Lesson 4: Common Nouns- The class names

Previous lesson:- Lesson 3: Proper Nouns – The names of individuals

We have learned about Nouns in general and their identification. Today we will talk about Common Nouns.

Nouns that are the names given to all people or things or places of the same kind are called Common Nouns.

So what is the difference between Proper Nouns and Common Nouns? Both are names alright. Well it is as simple as this:

A Common Noun is the class name, but a Proper Noun is the individual name of the individual member of that class.

Examples:

• If books = Common Noun then David Copperfield (a novel by Charles Dickens) = Proper Noun
• If teacher = Common Noun then Mr Tilotson (a famous character) = Proper Noun
• If river = Common Noun then The Ganges (name of a particular river in India) = Proper Noun
• If student = Common Noun then John Meyer (name of a particular student) = Proper Noun
• If month = Common Noun then June(name of a month) = Proper Noun

Let us find some examples of common nouns in our day to day life.

Find this images below. Try to find out as many examples of common nouns as you can.

Image 1

Common nouns in this image are: lemon, tea cup, tea bag, tea, handle, tag

Image 2

Common nouns in this image are: apple, mandarin, strawberry, lime, juice, seeds, leaf, glass. 

Image 3:

Common nouns in this image are: ceiling, light, pot, plant, railing, staircase, floor, tile, wall.  

Can you find anything else?

Remember: Common Nouns start with small letters when they are placed in a sentence. But if they are placed at the beginning of the sentence then the it begins with a capital letter.

Example: Porters are putting luggage into the van.

Here the word "Porters" signifies those persons belonging to the class porter. So porter is a common noun. But the word is placed at the beginning of a sentence and a sentence always starts with a capital letter. Hence the first letter of the word "Porters" is written in capital here.

Exercise 4: Identification of Common Nouns

Next lesson: Lesson 5: Collective Nouns - The naming words for a collection