Nouns for School Students—Easy Explanations with Examples and exercises:

What is a noun? Definitions and Examples

A noun is the name of a person, place, animal, thing, idea, or emotion. 

In short, a noun is a naming word.

Common and Proper Nouns 

• Common nouns are the general names of people, places, or things of the same kind. They do not refer to particular people, places, or things. They usually begin with a small letter.

school, train, helpers, toy, box, picture

• Proper nouns are the names of particular people, places, or things. They always begin with a capital letter.

Randheer, Mumbai, Thursday, Punjab

Activity 1. 

Underline the nouns in the following sentences. Write "CN" above common nouns and "PN" above proper nouns. 

1. Goswami Tulsidas was a great writer.

(Proper noun: Goswami Tulsidas, common noun: writer)

2. He wrote many books in Sanskrit, Awadhi, and Braj Bhasha.

(proper nouns: Sanskrit, Awadhi, and Braj Bhasha; common noun: books)

3. One of his famous books is the epic Ramcharitmanas.

(proper noun: Ramcharitmanas; common noun: books)

4. His epic Ramcharitmanas is generally based on the character of Lord Ram.

Proper nouns: Ramcharitmanas, Lord Ram.

5. His books have been translated into many languages. 

(common noun: languages, books).

6. The epic Ramcharitmanas is available in Sanskrit, Awadhi, and Braj Bhasha.

  Activity 2

The words in each of the following rows are (proper nouns) specific examples of a larger group. Write the names of the groups they belong to. 

 

1. yellow, orange, blue ==> Colors (common noun)

2. peacock, woodpecker, eagle ==> Birds (common noun)

3. football, hockey, badminton ==> Games (common noun)

4. New York, London, Delhi, Bengaluru ==> Cities (common noun)

5. Ganges, Amazon, Tapti ==> Rivers (common noun)

6. mango, banana, watermelon ==> Fruits (common noun)

7. Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday ==> Days (common noun)

  Activity 3

Read the descriptions and answer below. 

1. does not eat meat ==> vegetarian 

2. loves his/her country ==> patriot 

3. invites guests to a party ==> host 

4. sells spectacles ==> optician

5. sells sweets and pastries ==> confectioner 

6. flies an aeroplane ==> pilot 

7. bakes bread ==> baker

8. acts in plays or movies ==> actor

9. always expects good things to happen ==> optimist

10. Always expects bad things to happen. ==> pessimist

Collective Nouns 

Collective nouns are the names of groups of people, animals, or things.

the crowd of people

a team of cricket players

a flock of sheep

a bouquet of flowers

1. We saw a pride of lions resting near the pond. (crocodiles/lions)

2. A gaggle of geese was swimming in the lake. (geese/fish)

3. A bale of ... hay fell off the cart. (cotton/boxes)

4. The boy plucked a bunch of grapes from the vineyard. (grass/grapes)

5. The explorer had a fleet of ten... (ships/trains)

6. Mohan recognized a few constellations of ... (stars/meteors).

7. A congregation of ............................ assembled to pray. (devotees/customers)

8. The child was lost in the crowd of people outside the theater. (monkeys/people)

9. A troupe of ... was invited from America. (politicians/dancers)

10. The captain could not find an able crew of ... (whales/sailors).

11. Javed bought a bouquet of ... for his wife. (grapes/flowers)

12. Abraham  ran up the flight of... (stairs/planes)

13. The suite of ............... booked for us was huge. (rooms/clothes)

14. Ajay bought a string of ... for her mother. (bracelets/pearls)

 15. The carpenter carved a beautiful chest of ... (drawers/desks)

Activity 4

Correct the mistakes in the use of collective nouns in the following sentences and rewrite them. 

1. Our submarine followed a shoal of geese.

2. A pride of spectators gathered around the winner.

3. My suitcase rolled down the flight of stairs.

4. Did you find a bouquet of keys on this table?

5. The ship had a team of singers aboard.

  Activity 5  

 

Fill in the blanks with suitable collective nouns. 

1. The colonel was very strict with his...army...of soldiers.

2. The police are looking for the notorious...gang...of robbers.

3. The deer hid behind a...grove...of trees.

4. The teacher greeted the...group...of pupils.

5. This big building has several...blocks...of offices.

6. After the program the dancers bowed to the panel.

7. The clerk tripped and dropped the whole...stack...of papers.

8. A swarm of ants frightened the young boy.

9. A bench of judges sat down to discuss the matter.

10. During our scuba-diving session, we saw...a school...of fish darting about.

 Activity 6

Fill in the blanks with suitable nouns from the box. 

1. Mr. Narang is a member of the board of directors of Ritu Textiles.

2. The airplane flew over a range of ... hills ...

3. A herd of...sheep...stood on the road and caused a heavy traffic jam.

4. A pack of...wolves...surrounded the rabbits.

5. A panel of...inspectors...was appointed to inquire about the accident.

6. A swarm of bees settled on the flowers in the garden.

7. The cast of the movie reached the location early in the morning.

Abstract Nouns 

Nouns that name ideas, qualities, and feelings are called abstract nouns.

Example: friendship, honesty, happiness.

• Abstract nouns are often formed from adjectives.

1. The brave soldiers fought in the combat. (Here, "brave" is an adjective.)

2. The soldiers fought with bravery in the combat. (noun) In the second sentence, we changed the adjective "brave" into the abstract noun "bravery."

• Abstract nouns can also be formed from verbs.

1. Javed knows Urdu very well. (Here, "know" is an adjective.)

2. Javed’s knowledge of Urdu helped us while getting around in Pakistan. 

In the second sentence, we changed the verb "know" into the abstract noun knowledge.

Activity 7

Given below is a list of nouns. The red-colored text is the abstract noun among them.

Sorrow, Lion, grief, hope

lantern, anger, container, tolerance

happiness, tractor, despair, chalk

Change the words in bold letters into abstract nouns and use them to fill in the blanks. 

1. The courageous army moved ahead. Everyone praised them. Everyone praised the soldiers for their courageousness.

2. We should be kind to animals. Let’s show kindness to animals.

3. The teacher was patient with the children.

The teacher showed a lot of patience with the children.

4. Lazy people often fail. Some people often fail due to their laziness.

5. Mr. Hary is so gentle that everyone likes him.

Mr. Hary’s gentleness makes him likable to everyone.

Material Noun- 

A material noun is the name of a substance or material that things are made of.

This Material Noun is not countable because it is in the form of liquid, semi-liquid, or solid. As air, metal, gold, salt, iron, silver, steel, etc. Using substances with Material Noun, it can be converted into other colors, forms, shapes, etc. They remain Material Nouns even after changing into other forms.

1. Car tiers are made of ……………. (leather/rubber/plastic)
2. We joined him at his birthday party. He gave us a sweet of ……………. (salt/sugar/milk)
3. At the anniversary parties, we find cups, plates and glasses of ……………… (Plastic/earth/paper)
4. Monish took a heavy blanket made up of …………… along with him on tour. (wool/cotton/rayon)
5. Most families have utensils of …………….. in their house. (rubber/paper/steel)

Thank You !