Nouns of Address

Definition

Nouns of address (technically called vocatives, but also known as nominatives of address or nouns of direct address) identify the person or group being directly spoken to. Like interjections, they are grammatically unrelated to the rest of the sentence—that is, they don’t modify or affect any other part of it. Instead, they are used to let the listener or reader know who you are addressing, or to get that person’s attention. For example:

• “James, I need you to help me with the ”
• “Can I have some money, Mom?”
• “This, class, is the video I was telling you ”
• “ President, I didn’t see you there.”
• “Hey, guy in the red shirt, can you help me?”

Punctuation

Nouns of address are found in the initial, middle, or final position in a sentence. No matter where they occur, they are normally set apart from the rest of the sentence by one or two commas. If they occur in the initial position, they are followed by a comma. If they occur in the middle position, they are enclosed between two commas, and if they occur in the final position, they are preceded by a comma. For example:

• “James, I was wondering if you could help me with the ”
• “I was wondering, James, if you could help me with the ”
• “I was wondering if you could help me with the dishes, James.”
• “Class, this is the video I was telling you ”
• “This, class, is the video I was telling you ”
• “This is the video I was telling you about, class.”

Capitalization Proper nouns

Proper nouns, such as the name or title of a person, are the most frequent

nouns of address. These nouns are always capitalized, no matter where they

appear in a sentence. If a professional title is used with the name, it is capitalized as well. For example:

• “Can you help me, James?”
• “Thank you, Smith, for being here.”
• “It’s so nice to meet you, Doctor Jenner.”
• “Hey, Coach Frank, how are you doing today?”

Common nouns in place of titles

Common nouns can also be used as nouns of address. If the common noun is the title of a job or family member and is used in place of a person’s name, it should always be capitalized. For example:

• “How are you doing, Coach?”
• “I need your advice, President.”
• “Can you come with me, Mom?”
• “Pleased to meet you, Doctor.”

Compare the examples above to the following cases in which the same titles of jobs and family members are not used to address the person directly, and therefore are not capitalized:

• “Give that football to the coach.”
• “Was the president at the meeting?”
• “Tell your mom to come with ”
• “Did you call the doctor yet?”

Terms of endearment

When a term of endearment is being used in place of a person’s name, we do not capitalize the word unless it begins the sentence. For example:

• “Would you get me a glass of water, sweetie?”
• “Thanks, pal, I appreciate your ”
• “Love, please put away your ”

Other common nouns

If they do not act as a professional or familial title, other common nouns should generally remain in lowercase, unless they occur as the first word of the sentence. For example:

• “This, class, is the video I was telling you ”
• “Can you help me, guy in the red shirt?”
• “Please stand up, boys and girls.”
• “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated for the duration of the ”

Quiz
(answers start on page 610)
1. Nouns of address occur in the ________.
a) initial position
b) middle position
c) final position
d) A & C
e) All of the above
2. Nouns of address are set apart by ________.
a) periods
b) commas
c) hyphens
d) semicolons
3. Which of the following sentences does not contain a noun of address?
a) “Oh, hello, Dad.”
b) “Come with me, Daniel.”
c) “Coach, I thought that was you!”
d) “Give that message to the president, please.”
4. Which of the following sentences is written incorrectly?
a) “I wish you were here, grandma.”
b) “I wish my grandma was here.”
c) “I wish you were here, Grandma.”
d) “Grandma, I wish you were here.”

5. Which of the following sentences is written incorrectly?
a) “Please help us, Doctor Green.”
b) “Doctor Green please help us.”
c) “Please, Doctor Green, help us.”
d) “Doctor Green, please help us.”

Concrete and Abstract Nouns

All nouns serve to name a person, place, or thing. Depending on whether they name a tangible or an intangible thing, nouns are classed as being either concrete or abstract.

Concrete Nouns

Concrete nouns name people, places, animals, or things that are or were physically tangible—that is, they can or could be seen or touched, or have some physical properties. For instance:

• rocks
• lake
• countries
• people
• child
• air
• water
• bread

Proper nouns are also usually concrete, as they describe unique people, places, or things.

• Mary
• The Queen
• Africa
• my MacBook
• a Pepsi

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns, as their name implies, name intangible things, such as concepts, ideas, feelings, characteristics, attributes, etc.—you cannot see or touch these kinds of things.

• Here are some examples of abstract nouns:
• love
• hate
• decency
• conversation
• emotion
• aspiration
• excitement
• lethargy
  Gerunds, verbs that end in “-ing” and function as nouns, are also abstract.
  For example:
• running
• swimming
• jumping
• reading
• writing
• loving
• breathing
  These all name actions as concepts. They cannot be seen or touched, so we
  know they are not concrete.

