THE NOUN - Classification of the nouns

THE NOUN

Classification of the nouns:

ACCORDING TO THEIR FORM:

simple nouns: book, cat, house

1. compound nouns: housewife, grandfather, sunshine
2. derivative nouns: friendship, teacher, referee
3. parasynthetic compounds (composition combined with derivation): goal-keeper, homesickness, hand-writing
4. converted nouns (formed from other parts of speech): help, answer, smoke

ACCORDING TO THE LOGICAL CATEGORIES:

concrete nouns: John, Australia, water, cat, class, company

1. proper nouns: John, Australia, London
2. common nouns: water, family, man, girl, company
3. material nouns: water, iron, cloth
4. class-nouns: crowd, class, family, man, girl
5. collective nouns: crowd, class, committee
6. individual nouns: man, girl, book
7. abstract nouns: beauty, darkness, time

ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER:

countable nouns: man, house, cat

1. uncountable nouns: happiness, paper, law

Number of the nouns:

A.   Countable nouns

a) Regular plurals:

the regular plural is formed by adding [z/s/iz], in spelling (e)s to the stem

e.g. doors, cats, noses

-nouns ending in s, -ss, -ch, -sh, -x, -o form their plural by adding es

e.g. buses, classes, watches, brushes, boxes, potatoes

! foreign and abbreviated nouns ending in o add only s (e.g. photos, pianos

-nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant change y into i before es

e.g. cities, families (but: days, boys

b.      Irregular plurals:

Change of the stem vowel:

man-men

woman-women

mouse-mice

louse-lice

foot-feet

tooth-teeth

goose-geese

-en plurals:

ox-oxen

child-children

brother-brethren

-ves ending: (nouns ending in f or fe change f into v and add es)

calf-calves

half-halves

knife-knives

leaf-leaves

wife-wives

! some nouns may be pluralized in either way: (hoof-hoofs/hooves, scarf-scarfs/scarves

! exception: roofs, proofs, beliefs, cliffs, chiefs

Foreign plurals: (Latin and Greek plurals)

analysis-analyses

basis- bases

thesis-theses

axis-axes

crisis-crises

hypothesis-hypotheses

oasis-oases

synthesis-syntheses

appendix-appendices

formula-formulae

larva-larvae

criterion-criteria

phenomenon-phenomena

curriculum-curricula

datum-data

bacillus-bacilli

radius-radii

stimulus-stimuli

terminus-termini

fungus-fungi

Uninflected plural: (nouns that do not change their forms in the plural)

(one) sheep- (two) sheep

fish, deer, salmon, trout

B. Uncountable nouns

a.      Singular form:

Concrete nouns:

e.g. earth, bread, oil, smoke

The bread is on the table.

Abstract nouns:

e.g. accommodation, advice, behaviour, chalk, chaos, conduct, damage, equipment, furniture, information, knowledge, luggage, money, news, progress, research, rubbish, traffic, weather

Let me give you some advice!

The weather is beautiful today.

The news is depressing.

Money doesnt make you happy.

! they may be counted: a piece of , a slice of , a grain of , a spoon of , a heap of , a sheet of , an article of , a bottle of , an item of

Diseases:

e.g. measles, mumps

Measles is a catching disease.

Branches of science:

e.g. physics, mathematics

Physics is an interesting science.

Games:

e.g. billiards, darts, cards

Converted nouns: (from adjectives)

e.g. the good, the weak, the evil

The good always wins in fairy-tales.

2. Plural form:

Clothes or weapons made of two parts:

e.g. jeans, pyjamas, tights, binoculars, pliers, compasses, trousers, glasses, scissors, scales

My trousers are new.

Abstract nouns:

e.g. archives, clothes, customs, goods, manners, outskirts, surroundings

His clothes are dirty.

Other nouns:

e.g. cattle, clergy, people, police

The police are looking for him.

Converted nouns: (from adjectives)

e.g. the blind, the deaf, the dead, the mentally ill, the old, the sick, the rich, the poor

The poor are starving.

The blind need our help.

C.   The agreement of the subject and predicate

Collective nouns:

e.g. class, club, choir, committee, family, army, audience, team, orchestra

+ singular = if we refer to them as a whole e.g. My family is big.

+ plural = if we refer to its members e.g. My family are at home.

Two subjects considered an entity:

+ singular e.g. The sticking and binding of books is done on that machine.

+ singular (if the second noun characterizes the first) e.g. Mary, accompanied by her husband has just arrived.

