Nouns
Nouns are one of the most basic building blocks of languages. In fact, you can make a sentence out of just a noun and a verb! Even though nouns may seem basic, many things can be done with them.
Nouns are usually used to represent a person, place, thing (living or non-living), idea, or activity. Nouns can be singular, as in "cat" or plural "cats". Note that sometimes the plural form of a noun will be the same as the singular form, such as "fish" or "sheep".
Roles of nouns in sentences:
- Subject
- For example, in "Peter tossed..."
- This sentence has a subject (Peter), who is doing the action (tossing).
- Direct object
- For example, in "Peter tossed an orange..."
- The direct object is what is being acted upon; in our case, it is the orange being tossed.
- Indirect object
- For example, in "Peter tossed an orange to James."
- The indirect object is to whom or for whom the action is being done. In this case, the indirect object is James.
- Possessive noun adjective
- For example, in "Peter's orange sailed through the air."
- In this case, the possessive noun (Peter's) is acting like an adjective towards orange.
- Object of preposition
- For example, in "They ran away from the dragon."
- In this case, dragon is an object for the preposition from.
- Predicate nominative
- For example, in "Robinson is a sailor."
- Sailor indicates what Robinson is. A linking verb (is) forms the predicate with sailor.
- Object complement
- For example, in "The general promoted him to a sergeant."
- In this sentence, sergeant is the object complement to the direct object him.
- Direct address
- For example, in "What's up, Bob?"
- A direct address noun is always a proper noun (the name of the person being addressed). It is also set apart from the rest of the sentence with commas.
Classes of nouns in sentences:
- Proper:
- Bob, Atlantic, Pikes Peak, Mississippi, Romania, Subaru Impreza, etc.
- Common:
- man, ocean, mountain, river, country, car, etc.
- Concrete:
- mouse, book, sofa, etc.
- Abstract:
- love, hatred, joy, etc.
- Count (have singular and plural versions):
- mother(s), chair(s), table(s), painting(s)
- Noncount (only have singular form):
- milk, water, air, money, sheep
- Collective
- army, council, company, church, crew
