Grade 6 Primary English Nouns – Classes Of Nouns Notes
Primary English — Nouns
Subtopic: Classes of Nouns (for age 11)
What is a noun?
A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.
Examples: teacher, Nairobi, book, happiness 🏫📚🙂
Main classes of nouns
1. Proper nouns
- Name a particular person, place or thing. They start with a capital letter.
Examples: Nairobi, Mount Kenya, Mrs. Wanjiru, Kisumu.
Rule: Always capitalise proper nouns.
2. Common nouns
- General names for people, places, things or animals.
Examples: boy, school, tree, giraffe.
Tip: Use small letters unless at the start of a sentence.
3. Concrete nouns
- Name things you can see, touch, hear, smell or taste.
Examples: banana, matatu, river.
4. Abstract nouns
- Name ideas, feelings or qualities that you cannot touch.
Examples: honesty, freedom, love, courage.
5. Collective nouns
- Name a group of people, animals or things as one unit.
Examples: a herd of elephants, a team of players, a flock of birds.
6. Countable and uncountable nouns
- Countable nouns: you can count them (one book, two books). Example: apple, cup, school.
- Uncountable nouns: you cannot count them using numbers without a measure word (water, maize, rice, air). Use words like some, a little, a lot of.
- Uncountable nouns: you cannot count them using numbers without a measure word (water, maize, rice, air). Use words like some, a little, a lot of.
Example: a glass of water, a bag of rice.
How to form plurals (simple rules)
- Most nouns: add -s → book → books
- Nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x, -z: add -es → bus → buses, box → boxes
- Nouns ending in a consonant + y: change y to i and add -es → baby → babies
- Nouns ending in vowel + y: add -s → boy → boys
- Some nouns are irregular: man → men, child → children, foot → feet, mouse → mice
- Some nouns do not change: sheep → sheep, fish → fish
Quick examples (Kenyan context):
- farmer → farmers, matatu → matatus, mango → mangoes, city → cities, teacher → teachers
Common mistakes to avoid
- Not capitalising proper nouns: write Nairobi, not nairobi.
- Using countable grammar with uncountable nouns: say some rice, not two rices.
- Mixing singular/plural forms: say The team is (collective as one) or The players are (individuals).
Short practice (Try these)
- Write the plural of: box, baby, knife, child, sheep.
- Classify each noun as proper, common, abstract or collective: love, Mount Kenya, choir, teacher.
- Choose the correct word: I have (some / a) rice. — I saw three (goose / geese) by the river.
Answers
1) boxes, babies, knives, children, sheep.
2) love — abstract; Mount Kenya — proper; choir — collective; teacher — common.
3) I have some rice. — I saw three geese.
2) love — abstract; Mount Kenya — proper; choir — collective; teacher — common.
3) I have some rice. — I saw three geese.
Remember: Nouns tell us who or what. Learn the class to use the right form (capital letters, plural, articles).
Try looking around your classroom and writing five nouns and their class.
(Notes written for Primary English — Kenyan learners, age 11)