Nouns — Test Set 3

(b) glass — ‘Glass’ is uncountable when referring to the material (‘made of glass’) and countable when referring to a drinking vessel (‘two glasses of water’).

(a) singular — ‘News’ always takes a singular verb (‘The news is good’), even though it ends in ‘s’.

phenomena — Greek-origin word; the plural changes ‘-on’ to ‘-a’.

sincerity — It names a quality that cannot be seen or touched.

(b) duke → duchess — The correct feminine of ‘duke’ is ‘duchess’.

False — ‘Cattle’ is a collective/plural-only noun. It has no singular form. The singular equivalent is ‘cow’ or ‘bull’ or ‘head of cattle’.

Common noun: A name given to every person, place, or thing of the same kind. E.g., river — ‘We crossed a river.’ [1 mark]
Proper noun: The specific name of a particular person, place, or thing; always capitalised. E.g., Ganga — ‘The Ganga flows through Varanasi.’ [1 mark]

(a) crises (b) alumni (c) formulae / formulas (d) brothers-in-law [½ mark each]

carpenter — countable; wood — uncountable (material); nails — countable; furniture — uncountable; office — countable. [1 mark for identification, 1 mark for correct classification]

(a) free → freedom (b) thief → theft (c) punish → punishment (d) young → youth [½ mark each for formation]
Sentences (any two): Freedom is the birthright of every citizen. / Theft is a punishable offence. [Accept any correct sentences.]

(a) The babies’ toys were scattered on the floor. (Plural noun ending in ‘s’ → add only apostrophe.) [1 mark]
(b) The Principal’s office is on the first floor. (Singular noun → add ’s.) [1 mark]

(a) Collective noun: herd (a herd of elephants) [1 mark]
(b) Abstract noun: amazement or beauty [1 mark]
(c) Material noun: water [1 mark]

(Any TWO explained correctly for full marks.)
(a) glass (singular) = material / a drinking vessel; glasses = spectacles. E.g., ‘He broke a glass.’ vs ‘She wears glasses.’ [1½ marks]
(b) manner = way of doing something; manners = social behaviour/etiquette. E.g., ‘He spoke in a rude manner.’ vs ‘She has good manners.’ [1½ marks]
(c) arm = body part; arms = weapons. E.g., ‘He broke his arm.’ vs ‘The soldiers carried arms.’ [1½ marks]

(a) The scenery of Kashmir is breathtaking. (‘Scenery’ is uncountable; no plural form.) [1 mark]
(b) She gave me much advice for the interview. (‘Advice’ is uncountable; use ‘much advice’ or ‘pieces of advice’.) [1 mark]
(c) A shoal of fish swam across the pond. (The collective noun for fish is ‘shoal’ or ‘school’, not ‘troupe’. ‘Troupe’ is for performers.) [1 mark]

(a) All the churches were decorated for the festival. (church → churches: add ‘-es’ after ‘ch’.) [1 mark]
(b) The two ladies’ cars were parked outside. (lady → ladies → ladies’: plural possessive.) [1 mark]
(c) Ravi bought a hundred rupees’ worth of sweets for the celebration. [1 mark]

Sample Answer:
Last Sunday, I visited the Sarojini Nagar market (Proper) in Delhi (Proper). A large crowd (Collective) of shoppers filled every lane. I bought fresh cotton (Material) fabric for my school uniform. The shopkeeper (Common) was very friendly. The happiness (Abstract) on my mother’s face was priceless when she found beautiful bangles (Common) at a great price.
[1 mark each for correctly underlining and labelling: 2 common, 2 proper, 1 collective, 1 abstract, 1 material = 5 marks. Accept any relevant paragraph.]

(a) Proper nouns: Indian, Chennai, M.A. Chidambaram Stadium [1 mark]
(b) Collective nouns: team, crowd [1 mark]
(c) Abstract nouns: determination, pride [1 mark]
(d) Material noun: gold — It names a metal/substance from which the trophy is made. [1 mark]
(e) match → matches; trophy → trophies; chief → chiefs; nation → nations [1 mark]

(a) Material noun: The gate is made of iron. (Here ‘iron’ refers to the metal/substance.) [1 mark]
(b) Common noun: Mother used the iron to press the clothes. (Here ‘iron’ refers to an appliance — a specific object that can be counted.) [1 mark]
Difference: As a material noun, ‘iron’ names a raw substance; as a common noun, it names a household object/device.