife's secretary has expired.
(G) Apostrophe with 's' is used with; Anybody/ Nobody / Everybody / Somebody / Anyone / Someone / No
one / Everyone.

Example:

Everyone's concern is no one's concern.

If else is used after these words, use apostrophe with else as per following:

Example:

I can rely on your words, not somebody else's.