Names for things and people: nouns

Nouns are the words we use to give names to things, actions and people. There 4 different types of nouns but they all do the same thing.

Examples in red on this page are wrong.

	Proper nouns
Albert Einstein

Proper nouns are the names for people and places. They usually begin with a CAPITAL letter. Here are some examples:

People
- Mary, Tiger Woods, Mr Smith, Uncle Fred etc.
  We do not put a, an or the before these nouns.
Jobs and Positions
- The President, The Pope, The Queen etc.
  We usually put the before these nouns because there is only one of them.
Places and buildings
- Britain, Germany, Margate, London, Lake Victoria, Jamaica, The Thames, The Suez Canal, Baker Street, St Paul's Cathedral, The Tate Gallery etc.
  Sometimes we put the before these nouns. Like this:
  - rivers, mountain ranges and canals
    We usually put the before these: The Thames, The Nile, The Himalayas, The Alps, The Suez Canal, The Panama Canal
  - lakes, countries, islands, streets and cities
    We do not usually put the before these: Lake Tanganyika, France, Crete, Rome.
    But we do put the in front of the name of the country if it contains an adjective like united or Arab: The United States of America, The United Kingdom, The Federal Republic of Germany, The Arab Emirates
  - buildings and mountains
    This is not easy because we sometimes use the and sometimes we don't!
    The Guggenheim Museum, Scotland Yard, Mont Blanc, The Eiger

Collective nouns

In all languages, some nouns are used for groups of things or people. In English, these can be both singular and plural but in most languages (yours?) they are only singular. For example, in English, we can say:
    The army is very large (thinking about it as a single thing)
and
    The army are helping (thinking about the army as a lot of people)
We can also have:
    The football team are playing on Sunday
and
    The football team is playing on Sunday
In the first one, we are thinking about all the players separately; in the second one we are thinking of it as a single thing, the team.
Other collective nouns are, e.g., navy, crew, flock, herd, staff, family, committee, government, class etc.
In American English these words are normally used with a singular verb.
What does your language do?

Mass nouns and Count nouns

This is a very important difference in English

milk

pencils

Most nouns in English are count nouns. Count nouns have a singular (for one) and plural (for more than one). This means we can say, for example:
    I have three pencils
    I want that pencil
    The pencil is here
    Those pencils are no good
    Please give me a pencil
    I have several pencils on the desk

Many nouns in English are mass nouns. These nouns do not have a plural. We can say, for example:
    I want that milk
    I have some milk
    The milk is here
    This milk is bad
    Please give me some milk
    I have some milk in the glass
BUT we CANNOT say:
    I have three milks This is wrong because we cannot count milk
    I want those milks This is wrong because milk cannot have a plural
    Those milks are no good This is wrong because we cannot have a plural and we cannot use a plural verb (are) with a mass noun like milk

Mass nouns always use a singular verb and never take a plural.

Most mass nouns are:

Materials: metals, liquids, gases, cloth etc. For example: It's made of iron She needs water There's no air in here The chair is covered with blue cloth	Ideas and Feelings For example: She has no understanding You have my sympathy Love is important for children His anger was clear
Small objects For example: They grow rice here The sand gets in my shoes The dust is everywhere Use milk powder in the pudding	States For example: I need more sleep Childhood is a good time You can't buy happiness
Weather For example: There's a lot of snow this winter We have a lot of rain in the spring The sunshine is nice

There are hundreds of mass nouns in English but here is a list of very common ones:

advice
air
anger
art
bread
cash
cheese
childhood
clothing
coffee
damage
danger
education
energy
equipment
fire
food
freedom
friendship

fun
furniture
gold
hair
happiness
health
heat
help
honesty
housework
humour
imagination
information
intelligence
kindness
knowledge
labour
laughter
love

luck
management
metal
milk
money
music
news
paper
pronunciation
punctuation
quality
quantity
rain
rice
rubbish
safety
sand
shopping
sleep

smoke
snow
soup
sport
strength
sugar
sunshine
tea
time
traffic
transportation
travel
understanding
warmth
water
weather
weight
wood
work

All the words in this list are usually mass nouns in English.
Are they the same in your language? For example, can you say three informations in your language? You cannot say that in English.

The grammar of mass and count nouns

before

Noun	Before the noun	But ...	For example
Singular count nouns like pencil, car, house, person, cat, elephant	one, every, any, this, that, the, a(n)	We must always use a determiner with these words	I have only one pencil Every pencil is broken Any pencil is OK This pencil is no good That pencil is better WRONG: I live in house I have much pencil Pencil is on the table
Plural count nouns like pencils, cars, houses, people, cats, elephants	many, some, several, these, those, the, a couple of or no word	a/an is not possible It is possible to have no determiner	I have many pencils I want some pencils There are several pencils on the desk These pencils are no good Those pencils are better Give me a couple of pencils Pencils must be sharp WRONG: This pencils are good A pencils are OK
Mass nouns like milk, information, hope, education, tea	much, little, less, more, this, that or no word	a/an is not possible It is possible to have no determiner	How much milk do we have? We have a little milk There is less milk in the fridge Give me some more milk This milk is bad That milk is better Milk is good for children WRONG: I have a milk I have several milk Every milk is good These milk are OK A couple of milk is good

after the noun

Noun	After the noun	But ...	For example
Singular count nouns like pencil, car, house, person, cat, elephant, team	a singular verb like is, breaks, opens, lives	Collective nouns can be plural	The pencil is on the floor The car was clean The houses look nice The person is ringing the bell The cats sleep here The elephant smells awful The team is coming The team are* playing* WRONG: The pencil are here The house are open
Plural count nouns like pencils, cars, houses, people, cats, elephants, team	Always a plural verb	Singular collective nouns (like team or family) can be plural	The pencils are on the desk The cars have arrived The houses look beautiful The people are here The cats are eating The elephants are angry The team are here Her family are* really friendly* WRONG: These pencils is good A pencil are OK
Mass nouns like milk, information, hope, education, tea	Always a singular verb	No exceptions	The milk is in the fridge The information is useful Hope is important Education is necessary Tea is common in England WRONG: Some milk are in the fridge Some informations are helpful

Now you can take a test on all this to see if you understand.