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English- the noun
1. Mihai ION ● Basic English Morphology
THE NOUN
1. CLASSIFICATION
♦word-formation
– simple: pencil, dog, meal
– derived: childhood, driver, unhappiness
– compound: postcard, dining-room, editor-in-chief
♦content
– countable (count): apple, lesson, table
[+s, +a(n), many/few] Give me an apple. They eat many apples.
– uncountable (mass): noise, milk, wisdom
[-s, -a(n), much/little] There is much noise in here.
– proper: John, Italy, July, Tuesday, Christmas, Newsweek
– collective: army, audience, class, club, committee, company, crew, crowd, family, jury,
party, press, public, gang, herd, pack, poultry, swarm, shoal, mankind
2. NUMBER
a) Variable nouns (sg & pl)
♦Plural
1) -s added to the singular
books, toys, radios, photos, sopranos
2) -es added to the singular nouns ending in: -s, -z, -sh, -ch, -x, -o
buses, fezzes, brushes, watches, boxes, potatoes
3) …consonant + y > …consonant + ie + s
city/cities, fly/flies
4) …-f(e) > …-ve + s
knife/knives, calf/calves, elf/elves, loaf/loaves, life/lives
but: belief/beliefs, chief/chiefs, proof/proofs, roof/roofs, safe/safes
5) compound nouns
washing-machines, forget-me-nots, grown-ups, merry-go-rounds
lookers-on, mothers-in-law, passers-by
women drivers, men singers
6) foreign plurals
stimulus – stimuli, larva – larvae, stratum – strata, analysis – analyses,
criterion – criteria, corpus – corpora, genus – genera, tempo – tempi
but: cactus – cacti/cactuses, formula – formulae/formulas,
medium – media/mediums, appendix – appendices[books]/appendixes[anatomy]
7) irregular plurals
man – men, woman – women
foot – feet, tooth – teeth, goose – geese
louse – lice, mouse – mice
child – children, ox – oxen, brother – brethren[religious]
8) zero plurals
deer, sheep, fish, fruit
Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Swiss
means, series, species, barracks
2. Mihai ION ● Basic English Morphology
b) Invariable nouns (sg / pl)
♦Singular
1) concrete mass nouns: bread, meat, luggage, furniture, money
2) abstract mass nouns: music, progress, information, knowledge, advice
3) nouns ending in -s: news, measles, linguistics, cards
4) abstract nouns derived from adjectives: the beautiful, the good, the evil, the sublime
5) proper nouns: Athens, Brussels, Naples, Wales, the Thames
Partitives: a … of + mass N
piece, bit, item, bar, slice, pound, loaf, lump, sheet, blade, stick, strip, article, roast
♦Plural
1) summation plurals: trousers, pyjamas, glasses, compasses, scales, scissors
2) ‘pluralia tantum’ nouns: savings, customs, wages, outskirts, colours, goods
3) unmarked plurals: cattle, clergy, people, police, youth, infantry, gentry
4) personal nouns derived from adjectives: the rich, the poor, the injured, the sick
5) proper nouns: the Alps, the Highlands, the Netherlands, the United States
3. GENDER
♦masculine (he/who): man, brother, uncle
♦feminine (she/who): woman, sister, aunt
♦neuter (it/which): book, house, snow
♦common/dual (he/she/who): cousin, friend, patient
Gender contrasts
♦different words: husband – wife, boy – girl, bull – cow, cock – hen
♦compounds: male student – female student, he-bear – she-bear, Tom-cat – Tabby-cat,
bull-elephant – cow-elephant, schoolboy – schoolgirl, landlord – landlady
♦suffixes: host – hostess, hero – heroine, bridegroom – bride, widower – widow
4. CASE. The Genitive
a) The Saxon genitive (sg N1’s N2; pl N1’ N2) is used with
– nouns denoting persons or other beings:
father’s car, Dickens’ novel, Kim and Joe’s flat, my mother-in-law’s job, a cow’s milk
– nouns denoting time, distance, size, weight, value:
a three hours’ talk, a two miles’ walk, a kilo’s weight, two pounds’ worth of sugar
– collective nouns: the company’s policy, the government’s decision
– geographical names: England’s history, London’s museums
– nouns denoting abstractions or unique things: life’s joys, the moon’s rotation
b) The prepositional genitive (N1 of N2) is used
– with neuter (inanimate) nouns: the cover of the book
– with long noun phrases: the wife of the man you have met
– in titles: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Special constructions
♦the elliptic genitive: at the baker’s (shop), St. Paul’s (Cathedral), at my aunt’s (house)
♦the double genitive: a picture of Jim’s (=made by) vs. a picture of Jim (=presenting)