Post on 21-Dec-2015
Lecture 4
Noun and Noun Phrase
words that identify the whos, wheres, and whats in language.
Nouns name people, places, and things.
What is Noun?
Francis Macomber had, half an hour before, been carried to his tent from the edge of the camp in triumph on the arms and shoulders of the cook, the personal boys, the skinner and the porters. The gun-bearers had taken no part in the demonstration. When the native boys put him down at the door of his tent, he had shaken all their hands, received their congratulations, and then gone into the tent and sat on the bed until his wife came in. She did not speak to him when she came in and he left the tent at once to wash his face and hands in the portable wash basin outside and go over to the dining tent to sit in a comfortable canvas chair in the breeze and the shade.
RECOGNIZING NOUNS
Francis Macomber half hour tent edge camp
triumph arms shoulders cookboys skinner porters gun-
bearers part demonstrationboys door tent
handscongratulations tent
bed wifetent
face hands wash basintent
canvas chair breeze shade
4.1 Classifications of Nouns and Function of Noun Phrases
1) Classification of Nouns
Nouns can be classified according to
word formation
lexical meaning
grammatical form
According to Word Formation:
Simple Noun
Compound Noun
Derivative Noun
contains only one free morpheme
compound of two or more morphemes (mostly free morphemes)
comes from a verb, an adjective or a simple noun with affix
man
armchair
arrangement
farmland
chairland
greatness
policeman
landless
According to Lexical Meaning:
Proper Noun
Common Noun
a name used for a particular person, place or thing, and spelt with a capital initial letter
a name common to a class of people, things or abstract ideas.
Common nouns can be further classified into Individual, Collective, Material, and Abstract nouns
According to Grammatical Form:
Count Noun
Noncount Noun
Count Nouns Noncount Nouns
storm(s) chair(s) smile(s) book(s)
assignment(s)
weather furniture
happiness information homework
has a plural and which can collocate with numbers and with such determiners as a(n), many, few, these, those, several
noun that cannot go with the above-mentioned words
Look over this chart contrasting count and noncount nouns
Noun
word formation
lexical meaning
grammatical form
Simple
Compound
Derivative
Count
Noncount
Proper
Common
According to Semantics:
Concrete n. Abstract n.
Proper CommonCount
Noncount
Noun
China
the Smiths
two AmericasIndividual
Material
arrival
educationhonor
an idea
a hope
a situation
collective
watertea
sand
2) Function of Noun Phrases
The noun phrase can function as all the elements in a sentence except the predicate verb.
Children at play seldom remember what time it is.
In the hall I saw some extremely valuable pictures.
They elected him chairman of the board.
Children play time
subject
prepositional complementation
subject complement
hall pictures
object
chairman boardobject complement
Mr Brown, director of the coal mine, should be responsible for the accident.
He returned last night.
A photo is taken each time this button is pushed.
conjunction
adverbial
appositive
director of the coal mine
last night
each time
4.2) Number Forms of Nouns
Number is a grammatical distinction which determines whether a noun or determiner is singular or plural.
