Difference between Common Noun and Proper Noun

What is a Noun?

A noun is the name of a particular thing, place, person, animal, idea, quality, or feeling. Each sentence contains one or more than one noun. Nouns can be considered the building blocks of a sentence.

Examples of nouns:

Things- bed, television, pen, pencil, books, mobile, watch, etc.

Places- India, Delhi, America, London, school, temple, badminton court, etc.

People- man, woman, girl, boy, Alex, Henry, Amitabh, The President, etc.

Animals- dog, lion, bird, cat, Shark, fish, parrot, pigeon, etc.

Ideas- happy, sad, fear, strength, plan, success, failure, etc.

Qualities- beauty, ugly, intelligence, dedication, elegance, confidence, etc.

Nouns in Sentences

• I have a car. (car is a noun)
• I want to buy a chair. (chair is a noun)
• Honesty is the best policy. (Honesty is a noun)
• I visited the temple today. (the temple is a noun)
• I eat a banana daily. (banana is a noun)
• You should drink milk every day. (milk is a noun)

Types of Noun

There are eight different types of a noun:

• Proper Noun
• Common Noun
• Abstract Noun
• Collective Noun
• Material Noun
• Countable Noun
• Uncountable Noun
• Concrete Noun

The four common types of nouns are Common Noun, Proper Noun, Collective Noun, and Abstract Noun.

What is a Proper Noun?

A Proper Noun can be defined as a figure of speech that represents the name of a particular person, thing, or place. Proper Nouns should always begin with a capital letter. Some examples are India, Alex, Delhi, London, Henry, January, Monday, etc.

Examples of Proper Nouns in sentences:

• I live in Delhi. (Delhi is a proper noun)
• India is my country. (India is a proper noun)
• My name is Lily. (Lily is a proper noun)
• Her dog's name is Maddy. (Maddy is a proper noun)
• The Prime Minister of India is Narendra Modi. (India and Narendra Modi are proper nouns)
• Elly loves flowers. (Elly is a proper noun)
• Christmas is celebrated on 25th December. (Christmas and December are proper nouns)

What is a Common Noun?

A Common Noun is a figure of speech that represents a group of alike objects. It is used to represent anything in general or non-specific. In contrast with proper nouns, Common Nouns are only capitalized when used at the start of a sentence. Common Nouns include table, chair, bedroom, flower, man, woman, fan, book, paper, etc.

Common Nouns in Sentences:

• I love flowers. (flower is a common noun)
• I want to buy a book. (book is a common noun)
• She is waiting for you at the restaurant. (restaurant is a common noun)
• I'm going to watch a movie today. (movie is a common noun)
• Where is the washroom? (washroom is a common noun)
• I saw a girl yesterday. (girl is a proper noun)
• You broke the table. (table is a proper noun)

How to identify Common Nouns?

Common Nouns are generally used to represent non-specific terms (anything which is not specific). Consider the sentence: 'I saw a girl yesterday.' The girl is a common noun in this sentence because it does not represent anybody specifically. It represents a class of humans. Now, consider the sentence: 'I saw Meera yesterday.' Here, Meera is a proper noun because it represents a particular person.

• Professions- doctor, engineer, teacher, writer, author, etc. are common nouns.
• People- mother, father, daughter, boy, girl, man, woman, etc. are all common nouns.
• Quality or Ideas- happy, sad, love, compassion, peace, war, etc. also comes under common nouns.
• Things- table, chair, wall, door, books, pen, etc. are also common nouns

How to Identify Proper Nouns?

Proper nouns are easy to figure out because they always start with a capital letter, no matter where they are positioned in a sentence. Proper Nouns are nouns used to define something specific; thus, they are always easy to identify. Proper Nouns include the name of a particular person, place, thing, month, festival, day, etc.

Here is the list of 10 examples, differentiated as common and proper nouns.

Difference between Common Noun & Proper Noun