A noun is a naming word. It connotes the names of persons, animals, places, things, events, feelings and so on.
Examples of nouns are:
Jide
Tiger
Onosa
Ruler
Christmas
Pain

The functions of a noun:

1. It serves as the subject of the verb. This means that it performs the verb in the sentence.

Jide bought the book.

Jide is the subject of the verb, ‘bought‘. He is the one performing the action

2. It serves as the object of the verb. It receives the action in the sentence.

Jide bought the book.

The book is the object. It is receiving the action, ‘bought‘.

3. Indirect object. Here, it serves as an object indirectly. It is not receiving the action directly but indirectly.

Jide bought the book for his son

The son is the indirect object of the verb bought.

My father gave Tobi the money.

My father is the subject
Money is the direct object that received the action give
Tobi is the indirect object who receives the money.

4. It serves as an apposition. It plays the role of an adjective, given more information about the subject or object of the sentence.

Tunde, the teacher arrived at the scene.

Tunde is the subject
The teacher is the apposition, giving us more information about Tunde

Types of Noun

There are basically about seven types of noun. They may be more than but for basic knowledge.

1. Concrete noun: These are nouns you can see and touch. Examples are book, cup, stone, boy, lorry and so on

2. Abstract noun: These are nouns that you cannot see and touch. They can either be felt or imagined as an idea. Examples are joy, music, ecstasy, pride, ego, humility and so on

3. Countable nouns: These are nouns that can be counted. Examples pencils, books, cars, beads, rulers and so on.

4. Uncountable nouns: These are nouns that cannot be counted. Examples are sand, oil, water, sugar, salt, juice and so on.

5. Proper nouns: These are nouns that are attached to a specific entity whether a person, place or an idea. Their first letter comes in upper case. Examples are names of a person, place or religion. John, Ajah, Islam, Easter and so on.

6. Common Nouns: These are general names of an object. Examples are boy, girl, book, number, table and so on.

The striking difference between a proper noun and common noun are:
a. Proper noun starts with a capital letter while common nouns do not
b. There are books but their is one English book. Common noun refer to all while proper noun is specific

7. Collective Nouns: These are nouns that refer to a class of nouns. It refers to a group name. Examples are:
A pride of lions
A swarm of bees
A galaxy of stars
A bouquet of flowers
A gang of robbers
A party of ladies
A pack of cards
A pack of wolves
A school of whales and so on

Forms of Noun.

Noun can come as a word, a phrase or a clause. They all perform the same function.

A word is the smallest unit of any language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself.

Examples are:

Book
Man

A phrase is a group of words that has no verb and does not make a complete sense and cannot stand on its own.

Examples:

The book on the table
The tall handsome man

A clause is a group of words that has a finite verb and makes a complete sense. A clause may be classified into:
a. Main clause
b. Subordinate clause

Main clause makes a complete sense.

Examples:

The book is on the table
The man bought the house

Subordinate clause needs another clause to make sense

Example

When the book was bought…..
As soon as the man bought the house…

Example:

The boy travelled to London

Grammatical name:Noun
Function: Subject of the verb travelled

The tall handsome boy travelled to London

Grammatical name: – noun phrase
Function: It is the subject of the verb, travelled.

The boy whose father died last year travelled to London

Grammatical name: Noun clause
Function: it is the subject of the verb travelled

She bought the bag

Grammatical name: noun
Function: it is the object of the verb, ‘bought’

She bought the expensive leather bag

Grammatical name: noun phrase
Function: it is the object of the verb, ‘bought’

She bought the bag that was advertised on the platform

Grammatical name: noun clause
Function: it is the object of the verb, ‘bought’