Nouns: common and possessive case

a) SingularNoun   the girl my wife my baby Tom Archimedes Pythagoras Thomas Carlos my brother-in -law	Possessive Form   the girl's name my wife's coat my baby's toys Tom's friend Archimedes' Law Pythagoras' Theorem Thomas's/Thomas' Carlos's/Carlos' my brother-in-law's guitar	1. 's is used with singular nouns not ending in -s.     2. Classical names ending in -s usually add only the apostrophe. 3. Other names ending in -s take 's or the apostrophe alone. 4. With compounds, the last word takes the 's.
b) Plural Noun   the girls   the men my children	Possessive Form   the girls' names   the men's work my children's toys	1. A simple apostrophe (') is used with plural nouns ending in -s. 2. 's is used with plural nouns not ending in -s.

 

COUNT AND NONCOUNT NOUNS

1. I bought a chair. Tom bought three chairs. 2. We bought some furniture. INCORRECT: We bought a furniture. INCORRECT: We bought some furnitures.	Chair is a count noun;chairs are items that can be counted. Furniture is a noncount noun. In grammar, furniture cannot be counted.
Singular Plural
COUNT NOUN	a chair one chair	chairs two chairs some chairs a lot of chairs many chairs	A count noun: a) may be preceded by a/an in the singular; b) takes a final -s/-es in the plural.
NONCOUNT NOUN	furniture some furniture a lot of furniture much furniture	¾	A noncount noun: a) is not immediately preceded by a/an; b) has no plural form; does not take a final -s/-es.

SOME COMMON NONCOUNT NOUNS

1. Whole groups made up of similar items: baggage, clothing, equipment, food, fruit, furniture, garbage, hardware, jewelry, junk, luggage, mail, machinery, make-up, money/cash/change, postage, scenery, traffic.

2. Fluids: water, coffee, tea, milk, oil, soup, gasoline, blood, etc. 3. Solids: ice, bread, butter, cheese, meat, gold, iron, silver, glass, paper, wood, cotton, wool, etc. 4. Gases: steam, air, oxygen, nitrogen, smoke, smog, pollution, etc. 5. Particles: rice, chalk, corn, dirt, dust, flour, grass, hair, pepper, salt, sand, sugar, wheat, etc.

6. 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; — time, space, energy; — homework, work; — grammar, slang, vocabulary. 7. Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, etc. 8. Fields of study: economics, chemistry, engineering, history, literature, mathematics, psychology, etc. 9. Recreation: baseball, soccer, tennis, chess, bridge, poker, etc. 10. General activities: driving, studying, swimming, travelling, walking (and other gerunds).

11. Natural Phenomena: weather, dew, fog, hail, heat, humidity, gravity, rain, lightning, sleet, snow, thunder, wind, darkness, light, sunshine, electricity, fire.

 

USING NOUNS AS MODIFIERS

1. The soup has vegetables in it. It is vegetable soup. 2. The building has offices in it. It is an office building.	When a noun is used as a modifier, it is in its singular form.
3. The test lasted two hours. It was a two-hour test. 4. Her son is five years old. She has a five-year-old son.	When a noun used as a modifier is combined with a number expression, the noun is singular and a hyphen (-) is used.

THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE

Use of a/an	Examples
1. Before a singular countable noun, when it is mentioned for the first time and represents no particular person or thing:	I can see a book on the table. They live in a flat. He bought an ice-cream.
2. Before a singular countable noun which is used as an example of a class of things:	A child needs love = All children need/Any child needs love.
3. With a noun complement. This includes names of professions:	My friend is a manager. She'll be a dancer.
4. With certain numbers.     Before half when half follows a whole number. But kg = half a kilo, though a + half + noun is sometimes possible. With, ,etc a is usual:	a dozen, a hundred, a million (but one dozen, one hundred, one million is also possible). kilos = one and a half kilos or a kilo and a half; a half-holiday, a half-portion, a half-share; a third, a quarter etc., but one is also possible.
5. In expressions of price, speed, ratio etc.:	5p a kilo, sixty kilometres an hour, four times a day; (Here a/an=per)
6. Before a singular countable noun after the word whatin exclamatory sentences and after the wordssuch, quite, rather:	Such a long queue! Such long queues! What a pretty girl! What pretty girls! She is still quite a child. It is rather a difficult problem.
7. With the nouns in the function of apposition. But when the apposition refers to a well-known person the is used:	The report was made by Petrenko, a student of our University. Jack London, the great American novelist, was born in San Francisco.
8. In a number of set expressions: a lot of, a great many, a great deal of, a good deal of, a great number of, a good many, a couple, a little, a few, at a speed of, at a time when, at a time, in time, on a large (small) scale, all of a sudden, by bus (train), to be in a hurry, to be in a position, to be at a loss, it’s a pity, for a short (long) time, as a result of, as a matter of fact, to have a good time, to have a mind, in a loud (low) voice, to have a look, to have a headache, to take a sit, to have a cold, to go for a walk.

