THE NOUN
The noun denotes thingness in a general sense. Thus nouns name things (book, table), living beings (man, tiger), places (valley, London, England), materials (iron, oil), processes (life, laughter), states (sleep, consciousness), abstract notions (socialism, joy) and qualities (kindness, courage).
Semantic characteristics
Semantically all nouns fall into proper nouns and common nouns.
Proper nouns include:
Ø geographical names: New York, the Thames, Asia, the Alps;
Ø names of individual (unique) persons: John, Byron, Brown;
Ø names of the months and the days of the week: January, Sunday;
Ø names of planets: the Moon, the Sun, the Earth;
Ø names of ships, hotels, clubs (Shepherd's Hotel), of buildings, streets, parks, bridges (Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Regent Street, Charing Cross Road, Piccadilly Circus, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Waterloo Bridge), of institutions, organizations, magazines and newspapers (the United Nations, the New Times, the Guardian).
They are written with capitals.
Common nouns can be classified into nouns denoting objects that can be counted and those that cannot. So there are count and non-count and collective common nouns. The former are inflected for number, whereas the latter are not. Further distinction is into concrete nouns, abstract nouns and nouns of material.
Semantic classification of English nouns is shown in the following scheme:
Certain Kinds of Nouns Are Usually Uncountable:
| (a) WHOLE GROUP MADE UP OF SIMILAR ITEMS: baggage, clothing, equipment, food, furniture, garbage, hardware, jewelry, junk, luggage, machinery, mail, makeup, money/cash/change, postage, scenery, traffic,etc. |
| (b) FLUIDS: water, coffee, tea, milk, oil, soup, gasoline, blood, etc. (c) SOLIDS: ice, bread, butter, cheese, meat, gold, iron, silver, glass, paper, wood, cotton, wool, etc. (d) GASES: steam, air, oxygen, nitrogen, smoke, smog, pollution, etc. (e) PARTICLES: rice, chalk, corn, dirt, dust, flour, grass, hair, pepper, salt, sugar, wheat, etc. |
| (f) ABSTRACTIONS: - beauty, confidence, courage, education, enjoyment, fun, happiness, health, help, honesty, hospitality, importance, intelligence, justice, knowledge, laughter, luck, music, patience, peace, pride, progress, recreation, significance, sleep, truth, violence, wealth, etc. - advice, information, news, evidence, proof, etc. - time, space,energy, etc. - homework, work, etc. - grammar, slang, vocabulary, etc. (g) LANGUAGES: Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, etc. (h) FIELDS OF STUDY: chemistry, engineering, history, literature, mathematics, psychology, etc. (i) RECREATION: baseball, soccer, tennis, chess, bridge, poker, etc. (j) ACTIVITIES: driving, studying, swimming, travelling, walking, etc. (and other gerunds) |
| (k) NATURAL PHENOMENA: weather, dew, fog, hail, heat, humidity, lightning, rain, sleet, snow, thunder, wind, darkness, light, sunshine, electricity, fire, gravity, etc. |
There are some nouns which may be classified both as count and non-count. They often have considerable difference in meaning in the two classes.
| NOUN | USED AS NONCOUNT NOUN | USED AS A COUNT NOUN | ||
| glass | Windows are made of glass. | I drank a glass of water. Janet wears glasses when she reads. | ||
| hair | Rita has brown hair. | There’s a hair on my jacket. | ||
| iron | Iron is a metal. | I pressed my shirt with an iron. | ||
| light | I opened the curtain to let in some light. | Please turn off the lights. | ||
| paper | I need some paper to write a letter. | I wrote a paper for Prof. Lee. I bought a paper. | ||
| time | How much time do you need to finish your work? | How many times have you been in Mexico? | ||
| work | I have some work to do tonight. | That painting is a work of art. | ||
| coffee | I had some coffee after dinner. | Two coffees, please. | ||
| chicken fish lamb | I had some chicken/some fish/some lamb for dinner. (the dish) | She drew a picture of a chicken/a fish/a lamb.(a bird/fish/lamb) | ||
| language | All children must learn a foreign language. (abstract, all languages) | How many languages do you speak? (a specific variety) | ||
| beauty | Beauty will rescue the world. | She is a beauty. (a person or thing that is beautiful) | ||
| business | I enjoy doing business (buying and selling) | I run a small business. (=a company) | ||
| chocolate | I like chocolate. (substance) | He brought me a box of chocolates. (pieces of candies) | ||
| cloth | Bandages are made of stripes of cloth. | Lay the surface with a cloth. | ||
| experience | You need experience for this job. (knowledge) | We had many interesting experiences during our holiday. (things that happened to us) | ||
| hope | The future is not without hope. (abstract) | Don’t raise your hopes too high, or you may be disappointed. (expectations) | ||
| space | There are hundreds of satellites out in space. | We finally found a space in the car park. | ||
| success | It will be a great success, I think. | She is a success. | ||
| art | Art lasts forever. | Fine Arts (a method of doing sth) | ||
| potato | Would you like some potato? | I’m peeling the potatoes. | ||
| painting | Paul is goof at painting.(the activity) | That’s a nice painting. (a picture) |
Concrete nouns semantically fall into three subclasses.
