Definition
Material noun can be defined as “Material Noun are names of materials or substances out of which things are made. Ex: gold, iron, silver etc.”
Explanation
Material noun is the name given to the material, substance or things made up of alloy. It refers to the type of substance instead of individual particles of the substance.
Material nouns are not countable means we cannot count them because they are in the forms of liquid, semi-liquid or solid.
This noun is especially called as material noun because nouns in this class are almost materials like cloth, air, metal, gold, salt, iron, silver, steel, brass, bronze, copper, aluminium, lead, coal, coral, gem, diamond, glass, fibre, calcium, plastic, rubber, paper, cement, paint, plywood, synthetics, shampoo, soap, perfume, wine, tar, chemical, rexene etc. Sometimes we cannot make the plural forms of material noun.
Some of the material nouns are used as the count nouns, for example; ‘wine’ as one may talk about different wines, type of wine instead of the substance of wine. So, here we can say that wine is not a material noun as type of wine is countable. We can say that material nouns are common nouns as they denote substances instead of denoting people or places.
For examples:
- Cotton dresses are very cheap and comfortable.
- My mom purchased a gold ring for me.
- I drink milk in the silver
- My father has a shop for diamonds.
- Calcium is a good mineral for health.
- Plastic is made up of many molecules of ethylene.
- There are many utensils in my kitchen made up of iron.
- Taj Mahal is built using marbles.
- I drink milk daily in the night.
- Most of the industries use fibre.
- In the ancient time, most of the kitchen utensils were made up of brass.
Categorized Examples
Material nouns are names given to the raw elements or objects exist in the nature and cannot be created by human being, however many new things can be created by man using raw materials. The main source of raw materials are nature, animals and plants. We have provided below the list of common nouns under various categories such as:
Material nouns from nature: water, air, silver, gold, iron, copper, sand, coal, rock, sunlight, rain, earth, salt, etc.
Material nouns from animals: egg, meat, honey, milk, silk, leather, wool, etc.
Material nouns from plants: cotton, food, oil, wood, jute, coffee, medicine, tea, rubber, perfume, etc.
Man made material nouns: acid, alcohol, asphalt, brick, cement, butter, chalk, ghee, cheese, dacron, ebony, enamel, felt, gelatin, paraffin, cloth, etc.
Rules to be Followed:
Following are the rules you need to remember in order to make use of material nouns in the sentence.
1) Generally, articles (a, an or the) are not used with material nouns when they are uncountable such as:
- Honey is wholesome food and beneficial to health.
- Water boils only at 100°C temperature.
2) Articles (a and an) may be used with material nouns when they are countable (denoting types of material or showing helping nature) such as:
- I would like to eat a Dutch cheese.
- It is a very healthy wine.
3) Use of ‘the’ and ‘some’ can also be done in the following way:
- The honey in the bottle is mine. Don’t give it others!
- I saw there is some milk in the glass.
Use of It in the Sentence
Material nouns are written in the capital letter when they occur in the start of sentence otherwise written in small letter when occur anywhere in the sentence. Following are the examples of material noun:
- I eat egg
- I wear cotton
- We get silk from silk worm.
- We should drink clean water.
- My mom wears diamond
Exercises for You
We have provided below some material noun exercises in order to help you to improve your knowledge about material noun. You need to get detail information about material noun from above and check your skill by doing following exercises.
- Water is very necessary for life on the earth.
- Oxygen is available only in fresh air.
- Silver is used to make jewelry.
- My sister has given me a chain of gold.
- There is a pan of iron in my kitchen.
- Copper is a metal used for various purposes.
- Coal is found in coal mine.
- We get sunlight from sun.
- Rain is one of the sources of water.
- Earth is the only known planet having life.
- We should less salt in our diet.
- My mom gives me two eggs daily.
- We should not eat red meat.
- Children should eat honey daily.
- I drink cow milk only.
- I have a dress made up of silk.
- My father wears leather jacket.
- We wear clothes made up of wool in the winter.
- We should eat healthy food.
- I use coconut oil for my hair.
- We live in house made up of wood.
- My mom drink hot coffee in the early morning.
- We should not late in getting medicine whenever we get ill.
- We are not used of tea daily.
- I never see the plant of rubber.
- I have used a nice perfume.
- I like cheese pizza very much.
- Houses are manufactured using brick and cement.
- I do not like to eat butter.
- I get new clothes on each festival.
Answers: 1 – water, 2 – air, 3 – Silver, 4 – gold, 5 – iron, 6 – Copper, 7 – Coal, 8 – sunlight, 9 – Rain, 10 – Earth, 11 – salt, 12 – eggs, 13 – meat, 14 – honey, 15 – milk, 16 – silk, 17 – leather, 18 – wool, 19 – food, 20 – oil, 21 – wood, 22 – coffee, 23 – medicine, 24 – tea, 25 – rubber, 26 – perfume, 27 – cheese, 28 – brick, cement, 29 – butter, 30 – clothes
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