Nouns Part III

ABSTRACT NOUNS

These nouns are the names of things that we cannot perceive through our five senses of touching, smelling, seeing, hearing and tasting. These nouns can also refer to medical conditions related to the mind and are also used to express  thoughts.

• She screamed with great delight. - Delight is an abstract noun as it tells about the state of a person’s mind and any actual physical thing. 
• His bravery in the war won him a medal. - The abstract noun bravery is used to name the motivation behind certain actions made by people.
• One should learn to be as independent as possible. – Here, independent describes a state or a way of being, hence it is an abstract noun.

COUNTABLE NOUNS

The nouns that fall under this category are the ones that have both singular and plural forms. They can be counted either relatively or completely, and form plurals to associate with plural verbs in a sentence. They can also be expressed in numerical terms

• I need to buy four new suitcases for my trip.  - Suitcase (s) is a countable noun as adding ‘s’ to it makes it plural.
• Does anyone want some oranges? - Here some is being used to count the nounorange(s).
• She had a pet dog. - Dog is also a countable noun as its plural is dogs.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

These nouns are the exact opposite of Countable Nouns. These nouns are the names of things that cannot be counted and have only a singular form. These nouns use singular verbs in a sentence.

• The furniture was damaged in moving out. - Furniture is an uncountable noun and therefore, we use the singular ‘was’ in referring to it.
• Is 250gms of sugar enough? -  Here, sugar is an uncountable noun as sugar itself cannot be counted. It can only be weighed. 
• He always answers questions with honesty. - Honesty is an uncountable noun as it has no plural and cannot be counted in physical terms either.