List of Nouns

Using a list of nouns when children are beginning to read is helpful in making teaching easier. Nouns are one of the first parts of speech that children learn when they begin to read. Use the following list of nouns for each age group to help your child learn about the ideas things, people and places that surround them.

Kinds of Nouns in the English Language

Nouns have different types or classes. There are proper and common nouns, noncount and count nounts, collective nouns, and concrete and abstract nouns.

Even though there are different kinds of nouns, a noun can fall into more than one class.

An example of this would be: Kathleen dated three different Davids in college. Davids in that sentence would fall into the classes of proper, count and concrete.

To further explain the kinds of nouns, you can use this guide and remember that the lists of nouns below contain all of these types :

KINDS OF NOUNS

Proper Nouns and Common Nouns

Proper nouns are nouns that represent a unique entity (like a specific person or a specific place).

Common nouns which describe an entire group of entities (examples would be the nouns village or women).

Proper nouns as a general rule are capitalized in the English language. Common nouns as a general rule are not capitalized.

Sometimes the same word can function as both a common noun and a proper noun, where one such entity is special. For example the common noun god refers to all deities, while the proper noun God specifically refers to the monotheistic God.

Countable and Uncountable or Noncount Nouns

Countable nouns are common nouns that can become a plural. They can combine with exact numbers (even one, as a singular) or indefinite numbers (like "a" or "an").

Uncountable (or noncount) nouns are different from by the simple fact that  they can't become plural or combine with number words. Examples from English include "indigestion" and "furniture".

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns name groups consisting of more than one individual or entity. The group is a single unit, but it has more than one member. Examples include "family", "committee", "corporation","faculty", "army", and "school".

Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns

Concrete nouns refer to their ability to register on your five senses. If you can see, hear, smell, taste, or feel the item, it's a concrete noun.

Abstract nouns on the other hand refer to abstract objects such as ideas or concepts, like the nouns "politeness" or "hatefulness".

Possessive Nouns

A possessive noun is a noun that names who or what has something. The possessive form is used with nouns referring to people, groups of people, countries, and animals.

It also refers to where someone works or plays or spends their time.

Add an apostrophe and s ('s) to form the possessive of most singular nouns (ex. Bob's jacket, the cat's tail, Steven King's books).

Add an apostrophe (') to form the possessive of plural nouns that end with s (ex. retailers' stores, soldiers' weapons, Americans' banks).

Add an apostrophe and s ('s) to form the possessive of plural nouns that do not end with s (ex. geese's nest, children's toys, women's dresses).

Common Nouns by Grade Level

List of Common Nouns for Various Ages