English Grammar(Lecture 2 Nouns)

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Lecture 2 Nouns English Grammar

Lecture 2 nouns

2.1 classification of nouns

1. simple, compund and derivative nouns

According to word-formation, nouns can be divided into three groups.

A simple noun is a noun that contains only one free morpheme (e.g., bag, desk,

truth).

A compound noun is a noun that is usually composed of two or more morphemes

(e.g., classroom, blackboard, tablemate).

A derivative noun is a noun that comes from a verb, an adjective or a simple noun

with affix (e.g., astonishment, introduction, possibility).2. proper and common nouns

According to lexical meaning, nouns can be divided into two groups.

A proper noun is a name used for a particular person, a place, or a thing, and spelt

with a capitale initial letter (e.g., David, Xinjiang, China, the United Nations, New York

Times).

A common noun is a name common to a class of people, thongs or abstract ideas.

Comon nouns include individual, collective, material, and abstract nouns.

Individual nouns: a book, a teacher, a city;

Collective nouns: committee, family, staff;

Material nouns: cotton, tea, water, iron;

Abstract nouns: happiness, enthusiasm, information.

3. countable and uncountable nouns

According to grammatical form, nouns can be divided into two groups.

A countable noun is a noun that has a plural and which can collocate with numbers

and with such determiners as a(n), many, few, these, those, several , etc. (e.g., a book,

two books, many books, several books).

An uncountable noun is a noun that cannot go with the above-mentioned words

(e.g., paper, furniture, poetry).

2.2 number forms of nouns

Number is a grammatical category that indicates the change in the form of nouns

and verbs, depending on whether one or more than one is talked about. Some English

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nouns have singular and plural forms, and some have not.

Individual nouns are all countable and therefore have singular and plural forms.

Some collective nouns are countable, some are not. An uncountable collective noun

has no plural forms. If we want to count the number, we will have to use a kind of individual noun related semantically to the collective.

Material nouns are generally uncountable and have no plural forms. But there are

some such items can be used either uncountably or countably. When used to mean the

material itself, they are ucountable, but when used in other senses, for example, two

coffees in the sense of two cupfuls of coffee, they are countable, behaving just like

individual nouns. There are also material nouns that can take plural endings, for

example, sands / waters in the sense of large expanse of sand or water, and foods / fruits

in the sense of variety of food or fruit; these nouns, though ending in “s”, remain

uncountable.

Abstract nouns are mostly uncountable. But in the case of some abstract nouns, the

mere addition of a plural ending has the effect of changing the meaning of the word. For

instance, the word expeience in “We meet once a year to exchange our teaching

experience” is used in the sense of “经经 ”, while the plural form experiences meanss “经

经” in “We told each other our experiences in foreign contries.”

When we want to change a countable noun from the singular form into the plural

form, we have some ways.

1. regular change

The regular plural is formed by adding “s” or “es” to the base. For example, book-

books, bus-buses, box-boxes, watch-watches, dish-dishes, city-cities, hero-heroes,

radio-radios, wife-wives, roof-roofs.

2. irregular change

The irregular plural is not formed in the above way but by other means. There are

five main methods. For example, a-e (man-men), oo-ee (tooth-teeth), ou-i (mouse-mice), + en (ox-oxen), + 0 (sheep-sheep).

3. borrowed nouns

There are some borrowed nouns in English which remain the same change in

foreign language, especially the French words. For example, sis-ses (thesis-theses), on-a

(criterion-criteria), um-a (medium-media).

4. compound nouns

When we want to change the compoud nouns form the singular form into the plural

form, we have two main ways, e.g.,

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1) sister-in law --- sisters-in-law, lady-driver --- lady-drivers

2) grown-up --- gown-ups, go-between --- go betweens

If we use man or woman to form a compound noun, we must pay attention to the

special change, e.g.,man-servant --- men-servants, woman-writer --- women-writers,

man-hole --- man-holes (经经经), woman-haters --- woman haters.

5. number forms of collective nouns

Some collective nouns are ountable, some are not.

Countable collective nouns behave just like individual nouns (team-teams).

An uncountable collective noun has no plural form (cattle-cattle). If we want to

count the number, we will have to use a kind of individual noun related semantically to

the collective (e.g., a piece of furniture, two articles of equipment).There is also a kind of collective noun which can be used either in the singular or in

the plural sense. When viewed as a singular unit, the collective is singualr in meaning

and is to be followed by a singular verb. When, on the collective, it is plural in meaning

and should be followed by a plural verb.

6. nouns ending in “s”

There are some nouns ending in “s” which are used as single nouns 1) 2) 3) whereas

some are used as plural nouns 4) 5) 6).

1) nouns referring to subjects, such as, politics, phonetics, physics, optics, acoustics

(经经), athletics (经经经), linguistics, mathematics.

2) nouns referring to games, such as, billiards ( 经经 ), darts (经经经经), bowls (经经经经经),

draughts (经经), dominoes (经经经经经).

3) nouns referring to diseases, such as, measles ( 经经), mumps (经经经), rickets

(经经经), arthritis ( 经经经).

