Gain insights into technical writing, audience analysis, creating coherent paragraphs, iterative improvement, and mastering parts of speech and punctuation for impactful and well-structured communication.

The ability to structure your thoughts and write in a way that is both compelling and easy to follow is an essential skill in your corporate journey. Good writing can help you project a positive image and convince people.

This course starts by introducing you to technical writing how it differs from the other forms of writing, and the importance of understanding your audience. You’ll learn how to write meaningful and easy-to-follow sentences and bring these sentences together to create coherent paragraphs. The review-revise-edit process is covered next to emphasize the importance of improving your material iteratively. The course ends with a detailed discussion of the parts of speech and punctuation so that you can write well and avoid common mistakes.

By the end of the course, you will be able to write according to the needs and expectations of your audience. Your writing will be impactful and well-structured, and you will have in-depth knowledge of technical writing concepts.

Grokking the Technical Writing Process

# What is a noun? 
A **noun** is a word that identifies a person, place, object, idea, etc. Nouns are either common nouns or proper nouns.

 

The different types of nouns are listed below.


## Common noun

A **common noun** refers to places, objects, ideas, or things without specifying them. For example, country, shoes, joy, trees. Common nouns are lowercase unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence.

## Proper noun

A **proper noun** is specific in nature and always begins with a capital letter. These usually include names of places, phenomena, institutions, or people. For example, Denmark, Halley's Comet, Sam.


## Concrete nouns

**Concrete nouns** are nouns that refer to material things rather than abstract concepts. For example, dogs, buildings, carrots. 

> If you can reach out and touch it, see it, smell it, taste it, or hear it, it's probably a concrete noun. For example, we may not think of a "velvety voice" or a "nauseating stench" as tangible because they are not objects, but "voice" and "stench" both refer to concrete nouns.

## Abstract nouns

**Abstract nouns**, on the other hand, are nouns that refer to ideas and non-material concepts. For example, anger, peace, trust, anxiety. You can't perceive these things with your senses, so they are abstract. 

Abstract nouns include philosophical ideas. For example, capitalism, democracy. They can also be proper nouns, such as when these ideas are named after people. For example, Confucianism, Marxism.

>In some rare cases, the same noun can be either concrete or abstract depending on context. This is because a concrete noun can be used *figuratively*, thus linking it to an abstract idea. For example, compare the noun "house" in the following sentences:
> * With the help of the firefighters, we got out of the burning house.
> * "Do I really want to be integrated into a burning house?" (James Baldwin, *The Fire Next Time*)
> 
> In the first sentence, "house" is a concrete noun because "burning house" refers to a literal house on fire. In the second sentence, "house" is an abstract noun, because Baldwin uses "burning house" to refer to an abstract idea, the racial inequality and unrest in 1960s America.

## Compound nouns
**Compound nouns** consist of two or more nouns combined together. For example, greenhouse, mother-in-law, ice cream. 

As long as the compound noun represents one unified thing, they can be written as one word, as hyphenated words, or as separate words.


Learn about nouns: what they are, how to use them, how to make them plural, and how to recognize exceptions.

Introduction to Technical Writing

How to Get Started

How to Use Common Punctuation Correctly

How to Write a Good Sentence

How to Write a Good Paragraph

How to Review, Revise, and Edit

Conclusion

Appendix A. Parts of Speech (Recommended for ESL Writers)

Appendix B. Punctuation Continued (Recommended for ESL Writers)

Test Your Skills!

Nouns

What is a noun?

Common noun

Proper noun

Concrete nouns