There are four kinds of noun:

Common noun: A name of any thing or person or place which is common to many e.g. table, cat, girl

Proper noun: A name of any person or place which is specific to one e.g. China, John, Paris

Abstract noun: A name which defines an emotion or state or situation e.g. fear, happiness, courage

Collective noun: A special name given to a group e.g. team, flock, bundle

 

A Noun can be:

 

* The subject of a verb: John came.

* The object of a verb: I met John.

*  The object of a preposition: I gave it to John.

* Masculine: boy, man, bull, uncle etc.

* Feminine: girl, woman, cow, aunt etc.

* Neuter: baby, parent, cousin, driver, doctor, artist etc.

* A Noun can be in the possessive case: John’s bag.

> ‘s’ is used to show possessive with singular and plural nouns not ending in s: a child’s cry, women’s clothes, people’s choice, a man’s life etc.

> simple apostrophe (‘) is used to show possessive with plural nouns ending in s: a boys’ school, students’ hostel etc.

* Countable, if one can count the noun: dog, potato, box, chair etc.

Only countable nouns take a/an.

* Uncountable, if one cannot count the noun: substances generally named (bread, paper, water, oil, gold etc.), abstract nouns (courage, information, beauty etc.), some words in English (furniture, weather, baggage etc.)

Uncountable nouns are considered singular and are not used with a/an but with words like some,a little etc. (some oil, a little coffee, a piece of gold).

* Compound noun: Noun+ noun- petrol pump, winter dress etc.; Noun+ gerund- weight lifting, coal mining etc.; Gerund+ noun- driving licence, waiting list etc.