4) nouns referring to things compose of two parts, such as, scissors, shears ( 经

经经经经经经经), clippers (经经经经经经经经 ), tongs (经经经经经经经经 ), pliers (经经经 ), scales

(经经), compasses (经经), spectacles, glasses.

5) nouns referring to clothing, such as, jeans, pants, trousers, clothes, shorts, briefs

(underpants 经经经), overall, pyjamas, flares (经经经), flannels (经经经经经).

6) nouns referring to plural meanings, such as, contents, arms, statistics, fireworks,

remains ( 经经经经经 ), outskirts, assets ( 经经 ), thanks, belongings, riches, ashes, archives,

dregs (经经经coffee dregs), stairs, forces, dues (经经), surroundings, tidings (news), doings,

savings, findings, shavings (经经), earnings (经经经 ), sweepings (经经).

2.3 gender forms of nouns

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Gender refers to the natural classification of nouns. There are four gender forms of

nouns. They are masculine, feminine, common (经经), neuter.

Masculine means male whereas feminine means female, e.g.,

masculine femininegod goddess

emperor empress

king queen

prince princess

actor actress

waiter waitress

host hostess

heir heiressshepherd shepherdess ()

count (经经) countess (经经经/伯爵夫人)

priest priestess

poet poetess

manager manageress

landlord landlady

chairman chairwoman

wizard (经经) witch (经经)

widower widow

lad lass

hero heroine

nephew niece

bridegroom bride

monk nun

boy girl

tutor governess

lion lioness

tiger tigeress

bull cow

stallion (经经) mare

cock hen

drake duck

dog bitch

ram ewe ()

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gander () goose

boar ( male pig) sow ( female pig)

Common gender is used to refer to both male and female, e.g., child, horse, sheep;

Neuter gender is used to refer to things without lives, e.g., table, map, room;

2.4 case forms of nouns

Case is a grammatical category. It denotes the changes in the form of a noun or a

pronoun showing its relationship with other words in a sentence. As modern English is

basically an analytic language, English nouns have not a complicated case system like

that of Latin, German, or modern Russian. The different grammatical functions of

English nouns in a sentence are mostly determined by the word order, not by any case

form. It is in this sense that the genitive case may be viewed as a relic of the old casesystem. There are two forms of noun case: the common case (without “’s”) and the

genitive case (with “’s”). the genitive ( 经经 ) was traditionally labelled as the “possessive

case”; however, in view of the fact that “possession” is just one of the meanings

expressed by the genitive, we prefer to use the present name rather than the traditional

term.

1. formation of genitive nouns

Rules of formation are as follows:

1) The genitive is formed in writing by adding ‘s to singular nouns and to those

plural nouns that do not end in “s”, e.g.,

his father’s arrival / Lao Li’s telephone number / women’s clothes

the Working People’s Palace of Culture

2) The plural nouns ending in “s” take an apostrophe as genitive marker, e.g.,

the boys’ dictionary / Xinjiang Teachers’ University

3) In compound nouns or a post-modified noun phrase, the genitive ending is added

to the end of the compound or to the end of the nound phrase, e.g.,

her sister-in-law’s office / an hour and a half’s walk / somebody else’s book

4) In coordinate nouns, the genitive ending is added to each of the coordinate

elements when denoting respective possession, and only to the last coordinate element

when denoting common possession. Compare:

Tom’s and Mary’s books / Tom and Mary’s books ( 经经经经经经经经经经经 )

5) In the constrction of “noun phrase + appositive”, the genitive ending is added to

the end of the appositive. It can also be added both to the end of the noun phrase and to

the appositive, e.g.,

Burn the writer’s = Burn’s, the writer’s

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Kate his wife’s = Kate’s, his wife’s

6) In personal names ending in sibilant (经经经经经经) /z/, the genitive ending

can either be ‘s or an apostrophe only. But it can only be ‘s when personal names end in

other sibilant sounds, e.g.,Dickens’ / Dickens’s novels

Jones’ / Jones’s poems

Marx’s doctrine ( 克思学马马)

Ross’s discoveries

2. meanings of genitive nouns

The genitive is chiefly used to denote “possession”, and therefore, is traditionally

called “possessive case”. But genitive meanings are by no means restricted to

possession. They can be summed up as follows:

1) possessive genitive, e.g.,

Mrs Brown’s car is in front of the house. / My wife’s father will arrive tonight.

2) subjective genitive, e.g.,

He is reading the boy’s application. (The boy applied for…)

We got her parents’ consent. (Her parents consented…)

3) objective genitive, e.g.,

They begin to pay attention to the younger generation’s education.

(…educate the younger generation.)

The boy’s release made her happy. (…released the boy.)

4) genitive of origin, e.g.,

I haven’t got my mother’s leter. / Newton’s law was developed in the 17th century.

5) descriptive genitive, e.g.,

I first met him on a winter’s night. / She finally entered a women’s college.

