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Grammar
Course: Grammar > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Introduction to nounsIntroduction to nouns
A noun is a word that describes a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples of nouns include names, locations, objects in the physical world, or objects and concepts that do not exist in the physical world; for example, a dream or a theory.
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- what is a pharse how is it a noun?(25 votes)
- A phrase is a group of words that is less than a clause (or a sentence), but which functions in a sentence as if it were a single word. There are noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases and adverb phrases. So, let's try a few (though, I warn you, for all the work I'm about to do I'm hoping for both a thank you and an upvote).
Noun phrase: "In 1935, the running of the bulls was cancelled in Pamplona." ('the running of the bulls' is a noun phrase.)
Verb phrase: "Her charming 3-year-old cockatoo was eaten by her cat." ('was eaten' is a verb phrase).
Adjective phrase: "The big zucchini in the freezer will be shredded for bread." ('in the freezer' is an adjective phrase).
Adverb phrase: "Due to conditions,the Michigan team lost the citrus bowl to Alabama." ('due to donditions' is an adverb phrase).(80 votes)
- Noun is divided into how many parts?(34 votes)
- Aren't there four parts? Daniel said there was the three basic ones: Person/living thing, Place, and Thing, but there is also ideas. Ideas is usually left out, so it is okay to make a common mistake like that saying only three groups!(25 votes)
- Is the word noun a noun?(23 votes)
- Yes, it is a noun.(17 votes)
- At, how is size an idea? I thought idea meant a thought or a suggestion. Answers will be appreciated. Thank you! :) 3:52(12 votes)
- A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.
So which one is size?
- person? ...no.
- place? ...no.
- thing? ...no, size is not an object.
- idea? ...Yes! Size is a concept.
Hope this helps!(25 votes)
- So, a noun is a peoples, places, things, or, Ideas.
What are ideas? How can you describe them best?(11 votes)- ideas are things (sort of) that you cant pick up, hold, or see. For instance:
thought or
dream
hope this helps you(11 votes)
- Can't a noun also be an activity?(8 votes)
- Hmm... Great Question! I just finished the entire grammar course right now, and to be honest, I was thinking of that exact thing! I don't think that is actually could be an activity, because that is what a verb does. I did some research, and came up with the same answer. Even though there might be one or two words in the English language that aren't a verb, but somehow make it in the noun category, I do not think that it is possible for a noun to be an activity. Unless, you were saying, I am going to work out on the TREADMILL. The treadmill would be the object you are using to work out on, but you are RUNNING on the treadmill, which is a verb. Let me know what you think of this response.(15 votes)
- Isn't nouns something kids learn when there in kindergarten or pre-school?(4 votes)
- Yes, and no, i didn't learn what a noun was until 5th grade.(13 votes)
- Isn't creepy a Noun because it is an idea?(7 votes)
- Hi ice eagle!
Nope, creepy isn't a noun because it's describing something (which makes it an adjective). Disgust, however, is an abstract noun, because it's a thing that you can't recognize with your five senses.
Hope this helps!(8 votes)
- can you say a Samsung tv or just a tv(8 votes)
- Samsung is not an adjective, it is a noun because it is the name of a company. You could say, "The TV..." or "The Samsung TV..." and they would both be nouns. The latter just provides more details.(7 votes)
- Atyou said a noun is basically anything so is a feeling like sadness a noun? 0:19(6 votes)
- Yes. Sadness fits into the "idea" part of "person, place, thing, or idea". This would be an abstract noun, instead of a concrete noun (like dog or muffin).(8 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Hello grammarians. Welcome to the English parts of speech. We're gonna begin with the noun, the lovely wonderful noun,
your friend and mine. They're mostly what you're
gonna encounter in sentences. Most sentences in English
contain at least one noun or a pronoun, but we'll
get to pronouns later. A noun is basically anything. And I know that's not an
especially helpful definition, but we'll get more specific in a minute. A noun is basically anything at all. Now the way this is taught
in traditional grammar is to say that a noun is
a person, place or thing, which is fine, I think we can
make that a little bit sharper and expand that out by
saying that they are, that nouns are people or living things, places, things, or ideas. I think ideas is the one
that usually gets left out. So nouns can be people,
places, things and ideas. Let's put that in action. So, this is Raul. He is from Argentina. He is a penguin. Raul has big dreams. Now, okay. So, I wanna take these three sentences and find the noun in them using the test. So the test is, is it a person or a living thing, a place, a thing, or an idea? And if it's any of those things, then it falls into the
category of words in English which we call nouns. So, sentence number one. This is Raul. What is Raul? Well, Raul is a person or a living thing so we're just gonna say person so noun. Next sentence. He is from Argentina. Now Argentina happens to be a place so therefore, it is also a noun. It's a kind of noun called a proper noun, just like Raul is but
we'll get to that later. So, Argentina is a noun. Argentina incidentally is a country and the word country is also a noun because it is a thing. So, sentence the third. He is a penguin. Now, a penguin is a
living being or a thing so we can say oh yes, penguin,
that is a noun as well. So, you've noticed I'm
not circling he or this. These words are pronouns,
relative pronouns, and they can sometimes behave like nouns, but I wouldn't call them nouns. That'll just get confusing. So, these are pronouns and
we'll get to them later. Sentence number four. Raul has big dreams. So, here we have Raul again. We know from the first sentence
that it's a person's name. So, we're just gonna say
this is also a noun again. And dreams. Now, dreams isn't a person, a place. It's a thing, sure. The reason I put in idea
as a fourth category is to get it stuff that you can't pick up. Like for example, so dream,
yes, dream is a noun. Dream is maybe a little tangible 'cause it's something you can imagine, but the idea of like a word like bigness. Or if you prefer, you know, size. The size of Raul's
plumage was astonishing. Look at that gorgeous plumage. It's a little penguin mohawk. (high-pitched murmurs) The size of Raul's plumage was astounding. Now in that sentence, size is a noun, but it's not a physical thing, it's not a person, it's not a place, it's not something you can pick up. It's an idea. So, that's why I include
this fourth category. So, if you're trying to figure out whether or not a word is a noun, just apply this test. Ask yourself, is it a person, a place, a thing, or an idea? And you, my friend, will be golden. You can learn anything. David out.