Countable                           Nouns                                   vs. Uncountable Nouns

Both    concrete    and    abstract    nouns    can             be               either countable             or

uncountable, depending on what they name.

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns (also known as count nouns) are, as the name suggests, nouns that can be counted as individual units.

Concrete countable nouns

• 
  Many concrete nouns are countable. Consider the following, for example:
• cup
• ambulance
• phone
• person
• dog
• computer
• doctor
  Each of these can be considered as an individual, separable item, which means that we are able to count them with numbers—we can have one, two, five, 15, 100, and so on. We can also use them with the indefinite articles a and an (which signify a single person or thing) or with the plural form of
  the noun. For example:
• a cup – two cups
• an ambulance – several ambulances
• a phone – 10 phones
• a person – many people

Abstract countable nouns

Even though abstract nouns are not tangible, many of them can still be counted as separable units. Like concrete nouns, they can take a or an or can be made plural. For example:

• a conversation – two conversations
• an emergency – several emergencies
• a reading – 10 readings
• an aspiration – many aspirations

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns, on the other hand, are nouns that cannot be considered as separate units. They are also known as non-count or mass nouns.

Concrete uncountable nouns

Concrete nouns that are uncountable tend to be substances or collective categories of things. For instance:

• wood, smoke, air, water
• furniture, homework, accommodation, luggage

Uncountable nouns cannot take the indefinite articles a or an in a sentence, because these words indicate a single amount of something. Likewise, they cannot take numbers or plural forms, because there cannot be multiple units of them. For example:

✖ “I see a smoke over there.” (incorrect)

✔ “I see (some*) smoke over there.” (correct)

✖ “I don’t have furnitures.” (incorrect)

✔ “I don’t have (any*) furniture.” (correct)

(*We often use the words some or any to indicate an unspecified quantity of uncountable nouns.)

However, uncountable nouns can sometimes take  the definite  article the, because it does not specify an amount:

• “They’re swimming in the water.”
• “The homework this week is ”

Abstract uncountable nouns

A large number of abstract nouns are uncountable. These are usually ideas or attributes. For instance:

• love, hate, news*, access, knowledge
• beauty, intelligence, arrogance, permanence

(*Even though news ends in an “-s,” it is uncountable. We need this “-s” because without it, news would become new, which is an adjective.)

Again, these cannot take indefinite articles or be made plural.

✖ “He’s just looking for a love.” (incorrect)

✔ “He’s just looking for love.” (correct)

✖ “She’s gained a great deal of knowledges during college.” (incorrect)

✔ “She’s gained a great deal of knowledge during college.” (correct)

 

As with countable nouns, though, we can sometimes use the definite article

the:

• “I can’t stand watching the news.”
• “Can you believe the arrogance he exhibits?”

Quiz
(answers start on page 610)
1. Which of the following is a distinguishing feature of abstract nouns?
a) They can be seen or touched
b) They cannot be seen or touched
c) They can be counted
d) They cannot be counted
2. Proper nouns are generally _________.
a) concrete
b) abstract
3. Is the following word concrete or abstract?
amazement
a) concrete
b) abstract
4. Is the following word concrete or abstract?
sugar
a) concrete
b) abstract
5. Is the following word concrete or abstract?
Australia
a) concrete
b) abstract
6. True or False: All concrete nouns are countable.
a) True
b) False

Countable Nouns Definition

Countable nouns (also known as count nouns) are nouns that can be

considered as individual, separable items, which means that we are able to count them with numbers—we can have one, two, five, 15, 100, and so on. We can also use them with the indefinite articles a and an (which signify a single person or thing) or in their plural forms.

Countable nouns contrast with uncountable nouns (also known as non- count or mass nouns), which cannot be separated and counted as individual units or elements. Uncountable nouns cannot take an indefinite article, nor can they be made plural.

Concrete vs. Abstract Countable Nouns

Both concrete and abstract nouns can be countable. Concrete nouns name people, places, or things that are tangible—they can be seen or touched. Abstract nouns, on the other hand, name intangible things, such as ideas, concepts, feelings, or attributes.

