Nouns
The term noun comes from a Latin word meaning name. A noun names
a person, place, thing, or idea. As a general rule, nouns are those words
that can be used with "a," "an," or "the"
in front of them or with possessive pronouns like "my"
and "his." Nouns come in two general types, proper nouns
and common nouns, and there are also a number of important sub-species:
collective, concrete, and abstract. |
Types of Nouns
Proper nouns
are always capitalized and name specific persons, places, things, or ideas:
- Karl von Clausewitz, Gagetown, Officer Professional Military Education,
Law of Armed Conflict
Common nouns
identify a person, place, thing, or idea in general, and is not capitalized.
- officer, cadet, parade square, rifle, duty
Collective nouns
name groups of individual persons or things.
- family, team, class, company, platoon
Concrete nouns
identify things that can be perceived by one of the five senses, primarily
sight, touch, and taste. Good writing makes frequent use of concrete nouns.
- helmet, sand bag, rain, snow, village, beach
Abstract nouns
name a particular condition of being, a feeling, or large principle or
belief. Abstract nouns usually need to be defined in context or your writing
becomes too... well, abstract.
- duty, honour, valour, peace, pride, fear, loneliness, service, campaign
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