1. Nouns denoting living beings - persons and animals: boy, girl, dog, cat.
2. Nouns denoting inanimate objects: table, chair.
3. Collective nouns denoting a group of persons: family, crowd.
EXERCISES
1. Look at the italicized nouns in the sentences. Write “C” above the count noun and “NC” above the noncount noun.
1. I bought some chairs, tables, and desks. In other words, I bought some furniture.
2. Ann likes to wear jewellery. Today she is wearing four rings, six bracelets, and a necklace.
3. We saw beautiful mountains, fields, and lakes on our trip. In other words, we saw beautiful scenery.
4. Gold and iron are metals.
5. In the United States, baseball is called the national pastime. To play it you need a baseball and a bat.
2. A. Complete the sentences with the given nouns, adding final –s/-es if necessary. Use each noun only once.
| advice homework music stuff change information progress thunder garbage junk river traffic hardware luggage screwdriver |
1. I have some coins in my pocket. In other words, I have some ______ in my pocket.
2. The Mississippi, the Amazon and the Nile are well-known _______.
3. I like to listen to operas, symphonies, and folk songs. I enjoy_______.
4. The street is full of cars, trucks, and busses. It is full of ________.
5. I put some banana peels, empty juice cartons, and broken bottles in the waste can. The can is full of _______.
6. They have a rusty car with an engine, broken chairs, and an old refrigerator in their front yard. Their yard is full of _______.
7. Paul has books, pens, papers, notebooks, a clock, scissors, a tape recorder, and some other things on his desk. He has a lot of ________ on his desk.***
8. The children got scared when they heard _______ during the storm.
9. Tools that are used for turning screws are called ________.
10. I went to the store to get some nails, hammers and screws. In other words, I bought some _______.
11. Tonight I have to read 20 pages in my history book, do 30 algebra problems, and write a composition. In other words, I have a lot of _______ to do tonight.
12. Ann took three suitcases, a shoulder bag, and a cosmetics case. In other words, she took a lot of ______ on her trip.
13. Toronto is 365 ft./109 m. above sea level. The average annual precipitation in Toronto is 32 in./81 cm. The population of the metropolitan area is over 3,000,000. I found (this/these) _______ in the encyclopedia.
14. I didn’t feel good. Ann said, “You should see a doctor.” Nick said, “You should go home and go to bed.” Martha said, “You should drink fruit juice and rest.”I got _______ from three people.
15. My English is slowly getting better. My vocabulary is increasing. It’s getting easier for me to write, and I make fewer mistakes. I can often understand people even when they talk fast. I’m satisfied with the _______ I’ve made in learning English.
B. Look at the italicized nouns in the sentences. Write “C” above the count noun and “NC” above the noncount noun.
*** As a noncount noun, stuff means “a group of various things.” It is an inexact term used primarily in very informal spoken English. (Junk sometimes has the same meaning)
Examples: I keep a lot of stuff in my desk drawers.
Look at all the stuff in this room!