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

Use of «the»	Examples
1. Before a noun which has become definite as a result of being mentioned:	I saw a new film on TV yesterday. The film wasn't very interesting.
2. Before a noun made definite by the addition of a phrase or clause:	the girl in blue; the boy that I met; the place where I met him.
3. When the object or group of objects is unique:	the earth, the sea, the sky, the moon, the sun, the world.
4. Before a noun which by reason of locality can represent only one particular thing:	Ann is in the garden. (the garden of this house). Please open the window.
5. Before superlatives and first, second etc. used as adjectives or pronouns, and only:	the first week; the best day; the only way.
6. Before a noun that represents a class of animals or things: But man, used to represent the human race, has no article.	The cow is a domestic animal. The pine is an evergreen tree. If oil supplies run out, man have to fall back on the horse.
7. The + adjective represents a class of people:	the old = old people in general. the rich = rich people in general.
8. Before certain proper names of oceans, rivers, seas, gulfs, groups of islands, chains of mountains, plural names of countries, deserts, and before certain other names:	The Atlantic, the Thames, the Alps, the Black Sea, the Crimea, the City, the United States of America, the Sahara, the Persian Gulf.
9. Before the adjectives east/west etc. + noun in certain names:	the East/West End, the East/West Indies, the North/South Pole.
10.Before other proper names consisting of adjective + noun or noun + of + noun:	The National Gallery, the Tower of London.
11.Before names of newspapers, ships, orchesras, pop groups etc.	the Times, the Great Britain, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Beatles.
12.the+ plural surname can be used to mean «the... family»:	the Smiths = Mr and Mrs Smith (and children).
13.the + a singular countable noun (type of machine, invention, musical instruments).	The bicycle is an excellent means of transport. When wasthe telephone invented? The piano is my favourite instrument.

NO ARTICLE

Uses	Examples
1. Before plural nouns:	My friends are students.
2. Before abstract nouns except when they are used in a particular sense:	Men fear death. but: The death of the Prime Minister left his party without a leader.
3. After a noun in the possessive case, or a possessive adjective:	the boy's uncle = the uncle of the boy It is my (blue) book = The (blue) book is mine.
4. Before names of meals:	The Scots have porridge for breakfast but: The wedding breakfast was held in her father's house.
5. Before names of games:	He plays golf.
6. Before parts of the body and articles of clothing, as these normally prefer a possessive adjective:	Raise your right hand. He took off his coat.
7. When home is used alone, i.e. is not preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase:	He is at home. He went home. I arrived home after dark. I sent him home.
8. Before the nouns: bed, church, court, hospital, prison, school/college/university, when these places are visited or used for their primary purpose. We can be/get back from school/college/university. We can leave school, leave hospital, be released from prison. But: When these places are visited or used for other reasons the is necessary:	We go: to bed to sleep; to church to pray; to court as litigants; to hospital as patients; to prison as prisoners; to school/college/university to study; similarly we can be: in bed, sleeping or resting; at church as worshippers; in hospital as patients; at school as students.   Sometimes he goes to the prison to give lectures.
9. work = place of work.	He is at work. He's on his way to work.
10. We go to sea as sailors. To be at sea = to be on a voyage (as passengers or crew). But to go to or be at the sea = to go to or be at the seaside. We can also live by/near the sea.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

The Nominative Case	The Objective Case
I — я he — він she — вона it — воно (він, вона) we — ми you — ви, ти they — вони	me — мене, мені him — його, йому her — її, їй it — його, йому, її, їй us — нас, нам you — вас, вам, тебе, тобі them — їх, їм

 

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Conjoint Form	Absolute Form
my — мій, моя, моє, мої his— його (чоловічий рід) her — її its —його(середній рід), її our — наш, наша, наше, наші your— ваш, ваша, ваше, ваші твій, твоя, твоє, твої their — їхній, їхня, їхнє, їхні	mine — мій, моя, моє, мої his— його (чоловічий рід) hers — її — ours — наш, наша, наше, наші yours — ваш, ваша, ваше, ваші твій, твоя, твоє, твої theirs — їхній, їхня, їхнє, їхні

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Persons	Singular	Plural
1^st pers. 2^nd pers. 3^rd pers.	myself yourself himself, herself, itself	сам(а) себе	ourselves yourselves themselves	самі себе
1. He looked at himself in the mirror.	A reflexive pronoun usually refers to the subject of a sentence. He and himself refer to the same person.
2. He himself answered the phone, not his secretary. 3. He answered the phone himself.	Sometimes reflexive pronouns are used for emphasis.
4. She lives by herself.	The expression by + a reflexive pronoun usually means «alone».

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

Sentences	-thing	-body, -one	-where
Affirmative	some   any	something   що-небудь   anything усе, що завгодно	somebody someone хтось хто-небудь anybody/anyone усякий будь-який	somewhere anywhere десь де-небудь anywhere де завгодно куди завгодно
Interrogative	any	anything   що-небудь	anybody anyone хто-небудь будь-хто	anywhere   де-небудь куди-небудь
Negative	not... any   no	not... anything нічого nothing   нічого	not... anybody not... anyone ніхто nobody/no one none ніхто	not... anywhere   ніде, нікуди nowhere   ніде, нікуди
Affirmative Interrogative Negative	every	everything   усе	everybody everyone усякий, кожний, усе	everywhere   скрізь, усюди

QUANTITIVE PRONOUNS

few little мало, мало хто недостатньо	Few birds can be seen in that place. (= almost none) I know little about painting. (= almost nothing)	Few and little have a negative meaning. They mean not enough.
a few кілька a little трохи	A few birds can be seen in that place. (= some birds) I know a little about painting. (= something)	A few, a littlehave a positive meaning. They mean some though not much (many)

 

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS