Proper and Common Nouns

They name any person, place, thing, or an idea. Common nouns are capitalized only when they come at the beginning of a sentence. Otherwise they are not capitalized. 

Common Nouns 

• Common Nouns can be divided into concrete and abstract nouns. 

A quick recap  

• Concrete nouns: They refer to things, people, places which we can identify with our five senses. 
• Abstract nouns: We can’t feel them with our senses directly. 

Examples of common nouns 

People: include men, women, children, police officers, criminals, butchers, bakers, neighbours, friends, and foes as well as judges, jury members, executioners, knights, bishops, kings, and queens.  

Locations include: a city, a town, a rural area, neighbourhoods, islands, beaches, a province, a state, the outdoors, and rooms, alleys, and basements.  

Things: a guitar, drums, an orange, an apple, a truck, a knee, an elbow, food, water, the sky, stars, a week, a month, and a year.  

Ideas, feelings, and concepts include joy, sorrow, fear, courage, questions, and solutions. Other notions include government, chaos, hunger, uncertainty, and friendship. 

Concrete Nouns 

Professions or Jobs 

• The names of jobs are classified as common nouns. 
• doctor, teacher, chemist, singer, chef, nurse, lawyer etc. 

People 

People are usually referred to as common nouns, unless they are called by their specific name. When people are called by their title, commons nouns are usually used.  

• My mother is going to work.  
• My dad is going to the games with my uncle. 
• The boy fell as his uncle surprised him. 

Objects 

Common nouns are used to refer to objects. For example, trousers, car, plate, fence, chair etc. 

• The boy ate sandwich for lunch. 
• Donna took Eric’s notebook.  
• The car ran out of gas within half an hour.  

Animals/ plants 

Unless called by special names, animals, plants, fruits, etc., also fall under common nouns. 

• Examples 
• Dog, cheetah, monkey 
• Rose, banyan tree, orchid 

Abstract nouns – Concepts and Ideas 

To describe more abstract things such as concepts, ideas, and emotions  

• We should give importance to world peace. 
• The mother felt her love for her son. 

When to capitalize Common nouns? 

When common nouns are used in the beginning of a sentence. 

• Cat is the enemy of the mouse.  
• Apples are awesome! 

When they are used together with a proper noun, to denote a title. 

• I wanted to meet Mother Mary. 
• She was taught by Sister Julia. 
• I went to see Doctor Drew. (To denote a title) 

Proper Nouns  

They are nouns which identify a specific thing. These could be official names for people, objects or places.  

• A person’s first or last name.  
• Diana, Mrs. Smith  
• Place names  
• California, Texas, Italy 
• Brand names  
• Disney, MacDonalds, Apple, etc. 

Examples of proper nouns

People: Captain Crunch, Emily Dickinson, King Richard the Lionheart, Harriet Tubman, Superman, Miles Davis, and Helen of Troy  

Locations: Main Street, Rocky Mountains, Colorado River, Portugal, Zimbabwe, Peru, Moscow, Cairo, New York City, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Sahara Jupiter, Google, Twitter, Kawasaki Ninjas, PlayStation 5, Star Wars, Band-Aids, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Apollo 13, and the Great Wall of China are examples of desert-related items.  

Ideas and Concepts: Romanticism, Cubism, Industrial Revolution, Dark Ages, Buddhism, Islam, on November 1st. 

Differentiating common vs. proper nouns

Look at the capitalization to identify whether a word is a proper or common noun. In the middle of a statement, is the noun capitalized? Then you probably have a proper noun. If the noun is the first word in the sentence, things get more complicated. If so, consider if the noun is referring to a particular person or thing. If it is, you once again have a proper noun. You are looking at a common noun if it isn’t. All names and titles should be capitalized because they are proper nouns and should be treated as such. 

FAQs 

1. What are proper nouns? 

Ans) A proper noun identifies a particular individual, place, or thing. 

2. What are common nouns? 

Ans) A generic type of person, place, or item is named by a common noun. 

3. Common nouns: Capitalization rules? 

Ans) whenever a sentence’s first word is a common noun or whenever they’re used with a proper noun to signify a title.