Helping English language learners
A compound noun is formed by joining together two words. Sometimes these words remain separate. Examples: washing machine coffee cup fairy tale Sometimes they are hyphenated (joined together by a hyphen). Examples: holiday-maker hold-up...
Gender has very little place in English language, and no place at all in classifying nouns. There are some nouns that specifically relate to male people or creatures and some that relate specifically to...
Most nouns in English can be said to be either singular or plural. The most usual way of forming a plural noun from a singular is to add –s. Examples: dog/dogs boy/boys desk/desks Most...
Nouns can be classified as concrete nouns or abstract nouns. Concrete nouns are used to refer to things that can be touched. Examples: car magazine computer David Beckham Abstract nouns are used to refer...
One way of classifying nouns is to identify them as proper nouns or common nouns. Proper nouns name specific people, places, organisations or objects. They start with a capital letter. Examples: Ivan Anna Harry...
Nouns are words that name things, places, people, animals, ideas and qualities.
‘Excellent at’ is probably more common than ‘excellent in’: ‘She is excellent at English’. But ‘excellent in’ can often be used instead: ‘She is excellent in English’ is acceptable but doesn’t sound as good....
A lodger is someone who pays rent to live in a room or rooms of a property in which the owner (or ‘landlord’) also lives. The lodger usually shares other space – such as...
‘Reputation of’ and ‘reputation for’ are interchangeable. Sometimes ‘reputation for’ sounds better, particularly when ‘reputation’ is preceded by the indefinite article: ‘The company has a reputation for good service’ and ‘The company has a...
‘Disappointed with’ and ‘disappointed in’ are mostly interchangeable. ‘Disappointed in’ usually shows a greater level of disappointment. ‘I’m disappointed with this book’ means that it isn’t as good as I hoped it would be....