I've tried to find out classification of English nouns. Common nouns have a number of types, such as countable, uncountable and collective. Everything's clear here, but I am confused by Proper Nouns.
Some sources say that proper nouns (e.g the name John – There are five Johnes here) can be countable, can be uncountable and even has plural tantum form (e.g. Alpes), but on the other hand there are sources saying that countable/uncountable and collective rules are applicable only to common nouns.
Do the proper nouns have the same set of rules as common nouns (except indefinite article) or it is just an informal usage of it?
Best Answer
Generally a proper noun uniquely identifies one person or thing. As such, different rules apply: it does not require an article, and cannot form a plural.
Cheese is uncountable, but we use the word cheeses. We are actually implicitly referring to muliple types of cheese, so it's not really a number of cheese- it's number of types of cheese.
In the same way, it is possible to make sentences that look like they have plurals of proper nouns, but really they are just a number of instances of something that bears that name. The thing that it is really plural- the instances- is implied. Here are some examples:
You can also add an article:
Some people call these proper adjectives, but descriptions of what counts as a proper adjective, and how it can be used, vary a lot.
These is just one country that takes the definite article but isn't a plural of something else- the Gambia.