how many kinds of nouns are there

 There are several different kinds of nouns.

1. Common Nouns

A common noun is the word used for a class of person, place or thing.

Examples:

 Car
 Man
 Bridge
 Town
 Water
 Metal
 Ammonia

Proper Nouns

A proper noun is the name of a person, place or thing (i.e., its own name). A proper noun always starts with a capital letter.

Examples:

 Michael 
 Africa
 Peking
 Dayton Peace Accord
 United Nations
 The Tower of London
 Uncle George
("Uncle" is written with a capital letter because it is part of his name.)
 My favourite auntie is Auntie Sally. 
(In this example, the first "auntie" is a common noun; whereas, the
second "Auntie" is part of a proper noun.)
 The Red Lion

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is the word used for a group of people or things.

Examples:

 Choir
 Team
 Jury
 Shoal 
 Cabinet (of ministers)
 Regiment

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word used to replace a noun.

 James is the first choice for the post. He has applied for it twice already.
("He" is a pronoun. In this example, it replaces the proper noun "James".)
("It" is a pronoun. Here, it replaces the common noun "post".) 
 Some / Who / This
(The term 'pronoun' covers lots of words, and all three words above are classified as pronouns. There is whole section dedicated to pronouns.

Verbal Nouns 

Verbal nouns are formed from verbs. They are a type of common noun. 

 I love swimming.
("swimming" - the name of an activity; it is formed from the verb 'to swim'.)

 Lateral thinking is required to solve this problem.
("thinking" - the name of an activity; it is formed from the verb 'to think'.)

Compound Nouns

Compound nouns are nouns made up of two or more words. Some compound nouns are hyphenated.
 Mother-in-law
 Board of members
 Court-martial
 Forget-me-not
 Manservant
 Paper-clip