01a.

NOUN

= a word that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance or quality (archaeologist, university,
laptop, convention, timber, beauty). If they refer to physical phenomena (people, objects, places,
substances) they are called concrete nouns whereas abstract nouns refer to events, states, activities,
occasions (birth, happiness).

Some words are used only as nouns (desk, hat, tree), other are derived words with suffixes or
prefixes (er → player, –ity → activity), some nouns have the same form as verbs (act, attempt,
blame, book, call, copy, cost, dance, fall, fear), some nouns and verbs have the same spelling but
different stress (N: ‘export x V: ex’port) and some were created by compounding (dancing shoes,
classroom).

Determiners = function words to specify the noun. Indefinite article (a/an), definite article (the),
possessive (my), demonstrative (this book), quantifier (every book, many books), numeral (one
book). Zero article for meals (dinner), places (church, jail), travelling (by car), times of the day (at
dawn, winter), parallel structures (from country to country), vocatives (Move, kid!).

Count nouns are things that can be counted and therefore have a plural form (sword -> swords) and
indefinite article a/an (a sword). Mass nouns refer to substances, qualities and have no plural (flour,
sadness). Collective nouns are count nouns but even in singular they refer to groups of people,
animals or things (team, family, government, committee, army, audience). They have sometimes
ability to go with plural verb even when they are singular. (Her family live/lives here. The police are
investigating the crime.)

With countable noun we can use a/an in front of it (I bought a book.), it has a plural and can be used
in questions with How many? We can use a number in front of it (one book, two books).

With uncountable noun we do not normally use a/an in front of it (I bought some bread. Not *a
bread), it does not normally have a plural and can be used in questions with How much? and we
cannot normally use a number in front of it.

Expression for more of them (as bunch of, crowd, flock, gang, group, set of, herd, pack, series, shoal,
swarm, troop of, load of, mass of), for just one (a bit of, a chunk of, grain, item, lump, piece, sheet,
slice), for container (basket of, box of, cup of), shape (pile of, -ful = bownful, handful, spoonful – not
adjectives!), measure (pint, gallon, litre, foot, metre, kilogram). Pair of (arms, eyes, glasses, gloves,
socks, pliers) applies to two things which occur together. Couple of days, babies, kids.

Exceptions with uncountable nouns used as countable: Coffee is important to the economy of Brazil.
X I’d like a coffee, please. Also we can use article with uncountable when using expression like a
bunch, a pack etc (a packet of biscuits, a piece of bread). Nouns not normally countable in English =
no articles, no plural are information, advice, clothing, flu, furniture, hair, homework, housework,
jewellery, lightning, luggage, meat, money, news, permission, progress, rubbish, scenery, shopping,
soap, spaghetti, thunder, toast, traffic, weather.

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 Number

= grammatical category for nouns, pronouns and verbs that is used depending on the number of
entities involved (singular or plural)

Regular plurals

1. The plural is formed by adding -s to the singular (rabbit –> rabbits)

We pronounce –s as /s/ after these sounds: /f/ chiefs; /k/ cakes; /p/ taps; /t/ pets; /ø/ months.

But pronounce –s as /z/ after these sounds: /b/ verbs; /d/ friends; /g/ bags; /l/ bells; /m/ names;

/n/ lessons; /ŋ/ songs; /vowels a, e, i, o, u/ eyes, /vowel sound + r/ chairs.

2. Nouns ending in -s, -ss, -x, -ch, -sh or -tch form their plural by adding -es. Pronounced [-iz].
bus – buses, glass – glasses, box – boxes, bench – benches, brush – brushes, match – matches

3a. Nouns ending in -o form their plural by adding –es.

hero – heroes, tomato – tomatoes

3b. But nouns of foreign origin or abbreviated words ending -o add -s only.
radio – radios, zoo – zoos, piano – pianos, kilo – kilos, photo – photos

3c. There are a few nouns ending in -o which form the plural both in -s and –es.
cargo – cargos or cargoes, volcano – volcanos or volcanoes

4a. Nouns ending in -y following a consonant form plural by dropping the -y and adding –ie.
baby – babies, country – countries, fly – flies, lady – ladies

4b. If the final -y is preceded by a vowel letter the plural is formed by simply adding –s.
boy – boys, day – days, guy – guys, key – keys

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Irregular plurals

1a. Nouns ending with –f(e) take plurals with spelled -ves.
elf – elves, knife – knives, leaf – leaves, shelf – shelves, thief – thieves, wife – wives, wolf – wolves.