3. Add final –s/-es to the nouns in italics if necessary. Do not add or change any other words.
1. Isabel always has fresh egg available because she raises chicken in the yard.
2. I had chicken and rice for dinner last night.
3. Outside my window, I can see a lot of tree, bush, grass, dirt, and flower.
4. Abdullah gave me some good advice. Nadia also gave me some good suggestion.
5. Yoko learned several new word today. She increased her vocabulary today.
6. I drank two glass of water.
7. Window are made of glass.
8. Mr.Chu wears glass because he has poor eyesight.
9. It took me a lot of time to finish my homework. I had a lot of assignments.
10. I have been in Mexico three time. I’ve spent a lot of time there.
11. There are typewriter, copier, telephone, and stapler in a typical business office. A business office needs a lot of equipment.
12. The air is full of smoke, dust, carbon monoxide, and many other harmful substance. We must seek to reduce air pollution.
13. I like to read good literature. I especially like to read novel, poetry, and essay. My favourite poet are Longfellow and Wordsworth. I have always liked their poem.
14. I like to experience different season. I like both hot and cold weather.
15. Being a parent has brought me a lot of happiness. Parenting requires a lot of patience, but it provides many reward.
16. You can find a lot of time-saving machine in a modern factory. Modern factory need modern machinery.
17. Experienced traveler learn to travel with minimal luggage. My globe-trotting aunt can pack everything she needs into two small suitcase, whether her trip will last for three day or three month. I’m not an experienced traveler. When I travel, I invariably take along too much stuff. Last month I took a three- day trip to Chicago with twice as many clothes as I need.
18. Recycling is important. Regular garbage will typically contain many things that can be recycled: magazine, envelope, cardboard box, old phone book, glass bottle, jar, copper, brass, tin can, etc.
19. There are more star in the universe than there are grain of sand on all the beaches on earth.
4. Choose the correct form of nouns underlined.
› Can I pick an apple /some apple from your tree? – Yes, of course.
1. I think she is a beauty/ beauty.
2. We ought to buy some potatoe/some potatoes.
3. I think painting/a painting is a fascinating hobby. – Well, you are certainly very good at it.
4. Is there cheese/a cheese in the soup? – Yes, a little.
5. Shall I put a chicken/some chicken in your sandwiches?
6. It isn’t fair. – No, life/a life just isn’t fair, I’m afraid.
7. They wrapped up the present in a paper/paper.
8. He has a great deal of experience/experiences.
9. The bridge is made of an iron/iron.
10. I’ll have a glass/glasses of orange juice, please.
11. I switched all the light/lights on.
12. I’ve been to France many time/times.
13. We finally found a space/space in the park.
14. Is there an apple/apple in this salad?
15. There’s a hair/hairs on your shirt.
4. Complete the conversations. Put in these nouns: business (x2), experience (x2), glass, iron, light, paper, space, time. Put a/an or some before each noun.
1 Harriet: Did you manage to park in town?
Mike: It took me ages to find ……… And all I wanted was to buy …………… to wrap this present in.
2 Sarah: Are you busy tomorrow?
Mark: I’m meeting someone in the office. We’ve got ………. to discuss.
3 Trevor: Do you think I need to take ……………… with me for my shirts?
Laura: Oh, surely the hotel will have one.
4 Vicky: I was going to have some juice, but I can’t find …………..
Rachel: If you turned …………. on, you might be able to see properly.
5 Claire: I’ve never met your brother.
Mark: Oh, he’s usually very busy because he runs …………….. But he’s been ill recently. The doctor has ordered him to spend ……………. resting.
6 Daniel: How did your interview go?
Emma: Well, I didn’t get the job. I think they really wanted someone with ……….. of the work, and that’s what I haven’t got. So it was a bit of waste of time. And the train coming back was two hours late. That’s ……….. I don’t want to repeat.
5. Complete Claire’s postcard to her sister. Choose the correct form.
The island is very peaceful. Life/A life is good here. Everybody moves at a nice slow pace. People have time/a time to stop and talk. It’s experience/an experience I won’t forget for a long time. There aren’t many shops, so I can’t spend all my money, although I did buy painting/a painting yesterday. Now I’m sitting on the beach reading paper/a paper. The hotel breakfast is so enormous that I don’t need to have lunch. I’ve just bought orange/an orange with me to eat later. I’ve been trying all the different fruit/fruits grown in this part of the world, and they’re all delicious.
