noun

noun — noun

1. A type of word that gives a name to a person (doctor, Brian), a place (Taipei, r

1.名詞A1
釋義

A type of word that gives a name to a person (doctor, Brian), a place (Taipei, river), a physical object (table, cloud), a quality or feeling (honesty, joy), or an activity (swimming, reading).

例句

The teacher asked Talia to list three nouns she could see in the room.

common classroom exercise: listing visible nouns

Élise learned that 'courage' is a noun even though she cannot touch or see it.

abstract vs concrete nouns

同義詞
  • naming word

    simpler term used with beginner learners; less formal than 'noun'

  • substantive

    older, technical term used in traditional grammar; now rare in everyday teaching

常見錯誤

❌All nouns name things I can touch.
✅Words like "dream," "freedom," and "sadness" are nouns even though they name things you cannot touch.
💡Abstract nouns name ideas, feelings, and qualities.
❌The word "run" is always a noun.
✅The word "run" can be a noun, but in "I run every day" it is a verb.
💡Many English words belong to more than one word class.

2. A word class whose members fill key sentence positions: doing the action named b

2.名詞A2
釋義

A word class whose members fill key sentence positions: doing the action named by the verb (subject), receiving that action (object), coming after a linking word like 'in' or 'on' (prepositional complement), or standing next to another noun to rename it (apposition).

例句

In 'The cat chased the mouse,' both 'cat' and 'mouse' are nouns — subject and object.

subject and object positions in a sentence

Hui saw that after the word 'under' comes the noun 'table' in 'under the table.'

object of a preposition

同義詞
  • substantive

    formal term in traditional grammar; refers to nouns and noun-like words that can fill subject/object slots

用法筆記

A word's part of speech is determined by how it functions in a sentence, not by its meaning alone. For example, 'swimming' is a noun in 'Swimming is fun' (subject) but a verb in 'She is swimming' (part of the verb phrase).

常見錯誤

❌Every word that comes after a preposition is a noun.
✅After a preposition you usually find a noun or pronoun, but a gerund like "running" is also possible.
💡Gerunds (verb + -ing) can follow prepositions too.
❌A noun is anything you can put "the" in front of.
✅Many adjectives and other words can also follow "the," such as "the poor" or "the best.
💡The article test works for many nouns but is not a foolproof method.