English Nouns

What distinguishes a noun from other word classes in the English language? The notional definition of the noun is “a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.” Noun phrases are phrases that consist of a noun or pronoun that functions as the head of the phrase plus any modifiers, complements, and determiners.

The following posts provide more information about the noun in English grammar.

Grammatical Forms

Grammatical Form of English Nouns explains the internal structures that distinguish nouns from other grammatical forms, which include number and possession.

Types of Nouns: Common, Proper, Collective, Compound, Count, and Noncount explains the more specific categories into which English nouns are classified: common versus proper, collective, compound, and count versus noncount.

English Nouns: Common and Proper explains the differences between common nouns and proper nouns.

Regular Plural Nouns in English and Irregular Plural Nouns in English explain the formation of the plural forms of regular and irregular nouns in English.

Possessive Nouns in English explains the formation of the possessive forms of nouns in English.

Grammatical Forms of English Noun Phrases explains the internal structure of noun phrases in English.

Grammatical Functions

Grammatical Functions of English Nouns and Noun Phrases explains the eleven grammatical functions of nouns and noun phrases in English grammar.

Using Nouns and Pronouns as Noun Phrase Heads exemplifies nouns performing the grammatical function of noun phrase head.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Subjects exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of subject.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Subject Complements exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of subject complement.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Direct Objects exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of direct object.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Object Complements exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of object complement.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Indirect Objects exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of indirect object.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Prepositional Complements exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of prepositional complement.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Noun Phrase Modifiers exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of noun phrase modifier.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Determinatives exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of determinative.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Appositives exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of appositive.

Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Adjunct Adverbials exemplifies nouns and noun phrases performing the grammatical function of adjunct adverbial.