Repeat after me: “A noun is a name word. It names a person, place or thing.” If you didn’t memorize that in grade school, then it’s no wonder you’re asking the question.

Some nouns are people, liked the Mongolian horde, Harley motorcyclists, or presidential candidates. In these examples, the nouns are horde, motorcyclists, and candidates. We’ll cover Mongolian, Harley, and presidential when we talk about adjectives. Some nouns are places, like Little Big Horn, San Francisco, or the Great Wall of China. And, finally, some nouns are things, like lemons, novels, and silverware.

When you were a baby, nouns were how you made sense of the world. Mommy, Daddy, crackers, bottle. Today, you can still make sense of the English language by studying various parts of speech, of which nouns are the most prevalent.