Names of ideas, not things - Noun-Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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8. Abstract nouns are names of qualities, conditions, or actions,
considered abstractly, or apart from their natural connection.

When we speak of a _wise man_, we recognize in him an attribute or
quality. If we wish to think simply of that quality without describing
the person, we speak of the _wisdom_ of the man. The quality is still
there as much as before, but it is taken merely as a name. So
_poverty_ would express the condition of a poor person; _proof_ means
the act of proving, or that which shows a thing has been proved; and
so on.

Again, we may say, "_Painting_ is a fine art," "_Learning_ is hard to
acquire," "a man of _understanding_."





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