Noun classification

CHAPTER V

Noun classification

8. Nouns are of five different  Kinds

1. Concrete

2. Abstract

1. Proper

2. Common

3. Collective                  

4.  Material

5. Abstract

Note-Material nouns are called Names of materials.

9. A Concrete Noun is the name of an object of sense, that  is an object which can be seen , touched, heard, smelt, or tasted. For example-boy, dog, song, flower, milk.

10. An abstract Noun is the name of a quality , action or state belonging to an object: softness, smile, silence.

11. Ways of forming  Abstract Noun

Abstract Nouns are chiefly derived from:

(a)Nouns-infancy, slavery, kingship, kingdom, boyhood,  fascism

(b) –service, protection ,  affection, attachment, refusal

(c)-adjectives (by adding  ness, ce, ty, th, dom, etc) goodness, holiness, justice, cruelty, length , wisdom, freedom

NOTE- It will be thus seen that Abstract Nouns generally end in –ness, - tion,- hood,- ship,- dom , -ment , - ism , - th ,- ty,- ce ,- cy, etc.

(b) Names of sciences, art and diseases are now treated as Abstract Nouns : music, politics ,grammar, etc. But when different kinds or attacks of a disease are meant, thus I had one of my headaches . Fevers are generally preceded by chills of rigour.”

12. A Proper Noun  is the name of  one particular person , place , thing  or event ( or group of persons or places , as distinct from every other ): as Karim , the Padma, Dhaka, the Himalayas, the French revolution , the Quran.

13. (a) A Common or class Noun denotes no one person or thing   in particular , but is a common to any and every person or thing of same kind .

Thus man (not any particular man , but any and every man , book (not only particular book Quran ,the Bible , the Vedas: but any and every book ), river (not any particular river like  the gangs, the Indus, but any  and every river) , country (not any particular country, but any and every country ) are common Nouns.

(b)There are a few Nouns, generally classed as common , which are sometimes called Singular Nouns, because there is only of each of them known to us : earth, sun, moon, etc.

(c) when God and Lord refer to the almighty they are Proper ;but when they refer to the different gods of mythology and temporal lords they are common .

14. A Collective Noun is the name of a group  or  collection of persons or things considered as one complete whole .

Thus, in a flock of sheep is a common Noun because it stands for any and every sheep; but flock is a collective Noun, because it stands for all the sheep  referred to taken together , and not any one sheep taken separately . Similarly, in an army of soldiers ,` a crowd of people’ army and crowd are Collective Nouns, as they stand respectively for all the soldiers and people  referred to taken together.

15. A distinction is often made between a Collective Noun and a noun of Multitude:

(a) A Collective Noun denotes one individual whole ; hence ,the verb following is singular .-The army was defeated. The committee has approved of the appointment .

(b) A Noun of Multitude denotes individuals of the group ; hence the verb is plural all though the noun is singular. The jury (i.e. the men on the jury) were divided in their opinions.

Note- (a) according to Fowler, the collective noun is the same as the noun of multitude. “they (nouns of multitude) are treated as singular or plural at discretion, and sometimes naturally without discretion. “a dictionary of modern English usage.

(b) Some again call the noun of multitude the individual noun.

16. A material noun denotes the matter or substance of which things are made. It is also called the mass noun.

Thus ‘river’ is a common noun. But ‘water’ of which it is made is a material noun: ‘sheep’ is a common noun. But ‘mutton’ the flesh of a sheep is a material noun.                          

17. A proper noun becomes common:

(a) When it is used in the descriptive sense to denote a person or an object of a similar character. Madhusudan Dutta is the Homer (a great poet like Homer) of Bangladesh.

(b) When it is applies to several persons of the same name. I know the dewans of  Dhaka. There are two ahsans in the village.