List of Common and Proper Nouns

Common Noun Practice

Common nouns are nouns that name a general person, place, or thing. See the following lists of common and proper nouns to learn the differences:

• I like the painting vs. I like the Van Gough
• She owns a car vs. she owns a Toyota

A common noun must fall into one or more of these categories:

• Abstract nouns: Things you can’t see or touch (e.g., sadness, hope, justice).
• Collective nouns: Describe groups (e.g., class, jury, team).
• Compound nouns: Nouns made up of more than one word (e.g., bus stop, haircut, sunrise, sister-in-law).
• Concrete nouns: Things you can see or touch (e.g., door, table, dish).
• Non-countable nouns: Objects or ideas you can’t count, that lack a plural form (e.g., music, oxygen).
• Gender-specific nouns: Things which are male or female (e.g., mother, father, waitress).
• Verbal nouns, also called gerunds: Describe actions and always end in -ing (e.g., reading helps you learn English).

Studying common noun lists can help students differentiate between the two very quickly. See below for examples of a list of common nouns to study with your students!

Proper Noun Practice Lits

Proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing and are almost always capitalized. People’s names are proper nouns, as are the names of states, streets, rivers, oceans, countries, companies, institutions, churches, etc. (e.g., I want to live in Chicago vs. I want to live in the city). Creating a proper nouns list for you students, keeping grade level in mind, is a great way to help them retain the concepts of these words!