Either or/ neither nor:

-according to the idea of proximity

e.g. Neither John nor Peter speaks French. (if the second noun is in the singular, the verb is also in the singular)

e.g. Neither John nor his children have come. (if the second noun is in the plural, the verb is also in the plural)

D.   The number of the compound nouns

-one-word compounds form their plural following the rules of simple nouns

e.g. schoolgirls, cupboards, overcoats, staircases, skyscrapers

-compounds not having nouns as component parts take the plural mark at the end

e.g. forget-me-nots, merry-go-rounds, also-runs, grown-ups

-in a compound including a noun and another part of speech the noun takes the plural

e.g. passers-by, bystanders, lookers-on

-in a composition noun + noun, the head-noun takes the plural regardless of its place (the noun that functions as an attribute does not take the plural)

e.g. five-act-plays, five-year-old-boys, babysitters, fathers-in-law, toothbrushes

-in a composition man/woman + noun, both parts take the plural sign when they denote the gender of the whole compound

e.g. women-teachers, men-servants

-in a composition man/woman + collective nouns, the nouns man/woman take the plural

e.g. policemen, policewomen

Case of the nouns the genitive case-

a.      `s genitive:

Formation:

Genitive singular

-is formed by the addition of the inflexion s [z/s/iz] to the noun

e.g. boys, cats, Jamess, Dickenss

-classical and foreign names ending in s add only the apostrophe

e.g. Archimedes` Law, Socrates` work

-compounds and noun phrases are generally treated as one word

e.g. mother-in-laws, someone elses problem, the prince of Waless journey, US presidents Ford speech

Genitive plural

-a simple apostrophe is used with plural nouns ending in s

e.g. boys`, girls`

-words not ending in s in the plural take `s

e.g. mens, womens, childrens

-compounds that do not take the plural suffix on their last component (e.g. mother-in-law, passer-by) are not used in the genitive plural

Use:

a.       animate nouns: (humans or non-humans with personal gender characteristics)

Personal names: Marys cat

Personal nouns: mothers dog

Higher animals: the horses neck

Collective nouns: the nations social security, the companys working capital

2. locative nouns: (continents, countries, cities, towns)

e.g. Europes future, Belgiums export

3. nouns denoting distance, time, value:

e.g. a weeks holiday, todays paper, ten minutes` break, yesterdays news, a few miles` distance, a dollars worth

4. expressions:

e.g. for his childrens sake, for heavens sake, within a stones throw, to your hearts content, in my minds eyes, birds eye view

a.      Prepositional genitive:

Use:

a.       inanimate nouns:

e.g. the roof of the church, the keys of the car

2. when the possessor is followed by a long attribute:

e.g. the beauty of the girl who lives next door, the mother of the child I am going to see tomorrow

3. when we have two possessors:

e.g. he is a friend of my sons aunt, the birthday of my uncles baby, the photo of Jills mother

Gender of the noun

-in present day English there is no grammatical gender

Traditionally: masculine (he): boy, man, brother

feminine (she): girl, woman, sister

neuter (it): book, horse, friendship

Neuter gender is often personified:

Masculine: the sun

denoting strength: war, anger, winter

larger animals: elephant, eagle

Feminine: the earth, the moon

denoting beauty: peace, nature, luck, birth, spring

smaller animals: cat, hare

names of vessels, vehicles, countries, cities: The earth awoke from her winter sleep. / She is a good ship/ a fine car.

Other ways to differentiate masculine and feminine:

a.       using a different word

Masculine Feminine

boy girl

bachelor spinster

brother sister

gentleman/lord lady

husband wife

boar (pig) sow

buck doe

bull cow

cock hen

dog bitch

drake duck

fox vixen

gander goose

stallion mare

2. using a compound in which one element denotes the gender

Masculine Feminine

boy-friend girl-friend

boy-cousin girl-cousin

he-bear she-bear

he-goat/ billy-goat she-goat/ nanny-goat

he-wolf she-wolf

jack-ass jenny-ass

3. using suffixes

-ess: baroness, countess, hostess, princess

-a: sultana, czarina

-ine: heroine

-ix: executrix

Exercises

Give nouns corresponding to the following verbs:

to suggest, to refer, to know, to inform, to recognize, to appoint, to serve, to fall, to copy, to practise, to flatter, to doubt, to bake, to dine, to behave, to invite, to fail, to fear, to call, to develop, to assist, to aim, to whistle, to hate, to add, to satisfy, to describe, to solve, to report, to present, to believe, to object.

