Nouns: Definition and Examples of Nouns | Eduvocabulary explains



A noun is a very popular and every day part of speech in English. As popular as it is, adolescents between the age of 5-10 can wake up to tell you the definition. I normally smile when I see pupils in congregation singing monotonously “A noun is a name of any person, animal, place or thing.”

The above definition is one of the easiest ways to define a noun. But as soon as pupils upgrade to a higher class, teachers also promote the pupils to a new definition which is normally “A noun is used to name a person, animal, place, or thing

You do not have to be confused because none of the definitions above is wrong. The only thing that differentiates them is “presentation.”  So, according to Eduvocabulary

What is a noun?

A noun is a naming word. This is the simplest way we choose to define a noun because it captures every other definition that you might have read somewhere. Furthermore, this definition makes it easy for anyone to identify a noun in sentences because we understand that students easily define a noun but find it difficult to identify noun/nouns in sentences.

So how is noun a naming word? 

A noun is a naming word because it is used to identify a person, an animal, thing, place, or idea. The name of this blog (eduvocabulary) is a noun because it is a name people use to identify it. As you read, you are either using a tablet, phone or computer. Each of these is a noun because it is what we use to identify them.  I am a writer and you are a reader. Both writer and reader is a noun because they are names that identify us distinctively. So, whenever you see a naming word in any sentence, it is a noun.

Examples of Nouns that are animals

Lion, Tiger, Cat, Rat, Birds

Examples of Nouns that are Places

U.S.A, South Africa, Nigeria, Manhattan, Lagos

Examples of Nouns that are Things (inanimate objects)

 Pencil, ball, ruler, blackboard

Examples of nouns that are Ideas

 Feelings, happiness, kindness

How to Identify nouns in sentences



Sometimes, nouns are difficult to spot in sentences because they are not the name of person, animal, place, thing and idea that many people are familiar with. In this case, we talked about few unique rules to identify nouns that are difficult to spot in sentences.

Word Suffix

To identify a noun in a sentence, you can rely on the 3-4  letters that end the word which is generally called suffix. Examples:

  •  Ion - Admonition, administration, abbreviation, correction, corruption etc
  • Ment - Instrument, disappointment, moment, embezzlement, amazement etc
  • Ter -   Writer, gangster, interpreter
  • Hood -   Boyhood, livelihood, motherhood etc

The purpose

To identify a noun, you need to first understand its function in the sentence. Study the nature of the noun and what it does within the sentence. This is how you will be able to differentiate a noun from an adjective, a verb, and other word class.

There is a difference between “I love my mother” and “Love is a crime”

In the first sentence, love is a verb and in the second sentence, love is a noun. The reason why they are different despite that the word “love” is a single word is because what they do/represent is not the same.

The use of determiner

To identify a noun, look out for a determiner in the sentence. If a determiner like a, an, this, that, my precedes a word, that word is most likely a noun. Examples: 

  •  An Umbrella 
  • A moment 
  • This Administration
  • My Life 

More Examples of nouns in sentences

  • Mary has the ability to cancel the payment.

Nouns in this sentences are “Mary, ability, and payment. 

  •  Life is interesting when you have money to enjoy it to the fullest.

The nouns are “Life, and money

  • I am a girl of my words. If I say yes, it is yes. And if I say no, it is no.

Nouns here are “girl, words. Etc

Note: The word “yes” is a complicated word to classify to a specific part of speech in English. In a sentence, yes can be adverb, interjection or others. Click here to read more about the word “yes”

Read Also: 15 Ways To Say Because With Suitable Examples







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