In this article you will learn:
- Nouns
- Types of Nouns
- Common and Proper Nouns
- Collectives
- Concretes and Abstracts
- Countables and Uncountablse
Exam Connect:
Nouns are naming words. Usually, a candidate gets a sentence where he/ she has to fill in or find out the given type of noun from a sentence. Noun questions for competitive exams are one of the most important parts of the verbal ability section of English for Entrance Exams. Questions appear in the forms of:
- Fill in the blanks
- Choose the right Option
Nouns are naming words. They name something or somebody. Consider the following examples:
- Aparna took the cat to the beach.
- The truck makes a lot of noise.
As seen in the examples above, a noun can be the name of a person (Aparna), an animal (cat), a place (beach), a thing (truck), or an idea (noise). They answer questions like what something is or who someone is.
Types of Nouns
Common and Proper Nouns
Common Nouns are the collective names given to people, places, or things of a similar class. Proper nouns are the names given to specific places, persons, or things. Consider the following examples:
- The man arrived in the country last month.
- Maneesh arrived in India in April.
Look at the first sentence. Here, the words man, country, and month are common nouns, for they are not specific. The man could be any man, the country could be any country and the month could be any month. Meanwhile, the nouns in the second sentence are all proper nouns as they all are specific. It is a man named Mohan who has arrived in the country of India in April.
Collectives
A collective noun is a name given to a collective group of people, animals, or things. Some examples are given below:
- Mob -A group of people
- Pride -A group of lions.
- Fleet -A group of ships
Concretes and Abstracts
These are subdivisions of Common Nouns. A concrete noun refers to concrete things that we can see and touch. Abstract nouns refer to ideas, feelings, or qualities, which we cannot see or touch. Consider the following sentences:
- The beauty of the hill is unparalleled.
- The house was engulfed in darkness.
In these sentences, the words hill and house are of the first type, as they can be seen, and the words beauty and darkness are of the second type, as they are qualities that do not have a corporeal form.
Countable and Uncountable
Nouns that can be counted are called Countable Nouns and those that cannot be counted are called uncountable nouns. Consider the following examples:
- I bought five oranges.
- I bought some milk.
In the first sentence, orange is a countable noun, as the number of oranges can be counted. Milk in the second sentence is an uncountable noun, as its quantity cannot be counted.
Nouns Practice Questions
Choose the correct option for the following questions:
1. Find the common noun in the following sentence:
Tagore was a great poet.
A) poet B) Tagore C) Both A & B D) None of the Above
Answer: A
Explanation: The word poet is a collective name given to people.
2. Find the proper noun in the following sentence:
I named my dog Tiger.
A) dog B) Tiger C) Both A & B D) None of the Above
Answer: B
Explanation: Tiger is the name given to a specific animal.
3. Find out the collective noun from the following sentence.
He was part of the film crew.
A) He B) film C) crew D) None of the Above
Answer: C
Explanation: The word crew represents a group of people.
4. Find the abstract noun from the following sentence:
You should show respect to your teachers.
- respect B) teachers C) Both A & B D) None of the Above
Answer: A
Explanation: The word respect indicates a quality.
5. Find the concrete noun from the following sentence:
The girl stood there in awe.
A) awe B) girl C) Both A & B D) None of the Above
Answer: B
Explanation: The word girl refers to something that is concrete, which we can see.
English for Entrance Exams is generally an easy section for any entrance examinations, but the grammar part of it has always confused exam takers. Questions of the section conduct tests about the in-depth knowledge of a student in using the English Language. Hope this article was helpful to you in understanding the Nouns section of entrance exams. All the best!
