How to use our Noun Finder
To start, enter some text into the text-box above.
As you type, the noun count and charcter count will update in real-time!
There is a green "Copy Text" button that will copy everything in the text-box for you.
The list of nouns found in your text by the noun finder will be displayed in the gray box in a comma separated list.
Why use a Noun Finder tool?
If you are a student or language learner, our noun finder can help facilitate learning by helping with the identifying of nouns.
You will save time by using our tool instead of manually counting nouns yourself.
A noun finder will help if you have a problem of overusing certain nouns in your text. It will identify the overused ones so you can change them and diversify your vocabulary.
How to Use Nouns More Effectively in Writing
Of all the "building blocks" of great writing, nouns may be the most often used and the most taken for granted. While they're simple by definition, their usage can be much more complex.
Here, we'll provide some insight into the general usage of nouns, as well as their various types. Most importantly, I'll explain some of the ways they can be used to enhance and clarify your writing, as well as promote reader engagement.
What's a Noun?
As we've all known since the earliest days of our education, a noun is a word that describes a person, place or thing. That's absolutely the correct definition.
What it doesn't explain is that "thing" covers a very wide scope. It can refer to a concept, quality, action or state, to name a few. Notably, even each of the words in that list (concept, quality, action or state) are, in fact, nouns (and so is "noun").
You might have also noticed that one of them (state) can also be used as a verb. That's a quality shared by many other nouns.
Functionally speaking, nouns are usually used as subjects or objects of verbs in sentences. They're most often combined with articles (a, the, etc.) and other determiners that help denote the meaning of the noun as used. Simply stated, that means whether the noun is used as singular or plural, possessive, and so on.
So, in a nutshell, nouns are words that describe the "stuff" we write about. That makes them pretty important.
Noun Types
Nouns can be divided into at least twelve different types, most of which can be determined by the context they're used in. A noun may also represent more than one type in the same instance. For example in the phrase, "a deck of cards," deck is simultaneously a common noun, a concrete noun, a collective noun and a countable noun. On the other hand, "cards" is a plural, common, concrete, countable noun.
Noun types can be as complicated as that's already starting to sound. I'm not going to create a grammar lesson here by describing all the individual noun types. We're interested in how to use them effectively, not how to classify them.
That said, there are two noun types that are pertinent to this discussion, because using them effectively also involves using them correctly:
Proper nouns, which are used to denote a specific thing, person or place, must always be capitalized:
"The members elected David their new president." (David is specific, members and president are not.)
Appositive nouns, which provide more information about another noun, can help your readers engage with your writing. They're often proper nouns and often rename the other noun. These should almost always be offset by commas, dashes, or parentheses:
"The senior committee member, David Smith, was elected president."
The first of these types and its usage are a matter of etiquette. The second is a matter of punctuation that indicates a pause to emphasize the importance of the offset noun or noun phrase. Both are important to the flow and impact of your writing.
Plural and Possessive Nouns
Another "mechanical" aspect of your writing that affects its readability is ensuring that readers recognize possession and plurality. The "rules" are fairly straightforward, but plurals may also be easily mistyped and errors can easily slip by spelling and grammar checkers or editors, especially if you do your own editing.
Pluralization of a noun involves one of three methods:
deleting "y" if preceded by a consonant and adding "ies" (lady/ladies) adding "es" if the noun ends in "s", "ss", "sh", "ch", "x", or "z" (dish/dishes) adding "s" to any other noun (kite/kites, orca/orcas, day/days)
Note: The exception to these rules is nouns that are spelled the same for singular and plural usage. (tuna, bison, shrimp, spacecraft, etc.) This differs from collective usage in that it's countable: "6 tuna", "5 shrimp", etc.
Possessive usage of a noun requires adding an apostrophe and an "s" except if it is a plural noun that ends in "s" or "es." In that case, all that’s needed is an apostrophe added to the end of the word.
"all the witches' brooms" (the brooms of all the witches) "all the students' notes" (the notes of all of the students)
Other Uses for Nouns
Remember I said earlier, nouns are usually used as subjects or objects of verbs? Let's take a look at some instances where they're used as something else.
Nouns can be used directly as object complements in a sentence, meaning they can be used to add detail or other nouns or noun phrases:
"Steve dyed the shirt green." "We named our baby Alice."
Nouns can also be used as modifiers of other nouns, also known as "attributive nouns":
"I need a ride to pick up some car parts." "Building cabinets is my day job."
"Can I overuse nouns?"
It's pretty obvious that writing would be impossible without nouns. Using too many when writing, generally speaking, would be difficult. Using the same noun repetitively can be problematic:
"Steve woke early and showered. Steve dressed for work." "Bats are usually made from maple or ash. The bats are turned on automatic lathes to create the bat shape."
These examples may be a bit exaggerated, but you get the picture. To avoid redundancies, you have two great tools available: synonyms and pronouns.
Avoid using too many complex or highly technical nouns, unless your audience is technical or academic. Consulting the dictionary doesn't promote a good reading experience, so keep it simple.
Also, keep in mind that using appositive nouns inserts deliberate pauses. These can become an annoyance if overused, as they interrupt the natural flow of the piece. Always consider whether rearranging the sentence might improve its readability.
Hopefully, the points discussed in this article will help you in the quest to utilize nouns more effectively in your writing, and in turn, increase reader engagement and comprehension in everything you write. These tips apply equally to both technical and creative writing.
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