Morphological composition
According to their morphological composition nouns can be divided into simple, derived, and compound.
Simple nouns consist of only one root-morpheme: dog, chair, room, roof, leaf.
Derived nouns (derivatives) are composed of one root-morpheme and one or more derivational morphemes (prefixes or suffixes).
The main noun-forming suffixes are those forming abstract nouns and those forming concrete, personal nouns.
| Abstract nouns | Concrete nouns |
| -age: leakage, vicarage -al: betrayal, portrayal, refusal -ancy/-ency: vacancy, tendency -dom:freedom kingdom -hood: brotherhood, childhood -ing: meaning, cleaning -ion/~sion/-tion/-ation: operation, tension, examination -ism: darvinism, patriotism -ment: agreement, unemployment -ness: darkness, weakness -ship: friendship, membership -ty: cruelty, sanity, banality -th: growth, strength -y: difficulty, honesty | -(i)an: physician, Parisian, republican -ant/-ent: assistant, student, informant -arian: vegetarian -ее: refugee, employee, payee -er: teacher, worker, singer -ician: musician, politician -ist: socialist, artist -or: visitor, actor -let: booklet, leaflet -ess: actress, tigress, waitress -ine: heroine -ix: proprietrix -ette: usherette The four suffixes -ess, -ine, -ette are feminine. |
Sometimes nouns formed by abstract noun suffixes may come to denote concrete things or persons as in translation (a process and its result), beauty (may denote an abstract notion and a beautiful woman).
Compound nouns consist of at least two stems. The meaning of a compound is not a mere sum of its elements. The main types of compound nouns are:
| noun stem + noun stem: | seaman, airmail | |||
| adjective stem + noun stem: | bluebell blackbird | |||
| verb stem + noun stem: | pickpocket | |||
| gerund + noun stem: | looking-glass dancing-hall | |||
| noun stem + prepositions + noun stem: | father-in-law mother-in-law man-of-war | |||
| substantivised phrases: | forget-me-not pick-me-up | |||
Morphological characteristics
Morphologically nouns are characterized by the grammatical categories of number and case.
Gender does not find regular morphological expression. The distinction of male, female, and neuter may correspond to the lexical meaning of the noun:
| masculine (names of male beings) | - boy, man, husband, bachelor, ox, cock; |
| feminine (names of female beings) | - girl, woman, wife, maid, cow, hen; |
| neuter (names of inanimate objects) | - table, house. |
The distinction may be also expressed by word-formation of different types:
a) feminine suffixes
-ess (actress, hostess, poetess, tigress),
-ine (heroine),
-ette (usherette);
b) compounds of different patterns:
| noun + noun stem | pronoun + noun stem | ||
| Tom-cat doctor dog-otter male-frog cock-pheasant | - Tabby-cat - woman-doctor - bitch-otter - female-frog - hen-pheasant | he-wolf he-cousin | - she-wolf - she-cousin |
There are also some traditional associations of certain nouns with gender. These are apparent in the use of personal or possessive pronouns:
a) moon and earth are referred to as feminine, sun as masculine:
It is pleasant to watch the sun in his chariot of gold and the moon in her chariot of pearl.
At first the earth was large, but every moment she grew smaller.
b) the names of vessels (ship, boat, steamer, ice-breaker, cruiser, etc.) are referred to as feminine:
The new ice-breaker has started on her maiden voyage.
She is equipped with up-to-date machinery.
c) the names of vehicles (car, carriage, coach) may also be referred to as feminine, especially by their owners, to express their affectionate attitude to these objects:
She is a fine car.
d) the names of countries, if the country is not considered as a mere geographical territory, are referred to as feminine:
England is proud of her poets.
But: If the name of the country is meant as a geographical one the pronoun it is used. Iceland is an island, it is washed on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean.
THE CATEGORY OF NUMBER
English nouns that are inflected for number (count nouns) have singular and plural forms.
Singular denotes one, plural denotes more than one. Most count nouns are variable and can occur with either singular or plural number. In Modern English the singular form of a noun is unmarked (zero). The plural form is marked by the inflexion -(e)s. The spelling and the pronunciation of the plural morpheme vary.