Concrete countable nouns

Concrete nouns are a bit easier to understand as being countable—after all, they are things that we can see and feel, and so we can usually count them. Consider the following, for example:

• cup
• ambulance
• phone
• person
• eel
• computer
• doctor

Each of these can be considered as an individual item or unit, which means that we are able to count them:

 

Singular	Plural
a cup	two cups
an ambulance	several ambulances
a phone	10 phones
a person	many people
an eel	three eels
a computer	a few computers
a doctor	some doctors

Abstract countable nouns

Even though abstract nouns are not tangible, many of them can still be counted as separable units. Like concrete nouns, they can take a or an or can be made plural.

Consider these abstract nouns:

• conversation
• emergency
• reading
• aspiration
• emotion
• belief

Now let’s see how they can be counted:

 

Singular	Plural
a conversation	two conversations
an emergency	several emergencies
a reading	10 readings
an aspiration	many aspirations
an emotion	hundreds of emotions
a belief	certain beliefs

 

Grammar with countable nouns

When we use countable nouns, certain elements in a sentence will change depending on whether the noun is singular or plural.

Third-person singular vs. third- person plural pronouns

If a countable noun is being represented by a third-person pronoun, we must take care to use the correct singular or plural form.

Singular

When a noun is singular and names a person (or, sometimes, a pet) whose gender is known,* then we use the third-person singular he, him, or his (masculine) or she, her, or hers (feminine). For example:

• “The man left early, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to him.” (Man is singular, so it takes the third-person singular pronoun him.)
• “The president has many things that she wants to accomplish in ” (President is singular, so it takes the third-person singular pronoun she.)
• “We taught our dog to know which bed is his.” (Dog is singular, so it takes the third-person singular pronoun his.)

If the noun names a singular place, thing, or non-domestic animal, then we must use the third-person neuter pronoun it:

• “I hate this computer because it is so slow!”
• “The cow lowed softly as it ”
• “Some people dislike this town, but I’ve always loved it.”

Plural

When a noun is plural, we use the same third-person pronouns for people, places, animals, and things: they, them, and theirs*. For example:

• “The parade floats are spectacular! I love watching them go down the ”

 

• “Bill and Samantha told me they were coming over ”
• “Make sure the children know which bags are theirs.”

*Usage Note: “Singular they”

English does not have a way of identifying a single person with a pronoun if his or her gender is not known, so sometimes the third-person plural forms (they, them, etc.) are used as a gender-neutral alternative to the third-person feminine/masculine forms. This is sometimes called “singular they.”

For example:

• “You shouldn’t judge someone until you know what they are really ”
• “If anyone needs extra help with their studies, they should feel free to see me after ”

While it is still considered incorrect by some writers and writing guides, especially in American English, “singular they” is gradually becoming accepted as the norm, especially in instances with indefinite pronouns that sound plural but are grammatically singular (like anyone in the example above).

Subject-Verb Agreement

Because countable nouns can be either singular or plural, it is very important to use the correct subject-verb agreement when they are functioning as the subject of a clause.

Subject-verb agreement refers to using certain conjugations of verbs for singular subjects and using other conjugations for plural subjects. This happens most noticeably with the verb to be, which becomes is or was with singular subject nouns and are or were with plural subjects.

For example:

• “My brother is back from ” (singular present simple tense)
• “The company was in financial ” (singular past simple tense)
• “Many people are getting frustrated with the ” (plural present simple tense)
• “The computers were rather ” (plural past simple tense)

For any other verb, we only need to make a change if it is in the present simple tense. For most verbs, this is accomplished by adding an “-s” to the

 

end if it is singular and leaving it in its base form if it is plural. For example:

• “My father runs his own ” (singular)
• “But his sons run it when he’s ” (plural)
• “The dog wags his tail when he is ” (singular)
• “Dogs sometimes wag their tails when they’re angry or ” (plural)

The verbs have and do also only conjugate for singular subjects in the present simple tense, but they have irregular forms for this: has and does. For example:

• “The apple has a mark on ” (singular)
• “All the apples have marks on ” (plural)
• “The teacher does not think it’s a good ” (singular)
• “The other teachers do not mind, ” (plural)

Finally, the modal auxiliary verbs will, would, shall, should, can, could, might, and must do not conjugate for singular vs. plural subjects—they always remain the same. For instance:

• “This phone can also surf the Internet!” (singular)
• “Most phones can do that ” (plural)
• “The president will arrive in Malta next ” (singular)
• “The other diplomats will arrive shortly after ” (plural)

Quiz
(answers start on page 610)
1. Which of the following cannot be used with countable nouns?
a) Indefinite articles
b) Definite articles
c) Third-person singular pronouns
d) Plural forms
e) All of the above
f) None of the above
2. True or False: Countable nouns are always concrete nouns.
a) True
b) False
3. How do most verbs conjugate when they have a singular subject?

