CBSE Class 7 English Nouns and Adjectives Notes Set 01

Nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, place, animal, thing, action, quality or feeling. Nouns are grouped into five kinds.

1. Proper noun: names a particular person, place or thing, such as Mohan, Spain or the Ganges. It begins with a capital letter.

2. Common noun: names a whole class of persons or things, such as man, lion, desk or chair.

3. Collective noun: names a group regarded as one, such as jury, committee, class or army.

4. Abstract noun: names a quality, action or state that we cannot see or touch, such as truth, honesty or laughter.

5. Material noun: names the substance from which things are made, such as gold, mud, paper, silk or rice.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns can be counted and answer the question 'How many?' Examples are book, pen, egg and rupee. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted one by one and answer 'How much?' Examples are milk, sugar, paper and petrol. Material and abstract nouns are usually uncountable, while proper and common nouns are countable.

Forming Abstract Nouns

1. From verbs: judge gives judgement, assist gives assistance, decide gives decision.

2. From adjectives: real gives reality, wise gives wisdom, brave gives bravery.

3. From common nouns: friend gives friendship, child gives childhood.

Adjectives

An adjective is a word used with a noun to add to its meaning. It can come before the noun (an honest person) or after a linking verb (the shopkeeper is honest). The kind of adjective depends on the question it answers.

1. Adjective of quality (of what kind?): brave, just, tall.

2. Proper adjective (made from a proper noun): Indian culture, Chinese goods.

3. Adjective of quantity (how much?): some money, no patience, any help.

4. Adjective of number (how many?): two dictionaries, many rooms. Numbers can be definite (one, second), indefinite (all, few, several) or distributive (each, every, either, neither).

5. Demonstrative adjective (which one?): this, that, these, those.

6. Possessive adjective (whose?): my, our, your, his, her, its, their.

7. Interrogative adjective (used to ask): whose, what, which.

8. Emphasising adjective: own, very. Example: This is the very book I needed.

9. Exclamatory adjective: what. Example: What a story!

One Word, Different Parts of Speech

A word belongs to a class according to the work it does in the sentence. In 'Please show me your book', show is a verb. In 'He made a show of anger', show is a noun. So always check the job a word does before naming its class.

Worked Examples

Example 1. Find the nouns in 'The class is moving from one room to another.' The nouns are class (collective) and room (common).

Example 2. Name the adjective and its kind in 'Which poem do you like the most?' 'Which' is an interrogative adjective because it asks about the noun poem.

Example 3. Form abstract nouns from fail and loyal. Fail gives failure and loyal gives loyalty.

Quick Check Questions