2. Give nouns corresponding to the following adjectives:

different, difficult, original, interesting, national, scientific, human, exciting, tragic, poor, political, strong, warm, high, blind, beautiful, inferior, idle, curious, peculiar, friendly, wide, real, stupid, probable, desirable, responsible, personal, muddy, wounded, childish, careless, young.

3. Form derivative nouns from the following verbs:

to decide, to approve, to discuss, to refer, to discover, to teach, to grow, to pay, to perform, to betray.

Form derivative nouns from the following adjectives:

national, wise, likely, free, great, weak, kind, happy, true, deep, warm.

From derivative nouns from the following nouns:

friend, scholar, leader, child, piano, music, mathematics, science, host, widow, waiter.

6. Form derivative nouns by adding the prefixes anti-, bi-, co-, counter-, de-, ex-, inter-, non-, post-, pre-, pro-, semi-, sub-, super- to the following nouns.

vowel, reformation, way, education, conformist, cyclone, body, colon, semite, final, graduate, destination, plane, cycle, centralization, nationalization, view, motion, man, market, existence.

(Budai Lszl: English Grammar)

7. Using the endings ist, -er, -or, -ian give the names of people who do the jobs connected with these words. Changes in spelling are needed in some cases.

drum, engine, physics, economist, survey, violin, law, drama, supervise, attend, trumpet, football, organize, library, account, athletics, gymnastics.

8. Form abstract nouns from these verbs using the endings tion, -(s)sion, -ance, -ence, -ure, -ment.

agree, amuse, assume, authorize, complete, conceive, concentrate, conclude, confer, confuse, deceive, decide, declare, defend, fey, divide, employ, endure, entertain, explain, explode, explore, inform, imitate, interfere, irritate, judge, multiply, offend, observe, permit, persist, proceed, receive, refer, repeat, revise, sign, simplify, solve, transmit, vary.

9. Put these nouns in the plural:

sandwich, roof, tomato, datum, stepson, mother-in-law, cactus, passer-by, sheep, phenomenon, mouse, loaf, city, series, manservant, stratum, penny, salmon, deer, ox, rabbit, forget-me-not, child, criterion, photo, cupboard, thief, cat, axis, fungus, office, key, solo, appendix, drama, bus, shelf, foot.

10. Group the plural of these nouns according to their pronunciation in the following columns [s], [z], [iz].

teacups, bones, hedges, roads, eyes, lights, combs, eyelashes, book, eyebrows, sizes, chairs, handkerchiefs, wages, rings, prices, works, babies, paragraphs, lengths, designs, ankles.

Which of the following words are singular in meaning, which are plural, and which

can be used either singular or plural?

people, thanks, news, cattle, scissors, the clergy, mumps, the police, jeans, the team

12. Complete the table with the gender of the noun.

brother- lass-

hero- hen-

nephew- queen-

waiter- Dear Madam-

bull- spinster-

stallion- sultana-

13. Match the words from group A with the words from group B.

Group A: blade, grain, sheet, loaf, drop, lump, speck, bar, strand, item, slice

Group B: paper, dust, grass, news, meat, water, sand, coal, bread, hair.

14. Complete the following in any sensible way:

the roof of , the wheels of , a bunch of , a pack of , a crowd of , a swarm of , a blade of , a slice of , a loaf of , a drop of

15. Put the following nouns in the genitive apostrophe (`) case:

the country (problems), ladies (night), the girls (car), an actress (professional life), actresses (opportunities), children (toy), Socrates (life), children (education), the boss (announcement), policemen (uniforms), the girls (dress), secretaries (working hours), France (foreign policy), lady (handbag), the princess (wedding dress), your money (worth).

16. If you want to buy some food, you go to the grocers. Where do you go if you want to do the following?

a.       buy some vegetables/ go to the g------

2. have your teeth examined/ go to the d------
3. have your eyes examined/ go to the o------
4. buy some medicine/ go to the c------
5. buy some meat/ go to the b------
6. get your hair cut/ go to the h------
7. buy some flowers/ go to the f------
8. have some clothes cleaned/ go to the c------

(Cassell`s Students English Grammar)

Rewrite in the plural.

a.       This is a box.

2. That is a lorry.
3. Where is the knife?
4. Is it your watch?
5. This is a new house.
6. Thats an old chimney.
7. That isnt my dress.
8. He is a farmer and this is his wife.
9. That is a row of people.
10. There is a match in the box.
11. Is there a desk in that room?
12. There is no child in their family.

(Budai Lszl: english Grammar)