1b. But! Regular plural only: belief, chief, proof, roof

1c. Both regular and irregular: dwarf – dwarfs or dwarves, hoof – hoofs or hooves

2. Mutation involves a change of vowel.

foot – feet, goose – geese, louse – lice, man – men, mouse – mice, tooth – teeth, woman – women.

3. The –en plural.

brother – brethren (members of some group, regular brothers), child – children, ox - oxen

4. Zero plural
Some nouns have the same spoken and written form in both singular and plural like names of certain
animals especially when they are used in a hunting context (deer, mackerel, salmon, sheep, trout)
Sportsmen who shoot duck, pheasant, etc. use the same form for singular and plural. But other
people normally add -s for the plural: ducks, pheasants. Also certain nouns describing nationalities:
a Japanese – the Japanese.

5. Some nouns borrowed from Greek and Latin have Greek and Latin plural endings.
crisis – crises, criterion – criteria, phenomenon – phenomena, radius – radii
But some follow the English rules: album – albums, dogma – dogmas, gymnasium – gymnasiums
The tendency to use the foreign plural is still strong in the technical language of science, but in fiction
and colloquial English there is an evident inclination to give to certain words the regular English
plural forms in -s. Thus in some cases two plural forms are preserved: formula – formulae/formulas

6. The plural of person is people (not persons).

Plurals with different meanings

The plurals of some nouns have two or more meanings, one similar to the singular meaning, the
other different from it.
colours – 1. hues 2. national flags
draughts – 1. a game 2. currents of air
grounds – 1.land 2. reasons
spirits – 1. souls 2. alcoholic liquors 3. mental or moral attitude

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Double plural forms
In some cases the two plurals have different meanings.
die: 1. dies (= metal stamps for making money) 2. dice (= small cubes of bone or wood used in games
of chance). cloth: 1. cloths (= different pieces or kinds of cloth) 2. clothes (= articles of dress)

Plural of compound nouns

1. Plural in last element (boyfriends, break-ins, travel agents, merry-go-rounds)
2. Plural in both first and last element (menservants, women doctors)
3. Plural in first element (editors-in-chief, brothers-in-law, runners-up)

Nouns with a plural form + singular verb

a) The noun news (The news is bad today.)
b) Some diseases (measles, mumps, rickets, shingles. Mumps is fairly rare in adults.)
c) Subject names in -ics (linguistics, mathematics, phonetics, athletics. Mathematics is a compulsory
subject at school. (reference is to an academic subject) But: His mathematics are weak.)
d) Some games (billiards, darts, dominoes. Billiards is becoming more and more popular.)
e) Some proper nouns (Athens, Brussels, Marseilles, Wales; the United States have a singular verb
when considered as a unit. Athens has grown rapidly in the past decade.)

Nouns with a plural form + plural verb

a) Names of garments consisting of two parts (pants, pyjamas, shorts, trousers. Trousers are torn.)
b) Names of tools and instruments consisting of two parts (scissors, spectacles, glasses, scales. The
word pair is generally used with these terms, e.g. a pair of trousers, two pairs of scissors)
c) A few words which occur only in the plural and are followed by a plural verb (belongings, clothes,
earnings, goods, remains, stairs, surroundings, thanks, valuables. All my belongings are in this bag.)

Collective noun + singular or plural verb

Some collective nouns such as audience, class, club, committee, company, council, crowd, family,
gang, government, group, jury, team and union can take a singular or plural verb. Singular if we
consider the word to mean a single group or unit (Our team is the best.) Plural if we take it to mean
a number of individuals: Our team are wearing their new jerseys. The jury is considering its verdict.
The jury are considering their verdict.

Collective noun + plural verb

Certain collective nouns do not have plural forms, but they must be followed by a plural verb: cattle,
the clergy, gentry, the military, people, the police: The police are investigating the crime.

