A noun is a word used for referring to a person, place or thing. There are mainly two types of nouns: proper nouns and common nouns.

A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or thing. Examples are: James, China, Eden Gardens, Manhattan, United Nations, Sunday, April etc.

Common nouns do not refer to a particular person, place or things. They are the names given to a particular class of person, places or things. Examples are: man, boy, pen, pencil, flower, country, teacher, nurse etc.

Common nouns that refer to materials out of which things are made are called material nouns. Examples are: gold, silver, clay, wood, plastic etc.

Names given to people, animals or things of the same kind are called collective nouns. Examples are: mob, army, crowd, flock etc.

Exercise

Underline the odd noun in each of the following sets.

1. book, pen, toy, girl, bee, James

2. Paris, Rome, Nile, Egypt, city, Vienna

3. committee, jury, team, troop, sparrow

4. iron, steel, rubber, plastic, copper, gang

5. radio, camera, cellphone, Microsoft, computer

6. Victoria, Amazon, India, nation, Titanic, Mary

Answers

1. James is a proper noun; all other words in this set are common nouns.

2. City is a common noun; all other words in this set are proper nouns.

3. Sparrow is a common noun; all other words in this group are collective nouns.

4. Gang is a collective noun; all other words in this group are material nouns.

5. Microsoft is a proper noun; all other words in this set are common nouns.

6. Nation is a common noun; all others are proper nouns.