NOUNS

Gender & Plural

Two kinds of nouns

ABSTRACT - Qualities and states which cannot be touched or seen. - uncountable e.g. health, misery, love, hate, happiness, laughter, joy * CONCRETE - names of things that can be seen, touched, i.e. they exist in the physical world. e.g. people, man, medicament, doctor, house, tree, students

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CONCRETE NOUNS
Two types: Common- names of people, things and places belonging to a certain group. e.g. academy, man, patient, baton Proper- names of particular, i.e. individual people, places, institutions, etc. e.g. London, John, The Hilton
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Proper nouns > UNCOUNTABLE Common nouns > COUNTABLE > UNCOUNTABLE

Common nouns which can be COUNTED separately in the plural are COUNTABLE. e.g. man - men, worker - workers, book books, house - houses

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Concrete nouns denoting things that cannot be counted are UNCOUNTABLE. e.g. air, blood, sugar, coffee, grass Note! I like my coffee without sugar. But: Bring us three coffees (three cups of coffee).

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Some nouns both > countable > uncountable * Different meaning e.g. This box is made of paper. There were 20 papers submitted for the conference.

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Adjectives = nouns when preceded by the DEFINITE ARTICLE e.g. The rich do not understand the poor. Nouns = adjectives e.g. health policy, hospital rules, family doctor, etc.

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NOUN GENDER
MASCULINE GENDER FEMININE GENDER NEUTER GENDER COMMON GENDER

MASCULINE GENDER
boy sir king son nephew father brother husband wizard god heir uncle waiter prince lion horse wolf

FEMININE GENDER
woman girl madam queen aunt niece mother sister wife witch poetess goddess heiress daughter waitress princess lioness
mare she-wolf

NEUTER GENDER
baby bee bird book car child finger ground hospital house joke letter message noun paper road story wave

COMMON GENDER
artist child person parent monarch teacher inhabitant student guide friend neighbour doctor representative cousin guest enemy tourist singer
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NOUN PLURAL
s es
/s/, /z/ ili /iz/

/s/
/z/

/iz/

book books cat - cats dog - dogs day days rose - roses judge - judges

SUFFIX ES /IZ/
a)

s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x

bus - buses
glass - glasses brush - brushes church - churches box - boxes

SUFFIX ES, cont.

b) most nouns ending in - hero - heroes potato - potatoes volcano - volcanoes

Exemptions
piano - pianos photo - photos kilo - kilos solo - solos studio studios radio radios

NOUNS ENDING IN -
lady - ladies story - stories army - armies country - countries factory factories BUT: boy boys day - days

NOUNS ENDING IN F / -FE

f > v + -es
leaf - leaves wife - wives thief - thieves loaf - loaves half - halves

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EXEMPTIONS
roof roofs gulf gulfs cliff cliffs proof proofs belief beliefs N.B.: scarf - scarfs - scarves hoof - hoofs hooves dwarf dwarfs - dwarves
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IRREGULAR PLURAL FORM

man - men woman - women child - children foot - feet goose - geese mouse - mice louse - lice

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SINGULAR = PLURAL & vice versa

sheep - sheep deer - deer fish - fish (fishes) aircraft - aircraft Swiss - Swiss Chinese - Chinese Japanese - Japanese

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species species series series means means e.g. There has been an interesting series of concerts recently. There were several series of lectures at the university last spring.

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Nouns > SINGULAR form + SINGULAR verbs UNCOUNTABLE and cannot be used with NUMBERS or the word MANY, for instance: advice, applause, information, luggage e.g. He gave me some advice. The advice was good. Ill give you a piece of advice. They received two pieces of information.

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COMPOUND NOUNS
brother-in-law, toothache, passer-by, girl-friend, go-between, etc. Plural forms can vary: brothers-in-law, toothaches, passers-by, girl-friends, go-betweens, etc. Note! man friend men friends woman doctor women doctors

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NOUNS OF LATIN ORIGIN

axis axes locus loci radius radii bacterium bacteria datum - data

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NOUNS OF GREEK ORIGIN

analysis analyses basis - bases crisis crises criterion criteria phenomenon phenomena thesis - theses

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Two plural forms > different meanings

genius
medium brother

cloth

- geniuses - genii - mediums - media - brothers - brethren - cloths - clothes

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Plural form > singular object

(a pair of) glasses, trousers, scissors, etc.:
The trousers are too expensive. The scissors on the desk are not sharp enough. The old ladys glasses were on the floor.

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Singular form + verb in plural form

Police are looking for the man who escaped from the prison. The cattle are out in the field.

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Plural form + verb in singular form

Linguistics is a science dealing with languages. Darts is played in pubs in Britain. No news is good news.

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Noun + verb in singular / plural form

committee the Vatican headquarters team
The committee has/have made a wrong decision.
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