TYPES OF NOUNS: Common and Proper Nouns

Common Noun: A word used to name any person, place or thing.

e.g.

• A boy is playing.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil.
• You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
• We play in the park.
• The red umbrella is nice.

Proper Noun: A word the we use to name common nouns.

e.g.

• I live in Bangalore.
• Sunday is the last day of the week.
• Rohan has a laptop.
• My sister's name is Pooja.
• Kaveri flows through Tamil Nadu.

Remember: A Proper noun starts with a capital letter. MINTS will help you remember.
M - Months, Day, Holidays
I - The name you call yourself
N - Name of people, places, rivers, mountains, buildings etc
T - Titles of books, movies etc.
S - Start of a sentence.

What is a Noun?

A noun is a word used as a name.

It tells about what you are talking about.
Everything around us including me and you have a name. There are names for persons, places, things, animals, qualities, actions, and measures of time or quantity. 

A noun is a word that names something.

Examples:

• Persons:         student-friend-Neol-Phil-Englishman
• Animals:        cat-dog-rat-rabbit-lion
• Places:           England-home-office-hotel-camp
• Things:          laptop-purse-table-pen-book
• Substances:   wood-air-food-water-diamond
• Qualities:       honesty-kindness-beauty-cleanliness-simplicity
• Actions:         reading-singing-playing-cooking-climbing
• Measures:      year-pound-second-inch-month

Underlined words in the sentences below are nouns.

• Diamond is an expensive metal.  (Diamond is the name of a metal. Metal is the name of a substance)
• The student is wearing his new uniform. (Student is the name given to the person who goes to school. Uniform is the name given to the clothes a student wears.)
• Mango grows in India. (Mango is the name of a fruit. India is the name of a country located in Asia)
• Honesty is the best policy. (Honesty is the name given to a quality. Policy is the guiding principle) Note: Honesty is not an adjective here.  
• Swimming is a good exercise. (Swimming is the name of an action considered as an exercise. Exercise is name of an activity that requires physical exertion) Note: Swimming is not a verb here

Noun is a word used as a name of a person, place, thing, idea, or action.