Abstract Noun

An abstract noun denotes something which is not physical and cannot be touched, such as pleasure, happiness, beauty, kindness, honesty, anger and idea. Sometimes the term is extended to include nouns denoting events and actions, such as arrival and explosion.

Abstract nouns are formed:

1. From adjectives; as in,

kindness from kind
honesty from honest
bravery from brave

2. From Verbs; as in,

obedience from obey
growth from grow

3. From common nouns; as in,

childhood from child
slavery from slave

An abstract noun can be countable or uncountable. Uncountable abstract nouns are followed by singular verbs. We do not use articles or numbers before them.

• Death (uncountable) keeps no calendar.
• Several deaths (countable) have been reported from the city.