1) Regular and Irregular Plural
Individual Noun
singular form Countable plural form
base
regular irregular
adding –s or –es Five aspects
2. changing the ending
3. foreign plurals
4. foreign plural and an English plural
5. singular and plural number share the same form
1. changing the internal vowel
plural form irregular Five aspects:
goose geeseFoot feet
alderman aldermen dormouse dormice
ox oxen
crisis crises locus loci/kraisis/ /kraisi:z/ ləukes ləuki / ləusai
cactus cacti, cactuses
deer deer
means means
a) Number Forms of the Collective Noun
2) Number Forms of the Collective, Material, Abstract and Proper Noun
Collective Noun
Countable Uncountabledealt with like individual nouns
no plural form
Replaced by individual nouns when counted
Singular & Pluralsingular and plural
sense share the same form
Two forms One form One form
a family/two families
a team/ two teamsfoliage leaf
Police policeman
The family a unit
The family 3 people
b) Number Forms of the Material Noun
Material Nouns
Uncountable
no plural forms
Uncountable & Countable
Uncountable: material itself
Countable: other senses
Uncountable but have plural endings
One form Two forms One form
Base forms and plural forms differ in meaning
Two forms
mostly
meat
sugar
dust
hair hairs
ruin ruinspepper 胡椒粉
a pepper 一个青椒
two peppers 两个青椒
c) Number Forms of the Abstract Noun
Abstract nouns
Uncountable Countable
mostly
cannot take determiners as a(n)/one
or plural forms
dealt with like individual nouns
Uncountable but have plural endings
Base forms and plural formsdiffer in meaning
Replaced by individual nouns when counted
One form Two forms Two forms
a victory
two victories
a conference
two conferences
difficulty
difficulties
kindness
kindnesses
Uncountable & Countable
Abstract nouns
Uncountable: abstract concept itself
Countable: other senses/ concrete individual(s)
beauty 美
a beauty 一美女
two beauties 俩 美女
One formTwo forms
d) Number Forms of the Proper Noun
Plural formsSingular forms Plural forms
Proper Nouns
unique in reference
no plural forms
themselves plural in form
take on some characteristics
of common nouns
One form One form One form
4.3 Partitives
Partitives, also called Unit Nouns, are commonly used to denote
a part of a whole or the quantity of an undifferentiated mass.
1. Definition:
Both Count and Noncount nouns can enter partitive constructions.
2. Scope of Use:
3. Function:
With plural count nouns
With noncount nouns
a group, a pack
countablility
4. Classification:
1) General Partitives
2) Partitives Related to the Shape of Things
3) Partitives Related to Volume
4) Partitives Related to the State of Action
5) Partitives Denoting Pairs, Groups, Flocks
1) General Partitives:With noncount nouns the expression of quantity can be achieved by means of certain general partitives, particularly piece, bit, article, and item, followed by an of- phrase
piece : 一 片 / 块 / 张 / 段 / 枝 / 个 / 幅 / 项 / 件 ] ( 文 艺 作 品 的 ) 部 , 篇 , 首 , 幅 , 出 , 支bit: 小块 , 少量 ,
piece and bit are very general words and can be used with most uncountable nouns
article: 一件 , 一种 ( 物品 ; 物件 ; 商品 ) 一条, 一项(项目 , 条款 , )item: 一件,一则 , 一条(项目 , 条款,消息,情报)
There are partitives that are semantically related to the shape of things and whose power of collocation is, therefore, quite limited
2) Partitives Related to the Shape of Things
cake 块bar 条
drop 滴
ear 穗
flight 群 ( 飞着的鸟 ) 段 ( 阶梯 )
grain 粒
head 花冠 , 穗 ( 植物,蔬菜 )
头 ( 牲畜 )
lump 块 ( 小 )
spiral 盘,卷
slice 片
bundle 捆,束,包
loaf 条,块 ( 面包 )
3) Partitives Related to Volume
A third class of partitives are those that are semantically related to volume, and all of which are common nouns. They can freely collocate with related nonount nouns
bottle 瓶
bowl 碗
pail 桶
bucket 桶
glass 杯
cup 杯
handful 把
spoonful 匙
truckload 一货车的容量
lorryload < 英 > 一卡车载量
4) Partitives Related to the State of Action
The use of these partitives is limited to certain set phrases
a fit of 一阵 ( 情绪,病痛的发作;,声音 )
a peal of 一阵 ( 声音 )
a flash of 一线 / 闪 / 道
a display of … 的显示,展示
5) Partitives Denoting Pairs, Groups, Flocks
These partitives commonly occur with plural count nouns
a pair of
a group ofa flock of
a herd of
a litter of
a swarm of
一双,对
一群 ( 人、虫、兽等 )
一群
兽群 , 牧群一窝
一群昆虫,人,动物
a bench of
a troupe of
a pack of
a shoal of
a school of
a gang of
一席,全体(法官)
一团,班,伙(演员)
一群(野兽,猎犬)一帮 / 伙人(贬)
一群(鱼)一群 , 队 ( 鱼,水族动物 )
一队(工人),一群(囚犯)一帮(歹徒)
5) Partitives Denoting Pairs, Groups, Flocks