What is a Noun?

It is a word that names a person, place, thing, idea, or quality.

Person: boy, teacher, Josh, doctor
Place: Miami, city, countryside
Thing: house, tree, horse, bicycle, ice cream
Idea: democracy, truth illusion, fantasy
Quality: beauty, caring, hatred, boredom 

We use nouns all the time when we write letters to friends or papers for class. (For example, all these underlined words are nouns.) In the next few pages, we’ll look at some mistakes that students frequently make with nouns and I’ll give you pointers on how to avoid making those mistakes when you write.