Concrete Nouns||Abstract Nouns||Countable Nouns||Uncountable Nouns

Concrete and Abstract Nouns All nouns serve to name a person, place, or thing. Depending on whether they name a tangible or an intangibl...

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

Abstract and Concrete Noun

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?”

English Grammar Basic Quiz 3

(answers see at bottom)

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

Answers

Concrete and Abstract Nouns: 1-b, 2-a, 3-b, 4-a, 5-a, 6-b