Nouns: Kinds, Number and Gender

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea. Nouns are divided into kinds, and each noun also has a number (singular or plural) and a gender.

Kinds of nouns

• Proper noun — the name of a particular person or place. It begins with a capital letter: Quaid-e-Azam, Karachi, the Indus.
• Common noun — a name shared by every member of a class: city, river, student.
• Collective noun — a group taken as one whole: team, army, jury, flock.
• Material noun — a substance or material: gold, water, cotton.
• Abstract noun — a quality, state or idea that cannot be touched: bravery, childhood, freedom.

Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable nouns can be counted and have plurals: a book, two books. Uncountable nouns cannot: information, advice, furniture, luggage, news, equipment. They take a singular verb and no "a/an".

Making plurals

• Most nouns add -s: book → books.
• Nouns ending in s, sh, ch, x, z add -es: box → boxes, church → churches.
• Consonant + y → -ies: city → cities; but vowel + y adds -s: day → days.
• Many nouns ending in f/fe → -ves: knife → knives, leaf → leaves (but roof → roofs, chief → chiefs).
• Irregular plurals: man → men, child → children, mouse → mice, tooth → teeth, ox → oxen.
• Some nouns are the same in both: sheep, deer, fish, series, species.
• Some are always plural: scissors, trousers, spectacles, cattle.
• Compound nouns pluralise the main word: mother-in-law → mothers-in-law, passer-by → passers-by.

Gender

• Masculine: king, horse, nephew. Feminine: queen, mare, niece.
• Common gender — either: teacher, parent, friend.
• Neuter — neither: table, book.

Useful pairs: bachelor – spinster, drake – duck, lion – lioness, hero – heroine, monk – nun, wizard – witch, bull – cow, dog – bitch, fox – vixen, gander – goose.