Parts of speech

"A word that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance or quality: 'Doctor', 'tree', 'party', 'coal' and 'beauty' are all nouns" (Cambridge University Press, n.d.-c, para. 1).

Collective nouns

"A noun that describes a group of things or people as a unit. 'Family' and 'flock are examples of collective nouns" (Cambridge University Press, n.d.-a, para. 1).

Countable nouns

"A noun that can be used in the singular and the plural" (Cambridge University Press, n.d.-b, para. 1). For example, cat, dog, tree, spoon.

Uncountable nouns

"A noun that has one form with no plural and names something that there can be more or less of but that cannot be counted" (Cambridge University Press, n.d.-d, para. 1). For example, weather, happiness, relaxation, education.

For more information regarding nouns (both countable and uncountable), including self-test exercises, please refer to The OWL at Purdue: Count and NonCount Nouns (with Plurals, Articles, and Quantity Words) and The OWL at Purdue: Count and NonCount Nouns (with Articles and Adjectives).

For information on how to make nouns possessive, please see Possessives, Plural Possessives, and Apostrophe. Once you've reviewed those resources, if you'd like to practice your understanding of the possessive case, please visit Forming the Possessive Case.