Nouns constitute one of the major word classes, which includes words for people, animals, and things (teacher, rabbit, desk) and also many words for abstract concepts (kindness, mystery, technology).
The surest way to identify nouns is by the ways they can be used after determiners such as the: for example, most nouns will fit into the frame “The __ matters/matter.”
Nouns are sometimes called ‘naming words’ because they name people, places and ‘things’; this is often true, but it doesn’t help to distinguish nouns from other word classes. For example, prepositions can name places and verbs can name ‘things’ such as actions.
Our dog bit the burglar on his behind!
My big brother did an amazing jump on his skateboard.
Actions speak louder than words.
Not nouns:
He’s behind you! [this names a place, but is a preposition, not a noun]
She can jump so high! [this names an action, but is a verb, not a noun]
Nouns may be classified as common (e.g. boy, day) or proper (e.g. Ivan, Wednesday), and also as countable (e.g. thing, boy) or non-countable (e.g. stuff, money). These classes can be recognised by the determiners they combine with.
common, countable: a book, books, two chocolates, one day, fewer ideas
common, non-countable: money, some chocolate, less imagination
proper, countable: Marilyn, London, Wednesday
Typical nouns share a number of grammatical properties, such as the ability to form a plural (teachers, kindnesses) and to occur after a/an or the (a teacher, the kindness of strangers). Collective nouns indicate collections of individuals (e.g. crowd, family, government) and can take either a singular or plural form of a following verb (e.g. My family are/is on holiday.)
A quick activity looking at how some words can be both nouns and verbs
This is a simple starter activity that will help your students see how some words can function as both nouns and verbs. The activity is designed to be carried out in pairs around the class. One student be the noun and the other will be the verb. Each will need the same word list (which you can download and print below) or you can just use the word list on the screen.
To understand that nouns are words that represent people, places and things, to understand how they are formed, and to understand what some of their grammatical characteristics are.
Please read the lesson plan in the Manual before delivering this lesson.
Distinguish between formal and informal writing contexts
Identify which grammatical features create register
Apply these features in writing
Lesson Plan
The teacher explains that we don't speak and write the same way in all situations. Depending on who we're talking to and what the situation is, we change. This is called register.
Formal describes a more serious register. We use this for talking to people we don't know or who are in positions of authority. It is also used for talking to people older than us. It shows that we want to respect or impress the audience.
Informal describes a more relaxed register. We use this for talking to people we know well like friends and family. It is also used to talk to people the same age as us or younger. It shows that we feel comfortable with the audience.
Students are asked to communicate using a bank of nouns - and nothing else.
Goals
Communicate with a partner using only nouns.
Discuss what can and can't be easily expressed using only nouns.
Determine which other types of words are useful for expressing complex ideas.
Lesson Plan
The teacher explains that this activity will involve you trying to express progressively more complicated concepts and actions to a partner using only these words, your own body language and imagination.
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Englicious (C) Survey of English Usage, UCL, 2012-21 | Supported by the AHRC and EPSRC. | Privacy | Cookies
