Followers

The Noun

NOUN.-  A noun is a word that names a person, animal, place, thing or an abstract idea, called concept.  It is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. The noun is one of the eight parts of speech. 

Let’s see some examples:


Regular Nouns
Plural
Examples
Most nouns
add s
book          books
cup            cups
sprout       sprouts
Most nouns that end in ch, sh, s, x, or z
add es
box            boxes
bus            buses
prize          prizes
Most nouns that end in a vowel and y
add s
boy            boys
day            days
key             keys
Most nouns that end in a consonant and y
y becomes ies
baby          babies
country     countries
spy             spies
Most nouns that end in f or fe
f or fe becomes ves
wife           wives
elf              elves
loaf            loaves
 thief          thieves
Most nouns that end in o
add s
kangaroo   kangaroos piano          pianos
video         videos
Certain nouns that end in a consonant and o
add es
hero            héroes
potato        potatoes
volcano      volcanoes
Irregular Nouns

Certain English nouns change a vowel sound when they become plural.
These include
 goose                geese
 man                  men
woman             women
mouse              mice
tooth                teeth
foot                  feet
Some nouns don't change at all when they become plural.
These include
 deer                 deer
 fish                  fish
sheep               sheep
 species.          species.
A few nouns have plural forms that are left from Old English.
These include
child           children

ox              oxen.


What is the plural of each of the nouns? 


person
animal
place
thing/idea or concept
concrete
Abstract
Mr.Kant
dog
classroom
computer
Happiness
president
cat
Lake Titi Caca
board
honesty
father
bird
restaurant
window
God
girl
mouse
supermarket
notebook
liberty
student
parrot
Lima
pencil
passion
Sara
squirrel
Europe
eraser
knowledge
dwarf
fish
India
backpack
freedom

*An abstract idea exist only in the mind. In other words, it is an intangible concept.


PROPERTIES OF NOUNS.- All nouns have four characteristics called “properties”. These are:

1) GENDER
2)  PERSON
3) NUMBER
4)  CASE
Indicates the sex of the person, place or thing that is named.

1.   Masculine gender (male sex): boy, brother, bull, cock, father, husband, man, king, uncle, brother and son.

2.   Feminine gender (female sex):girls, sister, cow, hen, mother, wife, woman, queen, aunt, sister and daughter.

3.   Common gender(denotes either sex): worker, singer, relative, birds cattle, children, citizens, driver, friend, neighbor and parent,

4.   Neuter gender denotes neither male nor female sex: books, desk, ink, pen, tree, river, house and lamp.
It is a characteristic or form which lets us know whether the word relates to the speaker, to the person spoken to, or to the person or thing spoken about.

First person (refers to a person who is doing the speaking): I, we


Second person (refers to a person who is being addressed) : you


Third person(refers to a person or thing being spoken about): he, she and it.
Tells us whether the noun refers to only one person, place or thing, or to more than one.

Examples:

Singular: cat

Plural: cats

*some nouns do not have a plural form. These are called “non-count nouns” They are material things like: bread, butter, coffee, gold, water, sugar, silver, goal, wine, salt and vinegar.
Abstract nouns are also non-count nouns. They include concepts like: freedom, liberty, biology, etc.
It indicates the grammatical function of the noun in a sentence. English nouns have three cases: nominative, objective and possessive.

Examples:

Nadia is fun. (subject of a sentence)

Sara loves Tom. (object or a sentence)

Sara’s book is nice. (possessive relationship with an object)


A noun can function in a sentence as a subject, direct object, an indirect object, a subject complement, an object complement, an appositive, and adjective or an adverb.

            Examples:     1. Rose and Tom are friends.
                                   2. Her secret admirer gave my sister a bouquet of flowers
                                   3. I consider my father tired. (object complement)
                                   4. My father became a magistrate.
                                   5. I love my father the magistrate. (appositive)

PLURAL NOUNS (SPELLING)

Most nouns in English have both singular and plural forms. Study these rules carefully.

REGULAR NOUNS
1.      For most nouns simply add “s” in the plural.
My father has four cars in Brazil.
2.               Nouns that end in “s”, “ss”, “sh”, “ch”, “x”, and “o” add “es” in the plural.

Most English nouns ending in “o” form the plural by adding “s”
        shampoo/shampoos
        studio/studios
        radio/radios

Some can form the plural by adding either “s” or “es”, for example: 
       Zero -  zero or zeroes
I come back in two buses at night.
My sister has three classes ever day.
The churches in Europe are very old but beautiful.
The matches are very dangerous for little children.
My little brother has four boxes of toys.
I buy five mangoes in the supermarket every week.
I like those shampoos.

3.               Nouns that end in a consonant + “y” change to “ies” in the plural. But nouns ending in “y” preceded by a vowel usually forma the plural simply by adding “s”.
I love romantic stories (story).

My sister has twenty two boys in her class.
4.               Many nouns that end in “f”, in the plural change the “f” to “v” and the add “es”.

Nouns ending in “ff” become plural by adding “s”. For example: sheriff/sheriffs
               Tariff/tariffs

Other nouns ending in “f” or “fe” become plural by only adding “s”. For example:
        Proof/proofs
        Belief/beliefs
I saw two big wolves (wolf) and three calves (calf) in the zoo yesterday.
My knives (knife) are made of silver.

5.               The most common “Irregular Nouns”are:

All kinds: change the vowel, word or add a different ending.



The ones that end with “us”, change “us” to “i”.

There are also unchanging plural nouns.
For example:  man/ men
                       foot/feet
                       tooth/teeth
                       goose/geese
                       child/children
                       person/people
                       mouse/mice
 For example:          cactus/cacti
                                nucleus/nuclei
                                focus/foci
For example:  scissors/fish/sheep/deer/bison

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