THE NOUN

THE NOUN

Classification of Nouns

1.1. According to word-formation, nouns can be:

a) s i m p l e: pencil, dog, mountain;

b) d e r i v e d: driver, booklet discontent;

c) c o m p o u n d: postcard, dining room, editor-in-chief.

1.2. According to countability, nouns can be:

a) c o u n t a b l e, when they can have a plural form and can be used with the indefinite article, or with many, few, several: apple, lesson, son:

I'd like to eat an apple. They eat many apples

b) u n c o u n t a b l e, when they cannot be used in the plural or with the indefinite article, but can be used with much, little:

There was much noise in that room.

NOTE: Some nouns can be countable in one meaning and uncountable in another: paper, difficulty, lamb, etc.:

Paper is not cheap nowadays. I have a morning paper.

Number of Nouns

Variable nouns form the plural in the following way:

a) the inflection -s is added to the singular:

book - books, cat - cats, toy - toys;

b) -es is added to the singular nouns ending in -s, -z, -x,

-ch, -sh:

bus - buses, box - boxes, watch - watches, brush - brushes;

c) -es is added to nouns ending in -y preceded by a consonant (y changes into i

fly - flies, city - cities;

d) -es is added to nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant:

hero - heroes, potato - potatoes (but: photo - photos

e) -(e)s is added to nouns ending in -f(e) (which changes into -v

knife - knives, leaf - leaves (but: roof - roofs, belief - beliefs, chief - chiefs, etc.

f) the root vowel changes:

man - men, woman - women, foot - feet, tooth - teeth, goose - geese, louse - lice, mouse - mice;

g) -en is added to the singular:

child - children, ox - oxen;

h) foreign plurals are preserved with some borrowed nouns (mainly Latin and Greek):

stimulus - stimuli, larva - larvae, stratum - strata, basis - bases, criterion - criteria;

(but: cactus - cacti/cactuses, formula - formulae / formulas

i) -s is added to the last element of a compound noun: washing machine - washing machines, forget-me-not - forget-me-nots to the first element: passer-by - passes-by, son-in-law - sons-in-law, or both elements take the plural: woman-driver - women-drivers

NOTE: Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural: deer, sheep, fish, fruit, Chinese, Portuguese, Swiss, dozen, hundred, thousand, means, series, species, etc.:

A sheep is in the valley. Ten sheep are in the valley.

A Chinese is looking at us. The two Chinese are looking at us.

This is an efficient means. These are efficient means

The plural forms fishes, fruits denote different species or varieties:

We studied the fishes of the Pacific Ocean.

Invariable nouns have either the singular or the plural.

Singular invariable nouns, which take a verb in the singular, are:

a) Concrete uncountable nouns: bread, meat, luggage, furniture, money, etc.:

My luggage is very heavy. (Bagajele mele sunt grele.)

The money is on the table. (Banii sunt pe masa

b) Abstract uncountable nouns: music, progress, nonsense, information, knowledge, advice, homework, etc.:

Your advice is always good. (Sfaturile tale sunt īntotdeauna bune.

His knowledge of German is poor. (Cunostintele lui de germana sunt slabe.

c) Proper nouns: George, The United States, The Atlantic Ocean, The Danube, etc.:

The United States lies in North America.

d) Nouns ending in -s: news, measles (and another names of diseases), optics, mathematics (and other names of sciences), cards, ninepins (and other names of games):

This news is very good. (Aceste vesti sunt foarte bune.

Mathematics is difficult for me..

NOTE: To express quantity of uncountable nouns, we can use the words: piece, item, bar, slice, gramme, pound, a loaf etc.:

a piece of news/information/furniture/advice/cake/bread (o veste / informatie / mobila / un sfat /o bucata de prajitura /pāine

a bar of soap/chocolate, a slice of bacon/cake,

a pound of sugar/flour/rice/coffee.

a loaf of bread.

Plural invariable nouns, which take a verb in the plural, are:

a) Articles of dress: trousers, pijamas, tolls and instruments: scales, scissors, etc.:

Your trousers are on the chair. Where are the scissors?

b) Proper nouns: The Alps, The Highlands:

The Alps are high mountains.

d) Substantivized adjectives: the rich, the poor, goods, etc.:

The poor are suffering. The goods were sold at the auction.

e) Unmarked plurals: cattle, infantry, people, police, etc.:

The police are after the thief.

