What is a Common Noun?
Can you count how many general places, things, people, or ideas we discuss daily? These represent Common Nouns. It plays a vital role in grammar. These don’t represent a single or specific person, place, thing, or idea. Although, it represents things in general. Examples of Common nouns include words like “cat,” “dod,” “student,” and “car.”
Common Noun Definition:
Common nouns Examples:
| Human Beings | Girl, Boy, Women, Men, Female, Male etc. |
| Animals | Elephant, Dog, Cat, Rabbit, Horse, Cow, Goat etc. |
| Birds | Dove, Pelican, Crow, Bird, Sparrow, Hen, Duck etc. |
| Insects | Mosquito, Honeybee, Termite, Wasp, Ladybird, Beetle etc. |
| Reptiles | Snake, Alligator, crocodile, Monitor lizard, Agama, Turtoise etc. |
| Places | Laboratory, Library, Country, City, Stadium, Playground etc. |
| Things or Objects | Bag, toy, dice, Car, Bike, Bed, Dress, Shirt, Book etc. |
| Ideas | Truth, Lie, Idea, Feeling, expression, love, freedom, justice etc. |
Examples of Use of Common Nouns in Sentences:
- She goes to school.
- Let’s go for dinner in a restaurant.
- The Laptop is not charged completely.
- The girls are going on a trip.
- He loves his new shirt.
- My friend is on sick leave.
Categories of Common Nouns:
Here are four categories, Person, place, Thing, or Idea.
- Person (Artist, Politician, Writer, Athlete, Scientist, Doctor, Student, Chef, Teacher)
- Place (Laboratory, Park, Mall, Museum, Stadium, Hospital, City, Library, Beach)
- Thing (Table, Pen, Watch, Television, Bicycle, Computer, Car, Phone, Book)
- Idea (Love, Freedom, Equality, Happiness, Success, Friendship, Creativity, Peace, Knowledge)
Rules to use Common Nouns with Examples:
It can be used as a subject or object. For example:
Subject: “The dog barked.”
Object: “She bought five books.”
It can be used in singular or plural form. The usage depends on the context. The singular form refers to one object and the plural form refers to two or more objects. For example:
Singular: “The book is informative.”
Plural: “The books are informative.”
Preceded by articles (a, an, or the) to specify or generalize. For example:
“He bought a car.”
“The sun on its peak today.”
Modify with adjectives to describe qualities. For example:
“He bought a blue shirt.”
“The Guest Room needs renovation.”
These are not generally capitalized unless they appear at the start of a sentence or if punctuation is needed for clarity or emphasis.
“The decorations in the park are very beautiful.”
“A new girl joined our class.”
How to identify the Common Nouns
This is vital for effective communication. They are usually used in lowercase, either in singular or plural form. These are non-specific and don’t point out any particular entity. These nouns represent groups of people, places, things, or ideas.
100 Common Nouns List:
- Animal
- Answer
- Bird
- Body
- Book
- Brother
- Business
- Case
- Cat
- Child
- College
- Community
- Company
- Day
- Night
- Star
- Decision
- Dog
- Education
- Eye
- Fact
- Family
- Father
- Food
- Friend
- Game
- Goal
- Government
- Group
- Hand
- House
- Husband
- Idea
- Idea
- Industry
- Information
- Issue
- Job
- Life
- Magazine
- Man
- Market
- Member
- Moment
- Money
- Mother
- News
- Number
- Paper
- Parent
- Part
- Person
- Plan
- Plant
- Player
- Point
- Price
- Problem
- Product
- Program
- Question
- Research
- School
- Service
- Sister
- Society
- State
- Student
- Study
- System
- Teacher
- Team
- Thing
- Time
- University
- Water
- Week
- Wife
- Woman
- Word
- Work
- World
- Year
Common Noun into Proper Noun:
| Common Noun | Proper Noun |
| Animal | Donkey, Monkey, Cat, etc. |
| Book | Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Miller and Harley Zoology, Campbell Biology etc. |
| City | New York City, Manchester, St. Petersburg, etc. |
| Country | United States of America, United Kingdom, etc. |
| Beverage | Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta etc. |
| Flower | Red Rose, Lilly, Tulip, etc. |
| Fruit | Banana, Apple, Peach, etc. |
| Sport | Basketball, Badminton, Tennis, etc. |
| Company | Google, Amazon, etc. |
| Food | Pizza, Pasta, Coffee, etc. |
| Planet | Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, etc. |
| Language | Spanish, French, English, etc. |
| Mountain | Mount Everest, K2, etc. |
| Ocean | Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, etc. |
Common Nouns, Definition, Examples and Usage
Common Nouns Quiz:
Here is Common Nouns Excercise. Identify Common Nouns:
Sarah is going to University.
A) University
B) Going
C) Sarah
D) None of the above
Answer: A) University
Sara and Aira bought five dresses.
A) Dresses
B) Dress
C) Aira
D) Both Sara and Aira
Answer: A) Dresses
Lisa is going to the hospital and Market.
A) Lisa
B) Hospital
C) Market
D) Both B &C
Answer: D) Both Hospital and Market
Her Cat is so cute.
A) Cat
B) Cute
C) Her
D) None of these
Answer: A) Cat
Does she always make all decisions with justice?
A) She
B) makes
C) Justice
D) None of the above
Answer: C) Justice
The Musician is so talented.
A) Talented
B) Musician
C) so
D) None of the above
Answer: B) Musician
Here is the Common Noun Quiz Answer Key. Practice these Common Nouns Exercises to test your learning.
Common Nouns Practice Exercise