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 Gender

Marking gender
1. Nouns morphologically marked for gender are formed by changing the ending of the masculine
noun with the suffix –ess (actor – actress, prince – princess, steward – stewardess)
2. Nouns morphologically unmarked for gender but with feminine forms that may be a different
word (boy – girl, gentleman – lady, monk – nun, sir – madam)
3. Foreign feminines (czar – czarina, don – donna, Sultan – Sultana)

Common gender
This is a large class of nouns which may be applied to both males and females. For clarity, it is
sometimes necessary to use a gender marker (boy friend – girl friend, manservant – maidservant)
but with many nouns we don’t know whether the person referred to is male or female until we
hear the pronoun (My doctor says she is pleased with my progress.)
This applies to nouns such as adult, artist, comrade, cook, cousin, darling, dear, doctor, enemy,
foreigner, friend, quest, journalist, musician, neighbour, owner, parent, passenger, person, pupil,
relative, scientist, singer, speaker, stranger, student, teacher, tourist, traveller, visitor, writer.
Occasionally for living beings we have three words, one masculine, one feminine and one common
gender: son – daughter – child, father – mother – parent, king – queen – monarch, ruler, boar – sow –
pig, cock – hen – bird, fowl

Gender of nouns denoting animals

1. All nouns denoting animals (birds, fishes, insects, reptiles) may be considered neuter (referred to
as it). In spoken language, however, there is a tendency to associate the names of animals with the
feminine or masculine gender (lion – lioness, tiger – tigress, bull – cow).
Sometimes he-/she- is used as a prefix (he-wolf – she-wolf). Sometimes proper nouns are used with
the names of animals to show the sex (jack-ass – jenny-ass, tom-cat – pussy-cat).

2. When the sex of the animal is not indicated, nouns denoting the larger and stronger animals are
generally associated with the masculine gender, nouns denoting the smaller and weaker with the
feminine. Masculine: elephant, dog, eagle. Feminine: cat, hare, parrot. But: canary - he, fly – he.

Personification of inanimate things and abstract notions

Sometimes inanimate things and abstract notions are personified:
1. Moon and earth are referred to as feminine, sun as masculine
2. Ships and cars and other vehicles when regarded with affection are considered feminine.
3. Masculine gender is given to abstract nouns suggesting strength (anger, death, fear, war) while
feminine is associated with the idea of gentleness and beauty (spring, peace, kindness).
4. Countries as geographical units are treated as inanimate = it. As political/economic units the
names of countries are often feminine (England is proud of her poets.)

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 Case

The only case-form for nouns that exists in English is the genitive/possessive case. We use the
possessive form with living things like personal names (John’s computer), personal nouns (doctor’s
surgery), indefinite pronouns (someone’s responsibility), collective nouns (army’s weaponry),
animals (horse’s stable). Also some non-living things like geographical or institutional references
(America’s policy), churches (St. Paul’s Cathedral), time references (today’s work), fixed expressions
(at death’s door, journey’s end) and sometimes car/ship references (car’s exhaust).

1. ‘s is used with singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in –s.
an actress’s career, the dog’s kennel, children’s games, men’s work
If two names are joined by and, we add ‘s to the second (Scott and Amundsen’s race)

2. An apostrophe is used with plural nouns ending in –s. (boys’ school, the soldiers’ horses)

3a. Classical names ending in -s usually add only the apostrophe (Archimedes’ Law)
3b. Other names ending in -s can take ‘s or the apostrophe (Charles’s address or Charles’ address)

5. When the possessor is represented by a compound noun, the possessive ending is added at the
end (brother-in-law’s face). The rule also applies to titles (Henry the Eighth’s marriages, the
Secretary of State’s visit). Two genitives are also possible (My brother’s neighbour’s sister is a nurse.)

Omission of the noun after ‘s and s’

We can omit nouns where someone lives (I’m staying at my aunt’s.) and with shops and businesses
(Would you mind going to the chemist’s for me? I’ve got an appointment at the dentist’s.)

The use of the of-construction

We normally use the of-construction when referring to things (the look of the film; the shade of a
tree), parts of things (the bottom/top/side/inside of the box), abstract reference (the cost of living;
the price of success). But of-construction cannot be used with genitives that are completely
adjectival (He has a doctor’s degree.)

The double genitive

An of-genitive can be combined with an -s genitive in a construction called the double genitive. The
noun with the -s genitive inflection must be both definite and personal (a friend of my father’s)