Regular plurals
I. Nouns ending in vowels and voiced consonants have the plural ending pronouced as [z]:
bee - bees [bi:z], dog - dogs [dɔgz]
II. Nouns ending in voiceless consonants have a voiceless ending:
book - books [buk s ]
III. Nouns ending in - s, -sh, -as, -ch, -x, -z, (sibilants) have the ending [iz]:
actress - actresses ['æktrɪsɪz]
bush - bushes ['bu∫ɪz]
watch - watches ['wot∫ɪz]
box - boxes ['boksɪz]
IV. Nouns ending in -o have the ending [z]:
hero - heroes ['hɪǝrouz]
photo- photoes ['foutouz]
The regular plural inflexion of nouns in -o has two spellings; -os which occurs in the following cases:
a) after a vowel - bamboos, embryos, folios, kangaroos, radios, studios, zoos;
b) in proper names - Romeos, Eskimos, Filipinos;
c) in abbreviations, kilos (kilogramme), photos (photograph), pros (professional);
d) also in some borrowed words: pianos, concertos, dynamos, quartos, solos, tangos, tobaccos.
In other cases the spelling is -oes: tomatoes, echoes, Negroes, potatoes, vetoes, torpedoes, embargoes
Note:
Some nouns may form their plural in either way:
oes/os: cargo(e)s, banjo(e)s, halo(e)s.
V. The letter -y usually changes into -i:
sky skies [skaiz]
But the letter -y remains unchanged -ys:
a) after vowels:
days (except in nouns ending in -quy: soliloquy - soliloquies).
b) in proper names:
the two Germanys, the Kennedys, the Gatsbys;
c) in compounds:
stand-bys, lay-bys.
The word penny has two plural forms:
pence (irregular) - in British currency to denote a coin of this value or a sum of money:
Here is ten pence (in one coin or as a sum of money);
pennies (regular) - for individual coins.
Here are ten pennies.
VI. Thirteen nouns ending in -f(e) form their plural changing -f(e) into -v(e): the ending in this case is pronounced [z]:
| calf - calves elf - elves half - halves knife - knives leaf - leaves | life - lives loaf - loaves self - selves sheaf - sheaves shelf – shelves | thief - thieves wife - wives wolf - wolves |
Other nouns ending in -f(e) have the plural inflexion -s in the regular way: proof - proofs, chief - chiefs, safe - safes, cliff - cliffs, gulf - gulfs, dwarf - dwarfs, reef- reefs, grief - griefs; the ending is pronounced [s].
In a few cases both -fs and -ves forms are possible:
scarf - scarfs/scarves, dwarf - dwarfs/dwarves,
hoof - hoofs/hooves.
VII. Nouns ending in -th after a short vowel have the ending -s [s]:
month — months [mʌnθs].
Nouns ending in -th after a long vowel or a diphthong have [9z] in the plural: baths [ba:ðz], paths [paðz], oaths [ouðz].
But: youths [ju:θs], births [bǝ:θs].
VIII. The plural of abbreviations is sometimes formed in spelling by doubling a letter:
| Ms (manuscript) p. (page) Mr (Mister) M.P. (Member of Parliament) M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) Co. (Company) | - MSS - pp. - Messrs ['mesǝz] - M.P.s ['em'pi:z] - M.D.s ['em'di:z] - Co.s [kouz] |
In a phrase like "Miss Brown" two different forms are used for the plural. We may either say "the Miss Browns" or "the Misses Brown", the latter being generally considered more correct.
Irregular plurals
For historical reasons certain nouns form their plural differently.
1. Seven nouns distinguish plural from singular by vowel change:
| man - men woman - women | tooth - teeth foot – feet | goose - geese mouse - mice louse - lice |
2. Two nouns have -en to mark the plural:
ox - oxen, child - children.
Brother has two plural forms: brothers and brethren, the latter being used as a religious term or in elevated style to denote people of the same creed, not relations.
3. With some nouns the plural is identical with the singularform:
a) sheep-sheep;
swine - swine;
deer - deer;
grouse - grouse.
This sheep looks small. All those sheep are good.
