Award him points (4)
I believe the answer is:
mark
'award him points' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'award him points' is the wordplay.
'award' becomes 'MA' (MA is an example).
'him points' becomes 'rk' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'ma'+'rk'='MARK'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mark that I've seen before include "Point; former coin" , "Note Germany currency" , "religious work of a saint" , "Identify" , "Blemish" .)