Question

Say whether the underlined nouns are common, proper, collective or abstract:
The elephant has great strength.
A) Elephant – Common; Strength – Abstract
B) Elephant – Proper; Strength – common
C) Elephant – Abstract; Strength – Proper
D) Elephant – collective; Strength – Collective

Answer 1

Hint: A noun is a word that refers to a single object or a group of objects, such as living beings, places, habits, qualities, life stages, or ideas. A noun, on the other hand, cannot be graded according to its meaning since it is not a semantic category. Adjectives can express characteristics, and adverbs can express locations. Verbs can express actions and states of being.

Complete answer:
Common noun – A common noun is a name for something that applies to a large number of objects, people, or locations. It refers to a specific type of object, person, or location. Nation (it can be any country, it doesn't have to be a specific one), city (it can be any city, it doesn't have to be a specific one (it can refer to any city like Mumbai, Delhi, etc. but nothing in particular). A common noun is a word that refers to a person, location, object, or other entity.

Abstract noun – A term for something that cannot be seen but is present is an abstract noun. It doesn't work in the real world. It usually refers to principles, attributes, and circumstances. Truth, lies, happiness, sorrow, time, fellowship, laughter, patriotism, and so on are some examples.

Let us look into the given options:
A) Option A. Elephant – Common; Strength – Abstract
A common noun is the name given to all people or things of the same class or kind. An abstract noun is the name given to a quality, behavior, or state that is considered independent of the object to which it belongs. Elephant is a common noun, and strength is an abstract noun that defines an elephant's quality.
Hence, this option is correct.
B) Option B. Elephant – Proper; Strength – common
As we already know, Elephant is a common noun and strength is an Abstract noun. So, this option could not be correct.
C) Option C. Elephant – Abstract; Strength – Proper
As we already know, Elephant is a common noun and strength is an Abstract noun. So, this option could not be correct.
D) Option D. Elephant – collective; Strength – Collective
As we already know, Elephant is a common noun and strength is an Abstract noun. So, this option could not be correct.

Therefore, Option A. Elephant – Common; Strength – Abstract is the correct answer because A common noun is a name for something that applies to a large number of objects, people, or locations. It refers to a specific type of object, person, or location. A term for something that cannot be seen but is present is an abstract noun. Hence, Elephant is a common noun and strength is an Abstract noun.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘A’.


Note:
The syntactic rules for nouns vary depending on the language. In English, nouns are words that can be used as the head of a noun phrase and can be used with articles and attributive adjectives. "As far as we know, every language makes a grammatical distinction that resembles a noun-verb distinction."

A material noun is a grammar term that refers to a material or object used to make anything, such as silver, gold, iron, cotton, diamond, or plastic. In the sentence "Protein is essential for energy," "protein" is an example of a material noun.