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.

Difference between Common Noun and Proper 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.

Common NounProper Noun
girlMeera
starSun
cityBangalore
schoolDelhi Public School
actorShah Rukh Khan
monthJune
dayFriday
carHonda
festivalChristmas
countryIndia

Difference between Common Noun & Proper Noun

Difference between Common Noun and Proper Noun
Common NounProper Noun
It is a type of noun that represents a group of the same type of objects.It is a noun that represents the name of a particular person, thing, or place.
It is used to represent something in general or non-specific.It is used to represent something specific.
Common Nouns are only capitalized when they are at the beginning of a sentence, or we can say common nouns do not begin with a capital letter.Proper Nouns are capitalized no matter where they are placed in a sentence. Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.
General people, general places or general things, etc all come under common nouns.The name of a particular person, place, thing, month, festival, day, etc. comes under proper noun.
A Few examples of common nouns are table, chair, book, boy, girl, bedroom, school, college, etc.A Few examples of proper nouns are India, January, Christmas, Monday, Alex, Meera, etc.
Examples of common nouns in sentences:Examples of proper nouns in sentences:
I want to buy a drink.I want to buy Coke.
I met a girl yesterday.I met Tina yesterday.
The stars are shining bright in the sky.The Sun is shining bright in the sky.
I'm going to watch a movie.I'm going to watch Infinity Wars.
I will be waiting for you at the I.I will be waiting for you at McDonalds.
I love my country.I love India.
Somebody stole my book.Somebody stole my Mathematics book.
There is a party at my home today.There is a party on Monday at my house.





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