The meaning of noun is the first and foremost step of the noun in English Grammar. You must know that the noun is an introductory class from the eight parts of speech.
Before we go into details of the subject, let us have a look at the picture below.
Have you seen the above picture of the meaning of noun? The language is a little bit difficult to understand.
Let me try to explain it. You will get the subject in bullet points. Every part of speech is a member of a particular class of words. Noun also belongs to a specific type of words. It is the class that has the following features in it.
Most nouns comes with determiners
You can write a noun with a determiner. Determiners like a, an, and ‘the’ are frequently used with nouns. These determiners or articles are not used with other classes of words in English grammar. See the examples.
- We can find herbs on The Himalayas.
- There is a man in the field.
Let us examine the sentences. The first sentence has two nouns – herbs and Himalayas. The herb is without a determiner, but the noun Himalayas is with a determiner ‘the’.
In the second sentence, man and field are nouns. Determiners ‘a’ and ‘the’ are there for the nouns, respectively.
You can think in the first sentence why no determiner is used. So, let me make it clear that all the nouns may not come with determiners.
Here, we complete the first step of the subject the meaning of noun. Let us move to the second step.
Noun serves as the subject/object to a verb
You can use nouns at the place of a subject and as well as at an object. If it comes before the verb, it serves as a subject. If it comes after the verb, it serves as an object.
See the examples below-
- Rohit always likes a big cat.
- Her mother purchased a poster.
After examining the above sentences, you can find Rohit and a big cat a noun. Rohit comes before the verb ‘likes’; therefore, it serves as a subject here. A big cat is after the verb, so it is an object.
In the second sentence, mother and poster are nouns. Mother is a subject, and a ‘poster’ is an object.
Noun number is next to reveal the meaning of noun
Some of the nouns are countable. On the contrary, some of them are uncountable. The countable nouns are divided into two numbers – singular and plural.
See the examples below-
- There is a boy in the class.
- Some boys are sitting silently.
Observe these sentences closely. You can find some nouns in them. I won’t talk about the other noun except ‘boy’. The boy is used in both sentences. In the first sentence, it is in singular form – boy. However, in the second sentence, it is in plural number – boys.
Well done!
You are near to finish the subject – the meaning of noun soon.
Pronoun reveals the meaning of noun
A pronoun can easily replace a noun. If you need to repeat the noun in a paragraph, you can not do that. It would be best if you use pronouns at the place of a noun to avoid repetition.
See the examples below-
- I have a dog. The dog is black.
- It is charming.
Let us examine justify the sentences. In the first sentence, a dog is a noun. It is repeated in the second sentence. But ‘it’ is there at the place of a dog in the third sentence.
Congrats! You are to finish the subject. Let us move to the last step of the matter – the meaning of noun.
Noun refers quality, action, state and concept.
Here is the last effort to clarify the meaning of noun. A noun may refer to the action, state, quality, etc.
See the examples below-
- My teacher follows honesty.
- He hates old age.
You can find the word ‘honesty.’ in the first sentence. It shows the quality of a person. In the second sentence, we find ‘old age’ as a noun. It is a state of life. It means a noun refers to a state, action, quality, etc.
So to conclude the subject of the meaning of noun, you can say a noun is a word that may come with a determiner, may serve as a subject/object to a verb, may be used as singular and plural, may be replaced with a pronoun, and may refer an action, quality, state, and concepts, etc.
I hope you understood the meaning of noun well. Now move on to the definition of noun and types of noun.