• Concrete and Abstract Nouns

  All nouns serve to name a person, place, or thing. Depending on whether they name a

  tangible or an intangible thing, nouns are classed as being either concrete or abstract.

  Concrete Nouns

  Concrete nouns name people, places, animals, or things that are or were physically tangible

  —that is, they can or could be seen or touched, or have some physical properties. For instance:
  
  
  
  
  
  rocks lake countries people child
  
  
  
  air water bread

  Proper nouns are also usually concrete, as they describe unique people, places, or things.

  
  Mary
  
  
  The Queen Africa
  
  
  my MacBook a Pepsi

  Abstract Nouns

  Abstract nouns, as their name implies, name intangible things, such as concepts, ideas, feelings, characteristics, attributes, etc.—you cannot see or touch these kinds of things.

  Here are some examples of abstract nouns:
  
  
  
  love hate decency
  
  
  
  
  
  conversation emotion aspiration excitement lethargy
  

  Gerunds, verbs that end in “-ing” and function as nouns, are also abstract. For example: running

  
  
  
  
  
  
  swimming jumping reading writing loving breathing
  These all name actions as concepts. They cannot be seen or touched, so we know they are not concrete.

  Countable Nouns vs. Uncountable Nouns

  Both concrete and abstract nouns can be either countable or uncountable, depending on what they name.

  Countable Nouns

  Countable nouns (also known as count nouns) are, as the name suggests, nouns that can be counted as individual units.

  Concrete countable nouns

  
  Many concrete nouns are countable. Consider the following, for example: cup
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ambulance phone person dog computer doctor
  Each of these can be considered as an individual, separable item, which means that we are
  able to count them with numbers—we can have one, two, five, 15, 100, and so on. We can also use them with the indefinite articles a and an (which signify a single person or thing) or with the plural form of the noun. For example:
  

  a cup – two cups

  
  

  an ambulance – several ambulances a phone – 10 phones

  

  a person – many people

  Abstract countable nouns

  Even though abstract nouns are not tangible, many of them can still be counted as separable units. Like concrete nouns, they can take a or an or can be made plural. For example:
  
  
  

  a conversation – two conversations an emergency – several emergencies a reading – 10 readings

  

  an aspiration – many aspirations

  Uncountable Nouns

  Uncountable nouns, on the other hand, are nouns that cannot be considered as separate units. They are also known as non-count or mass nouns.

  Concrete uncountable nouns

  Concrete nouns that are uncountable tend to be substances or collective categories of things. For instance:
• wood, smoke, air, water
• furniture, homework, accommodation, luggage
  Uncountable nouns cannot take the indefinite articles a or an in a sentence, because these words indicate a single amount of something. Likewise, they cannot take numbers or plural forms, because there cannot be multiple units of them. For example:
  ✖ “I see a smoke over there.” (incorrect)
  ✔ “I see (some*) smoke over there.” (correct)
  ✖ “I don’t have furnitures.” (incorrect)
  ✔ “I don’t have (any*) furniture.” (correct)
  (*We often use the words some or any to indicate an unspecified quantity of uncountable nouns.)
  However, uncountable nouns can sometimes take the definite article the, because it does not specify an amount:
• “They’re swimming in the water.”
• “The homework this week is hard.”

  Abstract uncountable nouns

  A large number of abstract nouns are uncountable. These are usually ideas or attributes. For instance:
• love, hate, news*, access, knowledge
• beauty, intelligence, arrogance, permanence
  (*Even though news ends in an “-s,” it is uncountable. We need this “-s” because without it,
  news would become new, which is an adjective.)
  Again, these cannot take indefinite articles or be made plural.
  ✖ “He’s just looking for a love.” (incorrect)
  ✔ “He’s just looking for love.” (correct)
  ✖ “She’s gained a great deal of knowledges during college.” (incorrect)
  ✔ “She’s gained a great deal of knowledge during college.” (correct)
  As with countable nouns, though, we can sometimes use the definite article the:
• “I can’t stand watching the news.”
• “Can you believe the arrogance he exhibits?”

  Quiz

  1.   Which of the following is a distinguishing feature of abstract nouns?

  a)   They can be seen or touched

  b)   They cannot be seen or touched

  c)   They can be counted

  d)   They cannot be counted

  
  

  2.   Proper nouns are generally                   .

  a)   concrete

  b)   abstract

  
  

  3.   Is the following word concrete or abstract?

  amazement

  a)   concrete

  b)   abstract

  
  

  4.   Is the following word concrete or abstract?

  sugar

  a)   concrete

  b)   abstract

  
  

  5.   Is the following word concrete or abstract?
  
  
  Australia
  a)   concrete
  b)   abstract
  
  
  6.   True or False: All concrete nouns are countable.
  a)   True
  b)   False