The noun has certain syntactical characteristics.

The chief syntactical functions of the noun in the sentence are those of the subject and the object. But it may also be used as an attribute or a predicative. A noun can be modified by an adjective, a pronoun, by another noun or by verbals.

 

§ 4. Morphological composition of nouns.

According to their morphological composition we distinguish simple, derivative and compound nouns.

Simple nouns are nouns which have neither prefixes nor suf­fixes. They are indecomposable: chair, table, room, map, fish, and work.

Derivative nouns are nouns which have derivative elements (prefixes or suffixes or both): reader, sailor, blackness, childhood, misconduct, inexperience.

Productive noun-forming suffixes are:

-er: reader, teacher, worker

-ist: communist, telegraphist, dramatist

-ess: heiress, hostess, actress

-ness: carelessness, madness, blackness

-ism: socialism, nationalism, imperialism

Unproductive suffixes are:

-hood: childhood, manhood

-dom: freedom

-ship: friendship, relationship

-ment: development

-ance: importance

-ence: dependence

-ty: cruelty

-ity: generosity

Compound nouns are nouns built from two or more stems. Compound nouns often have one stress. The meaning of a com­pound often differs from the meanings of its elements.

The main types of compound nouns are as follows:

noun-stem + noun-stem: snowball;

adjective-stem + noun-stem: blackbird, bluebell;

verb-stem + noun-stem: pickpocket; the stem of a gerund or of a participle may be the first component of a compound noun: dining-room, reading-hall, dancing-girl.

Classification of nouns.

Nouns fall under two classes: (A) proper nouns; (B) common nouns.

A. Proper nouns are individual names given to separate persons or things. The proper nouns may be personal names (Mary, Shakespeare), geographical names (Moscow, the Caucasus), the names of the months and of the days of the week (February, Monday), names of ships, hotels, clubs, etc.

B. Common nouns are names that can be applied to any individ­ual of a class of persons or things (e. g. man, dog, book) or abstract notions (e. g. kindness, development).

 

The category of number.

English countable nouns have two numbers —the singular and the plural.

The main types of the plural forms of English nouns are as follows:

I. 1. The plural of English nouns is formed by adding the ending -s (-es) to the singular; -s is pronounced in different ways:

ü [iz] after sibilants: noses, horses, bridges.

ü [z] after voiced consonants other than sibilants and after vowels: flowers, beds, doves, bees, boys.

ü [s] after voiceless consonants: caps, books, hats, cliffs.

 

Note1:  exceptions:

Man- men

Woman – women

Child – children

Foot – feet

Tooth – teeth

Goose – geese

Note 2: Spelling Rules:

• Nouns ending with “-y”, preceded by a vowel, change “-y” into “-ie”: lady – ladies
• Nouns ending with sound “-f” generally change letter “-f” into “-ve”: loaf - loaves
• Nouns ending with vowel “-o” form plurals by adding “-es”: potato – potatoes

The category of gander.

Nouns denoting people have category of gander and can be replaced by personal pronouns “he” or “she” in singular, depending upon sex.

The distinction of nouns into masculine, feminine and neuter, may also be expressed lexically by means of different words or word-compounds:
father — mother man — woman

Boy —girl gentleman—lady

Husband — wife cock-sparrow—hen-sparrow

Boy-friend—girl-friend             man-servant—maid-servant

Note: There is practically only one gender-forming suffix in Modern English, the suffix -es, expressing feminine gender. It is not widely used.

heir — heir-ess

poet — poet-ess

actor — actr-ess

waiter — waitr-ess

host — host-ess

lion — lion-ess

tiger — tigr-ess

 

  § 8. The category of case.

English known has 2 cases – Common and Genitive or Possessive.

Genitive case shows the possession of the object to a person. It is rendered by '    or  ׳s  

The boy’s ball - the boys’ balls

Ball of the boy    -     balls of the boys

If a noun in plural doesn’t have ending “-s”,  ׳s  is used to form Genitive case: children – children’s

 

2.4 Grammar Practice

1. Give the plural of the following nouns.

cap, task, port, pipe, lake; comb, pig, hand, song, tube, name, meal, glove, room; day, letter, door, opera; country, city, duty, industry; life, leaf, shelf, loaf; potato, Negro, photo, zero; dress, bus, wish, rose, fox, page.

2. Give the singular of the following nouns.

lips, logs, rabbits, painters, lines, times, slopes, kites, passes, phrases, types, dishes, countries, melodies, lorries, calves, wives, halves, knives, heroes, cargoes.

3. Change the number of the italicized nouns and make all other necessary changes.

1. The child is playing in the yard. 2. The story was very interesting. 3. We came up to the woman who was working in the garden. 4. The match will be held in Kiev. 5. The goose is in the yard. 6. The lorry passed by. 7. The tomato is ripe. 8. The book is on the shelf. 9. This watch was made in Germany. 10. The cat caught a mouse.