Got it? Good! List of Nouns Noun TypeĬommon Nouns name people, places, or things that are not specific. For example, the word train is a common, concrete, countable, singular noun. Hoy II, The Scribner Handbook for Writers, 3rd ed.Before you look at the list, I'd like to point out that each noun fits into more than one of the categories below.

Use specific and concrete words to illustrate and support them.' 'To achieve this mix, use abstract and general words to state your ideas. Concrete and specific words clarify and illustrate between abstract and concrete words and general and specific language, blending them naturally. 'Abstract and general terms represent ideas, explain attitudes, and explore relationships such as contingency (if something will happen), causality (why it occurs), and priority (what is first in time or importance). (Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz, Models for Writers: Short Essays for Composition. If the writing is too concrete, devoid of ideas and emotions, it can seem pointless and dry.' If the writing is too abstract, with too few concrete facts and details, it will be unconvincing and tiresome.

'Good writing balances ideas and facts, and it also balances abstract and concrete diction. Concrete words refer to things we can touch, see, hear, smell, and taste, such as sandpaper, soda, birch trees, smog, cow, sailboat, rocking chair, and pancake. 'Beauty and fear are abstract ideas they exist in your mind, not in the forest along with the trees and the owls. 'It came to me today, walking in the rain to get Helen a glass of orange juice, that the world exists only in my consciousness (whether as a reality or as an illusion the evening papers do not say, but my guess is reality).' (James Thurber, letter to E.B.'At middle age the soul should be opening up like a rose, not closing up like a cabbage.' (John Andrew Holmes.

'With your sheets like metal and your belt like lace, And your deck of cards missing the jack and the ace, And your basement clothes and your hollow face, Who among them can think he could outguess you?' (Bob Dylan, 'Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands'.

'The black candle fell out of its brass holder and the flame touched the dry petals and leaves.

' Pound cakes sagged with their buttery weight and small children could no more resist licking the icings than their mothers could avoid slapping the sticky fingers.' (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Brave definition noun