Common Noun: Definition, Examples, and uses

Common Noun: Definition, Examples, and uses are a very important part to learn English. A common noun denotes no person or thing in particular but is familiar to every person or thing of the same kind or class. Here Common means – are shared by all.

• Man is mortal.
• I like to read books.
• India is a big country.

“Man” does not point out any particular man, such as Ram, but any and every man.
“book” does not point out any particular book, such as The Wings of Fire”, but any and every book.
“country” Does not point out any particular country, such as India, but any and every country.

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Transitive and Intransitive Verbs: Examples Exercises Answers

Common Noun Definition

The noun that is common to any and every person or thing of the same kind is called Common Noun.

Examples in Sentences.

(1) Mr. Jones is a good teacher.
(2) Rose is a beautiful flower.
(3) The Ganga is the longest river in India.

“teacher”, “flower”, and “river” are common Nouns in the above sentences.

“teacher” does not point out any particular teacher, such as “Mr. Jones”, but any and every teacher.
“flower” does not point out any particular flower, such as “Rose”, but any and every flower.

“river” does not point out any particular river, such as “The Ganga”, but any and every river.

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Know about Nouns and Types

Quiz on nouns

Common Nouns become Proper Nouns

(a) A Common Noun becomes a Proper Noun when it denotes a particular person or thing as distinguished from the class. As,

Example: Let our Father ( God) bless us all.

(b) A Common Noun becomes a Proper Noun when used to express an abstract idea. This is known as concrete for abstract. As,

Example: The Mother (motherly affection) in her could not be found.

(e) when a Proper, Material, Collective, or Abstract noun becomes a Common Noun, it must either take an article (a, an, or the ) before it or be in the Plural Number.

(f) There are a few nouns generally classed as common which are sometimes called singular nouns because they are age only one of each of them known to us :

earth,
moon,
sun.

(g) When “God” and “Lord” refer to the “Almighty”, they are Proper Nouns but when they refer to the different gods of mythology and temporal lords, they are Common Nouns.

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