NOTE: When we want to refer to one article of dress or instrument, we can use the word pair: a pair of trousers/scissors/scales. Some "collective nouns" like: family, team, crew, jury, etc., take a verb in the plural when reference is made to the component elements, and a verb in the singular, when they are used generically: His family is large. His family are at home. (Ai lui/membrii familiei lui sunt acasa.)The crew is waiting for the captain' command. All the crew are washing the deck (Toti membrii echipajului spala puntea).

Case of Nouns. The Genitive

From the point of view of form, there are two types of genitive:

The analytical genitive with the preposition of, used with neuter nouns or with long noun phrases:

the colour of his eyes, the husband of the woman you have met.

The synthetical genitive with 's added to singular nouns or irregular plurals: the girl's performance, the men's results, and added to regular plurals, or to proper nouns ending in -s: the students answer, Dickens works. It may be used with the following:

a) nouns denoting persons or other beings:

John's wife, the doctor's order, the cow's milk;

b) nouns denoting measurement, time, space, quantity, value:

a two weeks holiday, a life's work, a mile's drive, a pound's worth of pears;

c) collective nouns: the firm's investment, the government's decision;

d) nouns that can be personified (geographical names, vehicles, natural phenomena, etc.):

Romania's history, the ship's crew, the day's heat.

NOTE: In the elliptic genitive the head noun is not expressed: the baker's (shop), my grandmother's (house), St. Paul's (Cathedral). I've seen some of Harry's drawings, but none of Mary's (drawings).

Gender of Nouns

4.1. There are four categories of gender

a) m a s c u l i n e: man, brother, uncle;

b) f e m i n i n e: woman, sister, aunt;

c) n e u t e r: book, house, snow;

d) c o m m o n: cousin, friend, pacient.

Gender contrasts are expressed with the help of:

a) different words: barman-barmaid, husband - wife, boy - girl, bull - cow, cock - hen, bachelor-spinster, drake-duck, dog-bitch, stag-doe, stallion-mare, gander-goose;

b) compounds: schoolboy - schoolgirl, landlord - landlady, male cousin - female cousin, he-bear - she-bear, bull-elephant - cow-elephant, tom-cat - tabby-cat;

c) suffixes: host - hostess, hero - heroine, bridegroom - bride, widower - widow, tiger-tigress, heir-heiress, steward-stewardess, actor-actress, lion-lioness.

EXERCISES

I. Turn the italicized nouns into the plural and make all the other necessary changes in the sentences:

1. The chicken was eaten by a fox. 2. Have you seen this interesting phenomenon? 3. That knife shouldn't be used any more. 4. Yesterday a house was robbed by a thief. 5. The child in that family has bad manners. 6. The farmer has a hen, a goose, and a sheep. 7. My sister-in-law is a teacher. 8. My cat never catches a mouse. 9. The businessman is considering the new tariff. 10. She has lost the key to that door. 11. The housewife and the middle-aged woman are the principal consumers of this product. 12. We are looking for the witness who has seen the accident.

II. Choose the right word from the brackets:

1. The scissors (was, were) here a few minutes ago. 2. His luggage (was, were) lost yesterday. 3. A (little, few) knowledge (is, are) a dangerous thing. 4. (much, many) people on the ship (was, were) getting seasick from the waves. There (is, are) several means of accomplishing our purpose. 6. Billiards (is, are) his favorite game. 7. The news printed in that paper (is, are) never accurate. 8. We don't need to buy so (much, many) furniture, there (is, are) (much, many) chairs here. 9. How (much, many) information do you need? 10. You didn't give me (much, many) ideas about the job, and very (little, few) advice.

III. Fill in the blanks with one of the following words:

bar, bit, item, piece, slice;

1. There are two interesting . of news in today's paper. 2. Don't forget to buy a . chocolate on your way home. 3. She cut several . of bread for lunch. 4. We want to buy a new . of furniture for the sitting room. 5. Each passenger is allowed to take three . of luggage. 6. With a.of luck we can get rid of them. 7. You can have that . of cold beef left over from yesterday's dinner. 8. This is a . of good advice. I'm sure it will help me.