a) By adding “-d” to the end
b) By adding “-s” to the end
c) They remain in their base form
d) They take an auxiliary verb
4. Which of the following third-person pronouns is used for plural nouns?
a) he
b) she
c) it
d) they
5. Which of the following third-person pronouns is used for non-gendered
singular nouns?
a) he
b) she
c) it
d) they

Uncountable Nouns Definition

Nouns that cannot be divided or counted as individual elements or separate

parts are called uncountable nouns (also known as mass nouns or non- count nouns). These can be tangible objects (such as substances or collective categories of things), or intangible or abstract things, such as concepts or ideas. Nouns that can be divided are called countable nouns, or simply count nouns.

Here are some examples of uncountable nouns:

• wood, smoke, air, water
• furniture, homework, accommodation, luggage
• love, hate, beauty, intelligence, arrogance
• news*, access

(*Even though news ends in an “-s,” it is uncountable. We need this “-s” because without it, news would become new, which is an adjective.)

Using articles with uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns cannot take the indefinite articles “a” or “an” in a sentence, because these words indicate a single amount of something. For example:

✖ “Would you like a tea?” (incorrect)

✔ “Would you like tea?” (correct)

✖ “Do you have an information?” (incorrect)

✔ “Do you have (some/any) information?” (correct)

(We often use the words “some” or “any” to indicate an unspecified quantity of uncountable nouns. We’ll investigate this more in a later part of this section.)

However, uncountable nouns can sometimes take the definite article “the,” as in:

• “Have you heard the news?”
• “The furniture in my living room is old.”

However, this is only the case if a specific uncountable noun is being described. For example:

✖ “I am looking for an accommodation.” (incorrect)

✖ “I am looking for the accommodation.” (incorrect)

✔ “I am looking for accommodation.” (correct)

✔ “I am looking for the accommodation listed in this advertisement.” (correct—references specific accommodation)

Uncountable                           nouns                                are                                not plural

Third-person singular vs. third- person plural pronouns

 

Just as uncountable nouns cannot take the indefinite articles “a” or “an” because there is not “one” of them, it is equally incorrect to use third-person plural pronouns with them, as they are not considered a collection of single things. For example:

• Person A: “Your hair looks very nice ”

✖ Person B: “Yes, I washed them last night.” (incorrect)

✔ Person B: “Yes, I washed it last night.” (correct)

Note that single hairs become countable. If there are two hairs on your jacket, you can say “hairs” or use the plural pronoun “they.” The hair on your head, however, is seen as an uncountable noun.

Plural forms of the noun

We also cannot make uncountable nouns plural by adding “-s” on the end. Again, they are grammatically regarded as single, collective units. For example:

✖ “We bought new camping equipments.” (incorrect)

✔ “We bought new camping equipment.” (correct)

✖ “The teacher gave us many homeworks.” (Incorrect. We also cannot use the quantifier “many” with uncountable nouns, because it refers to individual things.)

✔ “The teacher gave us a lot of homework.” (Correct. We can use the quantifier “a lot” to indicate a large amount of an uncountable noun.)

Subject-verb agreement

Because uncountable nouns cannot be plural, it is very important to use the correct subject-verb agreement. Subject-verb agreement refers to using certain conjugations of verbs with singular vs. plural subjects. This happens most noticeably with the verb to be, which becomes is or was with singular subject nouns and are or were with plural subjects. Because uncountable nouns are grammatically singular, they must take singular forms of their verbs.

Here are a few examples illustrating this distinction:

✖ “The furnitures in my living room are old.” (incorrect)

✖ “The furnitures in my living room is old.” (incorrect)

✔ “The furniture in my living room is old.” (correct)

 

✖ “Their behaviors are not good.” (incorrect)

✔ “Their behavior is not good.” (correct)

✖ “The news are good.” (incorrect)

✔ “The news is good.” (correct)

Measurements of distance, time, and amount

A notable exception to the subject-verb rule we just discussed relates to countable nouns that are describing measurements of distance, time, or amount. In this case, we consider the sum as a singular amount, and so they must take singular forms of their verbs. For example:

✖ “$20,000 have been credited to your account.” (incorrect)

✔ “$20,000 has been credited to your account.” (correct)

✖ “I think 50 miles are too far to travel on foot.” (incorrect)

✔ “I think 50 miles is too far to travel on foot.” (correct)

✖ “Wow, two hours fly by when you’re having fun!” (incorrect)

✔ “Wow, two hours flies by when you’re having fun!” (correct)

Making uncountable nouns countable

If we want to identify one or more specific “units” of an uncountable noun, then we must add more information to the sentence to make this clear.

