What is a Common Noun? – Definition & Examples

A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun. It means that a common noun can be any person, place or a thing which is not specific; that is why we do not need to start it with a capital letter.

For example,

•  boy
• bed
• pencils
• house
• car
• cats

You can see in the above examples, there is a person ‘boy’, things ‘pencils, bed, house, and car’, and animal ‘cats’. So, a common noun can be singular or plural like, cat-cats, pencil-pencils, boy-boys, etc.

More About Common Nouns

There are a few categories of a common noun. Let me list them for you.

• Countable Nouns: The things that you can count are known as countable nouns. For example, pens, animals, girls, cities, dresses, etc.

• Non-countable Nouns: The things that you cannot count are non-countable nouns. For example, water, air, carbon dioxide, sound, etc.

• Abstract Nouns: Things that you can touch or see are called abstract nouns. For example, love, courage, passion, etc.

• Concrete Nouns: Things that you can touch or see are concrete nouns. For example, book, bag, chair, etc.

• Collective Nouns: A collective noun represents a group. For example, family, army, staff, etc.

• Compound Nouns: The nouns that contain more than one noun are called compound nouns. For example, martial-law, waterfall, etc.

• Verbal Nouns: A verbal noun shows action (verb). For example, cooking, writing, walking, etc.

• Gender-specific Nouns: Nouns that are gender-specific (male or female) are called gender-specific nouns. For example, sister, son, actor, etc.

Common Noun vs. Proper Noun

Common Noun: You can only capitalize it when it comes at the beginning of a sentence. Otherwise, you do not need to capitalize a common noun within a sentence. For example,

1. Boys are playing in the playground. (Correct)

2. The boys were asked to play in the playground. (Correct)

Both of the above examples are correct. In the first example, ‘boys’ is capitalized because it is the very first word of the sentence. It may not be capitalized when it comes within a sentence, just like in the second example.

See an incorrect sentence below.

• The Boys were asked to play in the playground. (Incorrect)

Proper Noun: that can be any person, place, or a thing which is specific or particular. It is necessary to capitalize a proper noun whether it comes at the beginning or within a sentence because it always refers to a specific person, place, thing, or an idea. It can be the names of days or months; or any title of a book, movies, or plays. For example,

• Switzerland
• Albert Einstein
• Pacific Ocean
• The Oxford University
• Simon
• Honda
• Romeo and Juliet
• Tuesday
• January

Let us check out the use of proper nouns within a sentence.

1. They were talking about Simon, who is my best friend.

2. You are as smart as Albert Einstein.

3. I love eating Nutella; the yummiest of all.

How a Common Noun Evolves into Proper Noun

Common nouns can transform into proper nouns when they start representing a specific person, place, brand, or entity, rather than a general idea.

This often happens in cases where a word gains significance in a particular context, often through branding, historical events, or popular culture. As proper nouns refer to specific things, they are always capitalized, unlike their common noun counterparts.

• Common Noun: apple (a general type of fruit)
• Proper Noun: Apple (a well-known technology brand)

In this case, “apple” is a common noun referring to the fruit. However, once the word “Apple” became associated with the tech giant, it became a proper noun, representing a specific brand.

• Common Noun: amazon (a large river in South America)
• Proper Noun: Amazon (a global e-commerce company)

While “amazon” originally referred to the famous river or even mythical female warriors, it later evolved into a proper noun with the founding of the e-commerce giant Amazon.

Common Noun and Pronoun: What’s the Difference?

Common nouns name general people, places, things, or ideas, while pronouns are used to replace those common nouns in sentences.

Pronouns help avoid repetition by standing in for nouns that have already been mentioned. They are a type of shorthand that makes communication smoother, particularly in longer texts or conversations.

For instance, once a common noun is introduced, a pronoun can be used to replace it to avoid redundancy.

• Common Noun: boy
• Pronoun: he

Sentence: The boy was playing outside. He was very happy.

Here, “boy” is the common noun, and “he” is the pronoun used to replace it in the second sentence, avoiding the need to repeat “the boy.”

• Common Noun: pencil
• Pronoun: it

Sentence: She picked up the pencil. It was very sharp.

In this example, “pencil” is the common noun, while “it” serves as the pronoun that replaces “pencil” in the second sentence.

Pronouns simplify language by standing in for common nouns, making writing and speech more efficient and less repetitive.

What Did You Learn?

So, a common noun can be any place, person, thing, or an idea which is not specific like a proper noun. This is the reason that you do not capitalize it. You should only capitalize it when it comes at the beginning of a sentence.