Question

Identify whether the underlined nouns are Common, Proper, Collective or Abstract:
Without health there is no happiness.
a. health - Common; happiness - Common
b. health - Abstract; happiness - Common
c. health - Common; happiness - Abstract
d. health - Abstract; happiness - Abstract

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and understand what it conveys. Recall what the underlined words signify. Now, go through the options and choose the one which best matches with the definition of the noun it has been tagged with.

Complete answer: In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of nouns. A noun is a content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Noun is the word class that can serve as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or in apposition.
Let us analyze the options given to us in this question -
Option (a.), 'health - Common; happiness - Common', refers to both nouns as common nouns.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as a common noun is a noun that denotes any or all members of a class. However, ‘health’ and ‘happiness’ do not belong to any class.
Option (b.), ‘health - Abstract; happiness - Common', refers to ‘happiness’ as a common noun.
Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as a common noun is a noun that denotes any or all members of a class. However, ‘happiness’ does not belong to any class.
Option (c.), ‘health - Common; happiness - Abstract', refers to ‘health’ as a common noun.
Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect as a common noun is a noun that denotes any or all members of a class. However, ‘health’ does not belong to any class.
Option (d.), ‘health - Abstract; happiness - Abstract', refers to both nouns as abstract nouns.
Therefore, option (d.) is correct as an abstract noun is a noun that denotes an idea, emotion, feeling, quality or other abstract or intangible concept, as opposed to a concrete item, or a physical object. Both ‘health’ and ‘happiness’ are abstract or intangible in nature, thus this option is correct.
Hence, option d is the right answer.

Note: Nouns fall into two categories, namely, Abstract and Concrete. A concrete noun is a noun that can be identified through one of the five senses whereas an abstract noun is a noun that cannot be perceived using one of the five senses.