Sometimes, we do not have to be specific when referring to persons or objects, especially when establishing the identity of who or what we are referring to is not relevant to the context of a conversation. This turns our focus in the direction of common nouns in English.
What are Common nouns?
Common nouns are nouns that refer to persons or objects in general. These nouns are used when reference is being made to persons or objects as a group not as individual entities and so it does not acknowledge their individual distinctiveness in terms of names. Generally, we use common nouns when we refer to nouns by what they are commonly identified as without direct reference to them.
Observe the following:
a. Those boys are playing for my school in the national junior high basketball competition.
b. Some girls usually hide their emotions to not appear weak to people.
From the examples above, you would notice that the use of the common nouns: "boys", and "girls", indicates a general reference to young male human beings and young female human beings, without being specific about the identity of the individuals being referred to in the sentences. If we had identified them individually, considering their identities, the examples would read:
a. Johan, Jonas and Joshua are playing for my school in the national junior high basketball competition.
b. Jenny and Jessica usually hide their emotions to not appear weak to people.
Of course the interpretations are not limited to the examples I gave above, however, you must ensure that the proper nouns you use to replace common nouns in sentences agree with the verbs of the common nouns. If the verb was singular when you had a common noun, it should also be singular in using proper nouns. Proper nouns are nouns that specify persons or objects as distinct from other persons or objects with which they share similar features and their first letters are always capitalized. Common nouns, however, do not have their first letters capitalized nor any of their letters.
Common nouns are not limited to persons as they can also be used for objects, abstractions, locations and many more. For instance: city, dog, food, games, chairs, moods, colours, flowers, etc.,.
So common nouns are nouns that refer to persons or objects in general terms without being specific about the person or object being referred to. They do not identify the nouns being referred to as individual elements like proper nouns nor do they have their initial letters capitalized. Understanding how to use common nouns will improve your speaking and writing skills in the English language.
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