Nouns are names of things, people, places or animals. In a sentence, a noun has mainly two functions. First, a noun or noun phrase is the sentence's subject. An example is the sentence previously written 'a shoe salesclerk' is an noun phrase functioning as a subject.
Second, nouns or noun phrases are also objects of verb in a sentence. An example of the sentence previously mentioned is 'an easy time' as it is the object of the verb 'have'.
