![]() Consult a dictionary if you’re not sure on the correct suffix. Specific words use specific suffixes, so you can’t just mix and match them at will. The concrete noun friend needs -ship to make the abstract noun friendship. The adjective good takes the suffix -ness to become the abstract noun goodness. ![]() To describe the general state of relaxing, add the suffix -ation to make the abstract noun relaxation. This is a great way to discuss the general concept behind something besides specific examples. Often you can create abstract nouns from verbs, adjectives, and even concrete nouns by taking the root word and adding a suffix. Of course, there are thousands of other abstract nouns, but these are just some common ones to help you understand. (Some of these can also double as verbs, especially the emotions, so pay attention to how they’re used in the sentence.) Ideas Sometimes it’s better to see examples to understand. Examples of abstract nounsĪs we’ve said, abstract nouns can be hard to describe because they elude the senses. For example, Karl Marx is a proper noun, but Marxism is an abstract noun, even though it’s still capitalized. However, this can get confusing if a philosophical idea is derived from a proper noun. Proper nouns like the Empire State Building, Kathmandu, or Mister Rogers represent things that are specific and tangible. (Even though you can use your five senses to perceive the signs of anger, such as seeing a red face or hearing a gruff tone.)īy default, proper nouns are never abstract nouns. You can touch a chair and see a chair, but you can’t touch or see anger itself. If you can’t, then it’s an abstract noun.Ĭonsider the difference between anger, an abstract noun, and chair, a concrete noun. If you can see, hear, taste, smell, or touch it, then it’s a concrete noun. concrete nouns here, but there’s a quick and easy way to tell them apart. ![]() But some things aren’t actually things ! Ideas, emotions, personality traits, and philosophical concepts don’t exist in the physical world-you can’t sense them or interact with them-so we call them abstract nouns to differentiate them from concrete nouns. Nouns in general represent things (including people, places, objects, and ideas). Need more relaxation? From our 5-Minute Fitness series, here are a breathing technique to help de-stress, a simple stretch to help soothe your neck, and a simple exercise to help stretch away stress.Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly What are abstract nouns? There’s a lot of tension in the world, and it is good for our minds, our health, and our souls to find a few minutes every day to relax. Which is what I hope you get to spend some time doing over the next week. For centuries, you could “relax your grip” or “relax a knot,” for instance, but it wasn’t until the early 1930s that the intransitive sense caught on, and you could take time off work to just relax. Relax found its way into English in the late 14th or early 15th century, but in the beginning it existed only in the transitive sense - that is, it required a direct object. Re- + lax does it really mean “to lax again”? Not precisely, but that’s not far from the truth: The word traces back, through Old French, to the Latin relaxare “loosen, stretch, or widen again,” from that re- prefix and laxare “loosen.” ![]() ![]() One of the joys of being a word lover is looking more deliberately at words we use every day and seeing patterns that we might normally miss. Keep reading, and together we’ll do a little relaxing. Take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and allow your mind and your muscles to lose their tension. ![]()
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