Grammatical Qualities:
* They are the core of a sentence: They typically act as the subject or object of a verb.
* They can be modified: Adjectives, articles, and other modifiers can describe or provide more information about a noun.
* They can be singular or plural: They can represent one thing or multiple things.
* They can have gender: In some languages, nouns have grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, neuter).
* They can be countable or uncountable: Countable nouns can be counted individually (e.g., "three apples"), while uncountable nouns cannot (e.g., "water").
Semantic Qualities:
* They represent concrete or abstract concepts: Some nouns refer to tangible things (e.g., "table"), while others refer to ideas or concepts (e.g., "justice").
* They can be proper or common: Proper nouns are specific names (e.g., "John", "London"), while common nouns are general terms (e.g., "man", "city").
Other Characteristics:
* They can have different forms based on their function: Nouns can be used in different cases (nominative, accusative, etc.), depending on their role in a sentence.
* They can be used in various phrases and clauses: Nouns can be part of noun phrases, prepositional phrases, and other grammatical structures.
Examples of Noun Qualities in Action:
* "The cat is sleeping on the couch." Here, "cat" and "couch" are nouns, acting as the subject and object of the verb "is sleeping".
* "Beautiful flowers are blooming in the garden."** The adjectives "beautiful" and "blooming" modify the nouns "flowers" and "garden".
* "The children are playing games." This sentence uses both plural nouns ("children", "games").
Understanding these qualities helps you identify and use nouns effectively in your writing and speaking.