I bought a grouse (three grouse for dinner).
There’re so many fish, they splinter the paddles.
| Note: There, are some animal names that have two plurals: fish - fish/fishes, pike - pike/pikes, trout - trout/trouts, carp –carp/carps, salmon - salmon/salmons. The zero plural is more common to denote hunting quarries (We caught only a few fish. We caught five salmon. He shot quail (перепелок) to make money), whereas the regular plural is used to denote different individuals, species, kinds of animal, especially fish with the same name or insects or other small animals which cause disease or damage. | |
| The plant was covered in greenfly. This animal is infected with hookworm. | There are three greenflies on my hand. Two large hookworms were found in his stomach. There were two quails forsale. |
b) identical singular and plural forms are also typical of nationality nouns in -ese, -ss: Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Swiss.
We met a Japanese. We met many Japanese on our holiday.
Note:
The word for people of the country is the same as the plural noun; the other way is to use substantivized adjectives in this sense:
Englishmen - the English Dutchmen - the Dutch.
c) two nouns borrowed from Latin and one from French also have identical forms for singular and plural:
series - series;
species - species;
corps [ko:] - corps [ko:z].
d) names, indicating number, such as:
pair, couple, dozen, score, stone and head
have the same form for both the singular and plural when they are preceded by a numeral, that is, they function as an indication of a kind of measure: two dozen of handkerchiefs, five dozen of eggs.
The child weighs two stone. One thousand head of cattle.
But when they have no number as predeterminer they take the usual plural form: dozens of times, to go in pairs.
4. A number of foreign (particularly Latin and Greek) nouns have retained their original plural endings.
Loans of Greek origin
| Singular -is [is] basis crisis analysis thesis parenthesis axis hypothesis diagnosis | Plural -es [i:z] bases crises analyses theses parentheses axes hypotheses diagnoses |
| -on [ǝn] criterion phenomenon | -а [ǝ] criteria phenomena |
| -а [ǝ] miasma | -ata [ǝtǝ] miasmata |
Loans of Latin origin
| ||||||||||
Other loan nouns
| ||||||||||
As can be seen from the above list some loan nouns may have two plural forms: the English plural and the original foreign one:
| memorandum | memoranda memorandums | focus | foci focuses | |
| curriculum | curricula curriculums | |||
| formula | formulae formulas | |||
  cherub
| cheribum cherubs |
There is a tendency to use the regular English plural forms in fiction and colloquial English and the foreign plural in academic or learned language.
Sometimes different plural forms have different meanings:
  index
| indexes (list of contents of books) indices (a mathematical term) |
  genius
| geniuses (men of talent) genii (fabulous spirits guarding a place) |
PLURAL IN COMPOUND NOUNS
1. As a rule in compounds it is the second component that takes the plural form:
housewives, tooth-brushes, boy-scouts, maid-servants.
2. Compounds in -ful have the plural ending at the end of the word:
handfuls, spoonfuls, mouthfuls, (though spoonsful and mouthsful are also possible).
3. Compounds in which the first component is man or woman have plurals in both first and last components:
men-servants, women-doctors, gentlemen-farmers.
4. Compounds ending in -man change it into -men in spelling. In pronunciation, however, there is no difference between the singular and plural forms, both having [ǝ]:
policeman [ǝn] - policemen [ǝn].
Such nouns as German, Roman, Norman are not compounds, and therefore they have regular plurals:
Germans, Romans, Normans.
5. In compounds originating from a prepositional noun phrase where the preposition is a linking element only the first noun takes the plural form:
editors-in-chief, mothers-in-law, commanders-in-chief, coats-of-mail, men-of-war.
6. In compounds with a conjunction as a linking element the plural is taken by the second noun:
gin-and-tonics.
7. In compound nouns formed by a noun plus a preposition,or anadverb, or an adjective only the first element takes the plural:
passers-by, lookers-on, courts-martial, attorneys-general.
8. When the compound is a substantivized phrase which doesnot contain a noun, the last element takes the plural ending –s:
forget-me-nots, breakdowns, stand-bys, grown-ups, close-ups, pick-ups, drop-outs, go-betweens.
EXERCISES
