English Grammar Understanding the Basics - Evelyn P. Altenberg, Robert M. Vago 2010
Lesson 2: Concrete and abstract nouns
Unit 1: Identifying nouns
Part I: Kinds of words
Here’s an unusual sentence: He smelled the marriage. What makes this sentence unusual is that we don’t generally think of the noun marriage as something that can be smelled. Some nouns are concrete: they can be perceived by our senses - they are things that we can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Those nouns that are not concrete are abstract. Marriage is something abstract, so it’s odd to say it’s being perceived by one of our senses, our sense of smell.
The nouns in Lesson 1 were all concrete nouns. Other nouns, such as marriage, are abstract; this means that they refer to things that you cannot perceive with your senses, things you cannot see, smell, feel, taste, or touch. Here are some more concrete and abstract nouns:
Concrete Abstract
newspaper love
heel honesty
glass culture
jewelry mind
Quick tip 2.1
Concrete nouns refer to things we can perceive with one of our senses. Abstract nouns cannot be perceived by our senses.
Test yourself 2.1
Decide if each noun is concrete or abstract.
Sample: discussion abstract
Getting started (answers on p. 20)
1. muffin
2. violin
3. freedom
4. elegance
5. train
More practice (answers on the website)
6. friend
7. friendliness
8. economics
9. dormitory
10. capitalism
Test yourself 2.2
Which of the following words are nouns? See if they sound like a unit when you put them here: the ... . The nouns will all be abstract nouns. Check the appropriate column.
Getting started (answers on p. 20)
1. concept
2. shockingly
3. wrote
4. conversation
5. interview
More practice (answers on the website)
6. ran
7. secret
8. her
9. death
10. job
An abstract noun is sometimes easier to identify if you create a sentence with it. For example, the happiness is a unit, as can be seen in The happiness on her face delighted him. Thus, happiness is a noun. Here are some other abstract nouns in sentences; the nouns are underlined.
1. It was not the complaint which bothered him.
2. They were attempting to stop the abuse.
3. The joy which they felt was obvious.
Another easy way to identify a noun, especially an abstract noun, is to put the word his (or other words like it - see Lesson 21) in front of it and see if it sounds like a unit. For example, his complaint, his happiness, his concern all are units; therefore, complaint, happiness, and concern are nouns.
Quick tip 2.2
If you can put his in front of a word and it sounds like a unit, the word is a noun.
Test yourself 2.3
Which of the following words are nouns? See if they sound like a unit when you put them here: his ... . The nouns will all be abstract nouns. Check the appropriate column.
Getting started (answers on p. 20)
1. jumped
2. appropriate
3. popularity
4. emotions
5. real
More practice (answers on the website)
6. closed
7. celebration
8. their
9. news
10. spoken
Test yourself 2.4
Which of the following words are nouns? These are a mix of concrete and abstract nouns. Check the appropriate column.
Getting started (answers on p. 21)
1. repair
2. intelligence
3. a
4. skis
5. us
More practice (answers on the website)
6. obstruction
7. pounds
8. disgraceful
9. complicated
10. since
Test yourself 2.5
Underline the nouns in the sentences below. In this exercise, the nouns will all have the or his in front of them. Some will be concrete and some will be abstract. Some sentences have more than one noun.
Sample: His answer wasn’t helpful.
Getting started (answers on p. 21)
1. She read the play over again.
2. The actions became monotonous.
3. He felt that his marriage, his relationship with her, was strong.
4. The time had finally come to confess the truth.
5. He’s the boy who delivers the paper.
More practice (answers on the website)
6. The glitterati always like to follow the fashion of the day.
7. They will repair his stove.
8. The arrangement was good for all of them.
9. The audience stared at the screen, fascinated by the action they were seeing.
10. The definition was in his dictionary.
The nouns are underlined in the following sentences:
4. This author lives with her husband.
5. Do most people proceed contentedly through life?
6. Your photograph of that child sleeping won you a prize.
As you can see from these sentences, while the ... or his ... are ways to test a word to see if it’s a noun, a noun doesn’t necessarily have the or his in front of it in every sentence. Since we can say the author, the husband, the people, his life, the photograph, his child, and his prize, the underlined words in sentences 4-6 are each nouns.
Test yourself 2.6
Underline the nouns in the sentences below. In this exercise, the nouns will not all have the or his in front of them. Just test each word to see if it can be a noun.
Sample: The repair of my camera went smoothly.
Getting started (answers on p. 21)
1. I wrote every word of the letter.
2. The house was near the city.
3. Why did he get on an elevator?
4. She has my phone.
5. Your younger brother was busy.
More practice (answers on the website)
6. A group of three generals sent the troops away.
7. The flag was near your desk.
8. My mother acted in a play.
9. He called the house every day.
10. You have to give her salary and benefits.
It’s important to realize that the same word can often be used as more than one part of speech. For example, repair can be used as a noun (example: The repair was relatively inexpensive), as an adjective (example: The repair manual was not very helpful), or as a verb (example: He needs to repair the washing machine). We’ll talk about verbs and adjectives in Units 2 and 4, respectively.