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Academy11+

11+ English · Topic explained

Nouns

What do happiness, a herd and London have in common?

The big idea

A noun names a person, place, thing or idea.

Picture it

Nouns are name labels: stick one on anything you can see, and even on feelings you can't.

Key words

common noun
A general name for a person, place or thing: dog, city, teacher.
proper noun
The name of a particular person, place or day. It always has a capital letter: Amir, Leeds, Monday.
abstract noun
An idea, feeling or quality you can't see or touch: bravery, joy, freedom.
collective noun
A name for a group: a flock of sheep, a team of players, a swarm of bees.

Worked examples

  1. 1Warm-up

    The dog chased a ball across the garden.

    • dog, ball and garden name things you can see.
    • They are common nouns.
  2. 211+ standard

    The explorers showed great courage in the freezing Antarctic.

    • courage can't be seen or touched: it's a quality.
    • So courage is an abstract noun. (Antarctic is a proper noun.)
  3. 311+ standard

    A swarm of bees buzzed past Mrs Patel.

    • swarm: collective noun (a group of bees)
    • bees: common noun
    • Mrs Patel: proper noun, so capital letters
  4. 411+ standard

    happy → happiness brave → bravery free → freedom enjoy → enjoyment

    • Many abstract nouns are made from other words.
    • Look for endings like -ness, -ery, -dom, -ment and -ity.

The common mistake

The mistake

Nouns are only things you can touch.

Instead

Feelings and ideas like friendship, fear and freedom are nouns too.

Why: They are abstract nouns: they name something, even though you can't hold it.

Where it comes up in the 11+

Word-class questions ask "Which word is a noun?", and tricky abstract nouns turn up in SPaG and cloze questions.

The video

Video coming soon

We're making a short video that explains nouns step by step. Until then, everything it covers is on this page.

Free printable

Nouns worksheet

Practice questions on this topic to print and try on paper, at home or on the way to school.

Download the worksheet (PDF)

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Quick quiz

Have a go first, then tap to see the answer.

  1. 1. Which word is an abstract noun?

    • kitten
    • honesty
    • London
    • quickly
    Show the answer

    honesty

    Honesty is a quality you can't see or touch.

  2. 2. Which is the collective noun? "A pod of dolphins leapt beside the boat."

    • pod
    • dolphins
    • leapt
    • boat
    Show the answer

    pod

    A pod is the name for a group of dolphins.

  3. 3. Which of these is a proper noun?

    • city
    • Wednesday
    • family
    • teacher
    Show the answer

    Wednesday

    Days of the week are particular names, so they are proper nouns with a capital letter.