For example, if you want to give someone advice in general, you could say:

• “Can I give you advice?” or;
• “Can I give you some advice?”

But if you wanted to emphasize that you’d like to give them a particular aspect or facet of advice, you could not say, “Can I give you an advice?” Instead, we have to add more information to specify what we want to give:

• “Can I give you a piece of advice?”

By adding “piece of” to the uncountable noun advice, we have now made it functionally countable. This means that we can also make this phrase plural, though we have to be careful to pluralize the count noun that we’ve

 

added, and not the uncountable noun itself. For example:

• “Can I give you a few pieces of advice?”

Using                 quantifiers                        with uncountable nouns

As we’ve already seen, certain quantifiers (a kind of determiner that specifies an amount of something) can only be used with uncountable nouns, while others can only modify countable nouns. While we will examine these more in depth in the chapter on Determiners, here are a few examples that cause particular confusion.

Too – Too Much – Too Many

We use “too + adjective” to mean “beyond what is needed or desirable,” as in, “It is too big.”

Too much, on the other hand, is used to modify uncountable nouns, while too many is used with countable nouns—they are not used with adjectives. For example, the following sentences would both be incorrect:

✖ “It is too much big.”

✖ “It is too many big.”

One particular source of confusion that can arise here is the fact that much

can be used as an adverb before too to give it emphasis, as in:

• “It is much too big.”

We also must be sure not to use too much with a countable noun, nor too many with an uncountable noun.

✖ “I have too much pieces of furniture.” (incorrect)

✔ “I have too many pieces of furniture.” (correct)

✖ “I have too many furniture.” (incorrect)

✔ “I have too much furniture.” (correct)

Fewer vs. Less

The conventional rule regarding less vs. fewer is that we use fewer with countable nouns and less with uncountable nouns. For example:

 

✖ “I have less friends than Jill has.” (incorrect)

✔ “I have fewer friends than Jill has.” (correct)

✖ “I have fewer money than he has.” (incorrect)

✔ “I have less money than he has.” (correct)

The rule carries over when we add words to an uncountable noun to make a countable phrase (as we looked at above). We can see this distinction in the following examples:

• “I want less toast.” (toast is uncountable)
• “I want fewer pieces of toast.” (pieces of toast is countable)
• “There is less water in the ” (water is uncountable)
• “There are fewer cups of water in the ” (cups of water is countable)

Measurements of distance, time, and amount

As we noted above, measurements of distance, time, or amount for nouns that we would normally consider countable (and thus plural) end up taking singular verbs. Likewise, these terms also take the word less, most often in the construction less than. For example:

• “$20,000 is less than we expected to ”
• “We walked less than 50 miles to get ”
• “We have less than two hours to finish this ”
• “I weigh 20 pounds less than I used ”

Note, however, that we can’t use less before these kinds of nouns:

✖ “We have less $20,000.” (incorrect)

✖ “I ran less 10 miles.” (incorrect)

Less is also used with countable nouns in the construction one less                                                                               , as in:

• “That is one less problem to worry ”

Fewer can also be used (albeit less commonly), but the construction usually changes to one                  fewer, as in:

• “That is one problem fewer to worry ”

 

Rule or non-rule?

It is important to note that many grammar guides dispute the necessity of this supposed “rule,” referencing that it was in fact implemented as a stylistic preference by the 1770 grammarian Robert Baker, and that fewer and less had been used interchangeably for countable and uncountable nouns for hundreds of years before that. Specifically, it is considered by some as acceptable to use less with countable nouns, especially in informal or colloquial writing and speech.

As long as the sentence does not sound awkward, it is probably safe to do so. However, many still regard the fewer vs. less rule as indisputable, so it is recommended to adhere to the rule for professional, formal, or academic writing.

Quiz
(answers start on page 610)
1. Which article can be used with uncountable nouns?
a) a
b) an
c) the
d) A & B
2. What verb form is generally used with uncountable nouns?
a) singular
b) plural
c) singular in the past tense only
d) plural in the past tense only
3. Which of the following is an uncountable noun?
a) person
b) friend
c) intelligent
d) news
4. Which of the following is not an uncountable noun?
a) love

b) piece
c) wood
d) water
5. Which of the following sentences is correct?
a) “We are waiting for a news.”
b) “You can never have too many love.”
c) “These homeworks are very hard.”
d) “Could I have less water, please?”