6) genitive of time, distance, measure, value, country, city, organization, e.g.,

tomorrow’s newspaper / 300 kilometers’ distance / 50 kilograms’ weight

five dollars’ worth of stamps / China’s education / Xinjiang’s water supply

the company’s directors

3. uses of genitive nouns

1) Gentitive nouns are mostly used as central determiners and therefore perform the

same function as “possessive determiners” (traditionally called “possessive pronouns”),

e.g.,

the student’s father = his / her father

the lady’s child = her child

the teachers’ theses = their theses

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2) As central determiner, genitive nouns can’t collocate with other central

determiners, nor can they be preceded by a pre-modifier. For instance, we can say

“Mary’s letter”, but not “a Mary’s letter”; we can say “Mary’s interesting letter” instead

of “interesting Mary’s letter”. This, however, does not apply to some other genitivenouns such as the descriptive genitive and the genitive that denotes time, distance, value

or measure. These genitive nouns are not used as determiners but as pre-modifiers in the

noun phrase, e.g.,

a children’s book / these children’s book / an intersting children’s book

some other new children’s books / the newly published children’s book

another three days’ journey / a pleasant three days’ journey

another very long three days’ journey

3) As central determiner, genitive nouns are sometimes interchangeale with of-

phrases, e.g.,

China’s foreign policy = the foreign policy of China

an elephant’s trunk = the trunk of an elephant

the prime minister’s address = the address of the prime minister

the criminal’s punishment = punishment of the criminal

Newton’s law = the law of Newton

Shakespeare’s tragedies = the tragedies of Shakespeare

4) But in some cases, we can only use genitive nouns instead of of-phrases, e.g.,

at one’s wit’s end (经经经经/经经经经) / at swords’ points (ready for a fight 经经经经) / a hair’s

breadth (经经经经 ) / a wolf in sheep’s clothing / a bird’s eye view

5) In some other cases, however, we can only use of-phrases instead of genitive

nouns, e.g.,

the opinion of the chairman appionted a month ago / the suggestions of those

present at the meeting / the income of the rich / the struggle of the exploited (经经经经经

经经) / the City of Rome

4. independent genitive and double genitive

1) As has been mentioned in the previous section, a genitive noun can sometimes be

used independently, that is, without a following noun. This use of the genitive may be

termed as the independent genitive. Independent genitive is used,

(1) when the missing noun has occurred somewhere in the context and can be easily

retrieved ( 索马 ), e.g.,

Her degree is doctor’s. / Rachel’s is the largest apartment in the building.

(2) when the missing noun refers to somebody’s house or residence, e.g.,I’m going to dine at the Johnson’s / The doctor’s in on the other side of the street.

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(3) when the missing noun refers to church, school, or other public buildings, e.g.,

He lives near St. Paul’s (Cathedral) in London.

My brother was educated at Merchant Taylor’s (School).

(4) when the missing noun refers to commercial firms, e.g.,I’m going to fetch the new coat at the tailor’s. / You can find her at the butcher’s

Such vegetables are available at the grocer’s.

Tom went into a stationer’s to buy a ruler. / It is now a fruiterer’s.

My mother is going to the barber’s.

2) As independent genitive can sometimes be used as prepositional complementation

(traditionally known as prepositional “object”). The prepositional phrase (usually an of-

phrase) that takes an independent genitive as complementation is calld a “double

genitive”, e.g.,Joe is a friend of my father’s. = Joe is one of my father’s friends.

This is a painting of my roommate’s. = This is one of the paintings owned by my

roommate.

She is a business client of Sir Roger’s. = She is one of Sir Roger’s business clients.

3) From the above examples, we can see that the independent genitive in the of-

phrase must be definite specific personal reference. Thus, we can say “a patient of the

doctor’s”, but not “a patient of a doctor’s”; nor can we say “an engine of the plane’s”. In

the first example “a doctor’s” is not definite specific reference, while in the second, the

reference of “the plane’s” is not personal.

4) From the above examples, we can also see that the noun phrase with a double

genitive as post-modofier usually takes an indefinite determiner such as this, that to

convey emotional feelings, e.g.,

a daughter of Mrs Green’s / any [some] daughters of Mrs Green’s / two daughters of

Mrs Green’s / which daughter of Mrs Green’s / this daughter of Mrs Green’s

But we can’t say “the daughter of Mrs Green’s”.

5) Semantically, a double genitive is different from an ordinary of-phrase. Compare:

He is a friend of my father’s. = He is one of my father’s friends.

He is a friend of my father. = He is friendly to my father.

a portrait of Henry’s = one of the portraits owned or collected by Henry

a portrait of Henry = a portrait of Henry himself

a criticism of Shaw’s = one of the criticisms made by Shaw

a criticism of Shaw = a criticism written by somebody else to criticize Shaw

2.5 the function of nouns

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1. subject : My husband won the championship.

2. object : He told the boy a story.

3. predicative: His father is a doctor .

4. attributive: He was writing a book report last night.5. appositive: Mr Brown, the Director of the Company, has gone to New York.

6. adverbial : Mary will go to Japan tomorrow.

7. complement : We call her Zhang Sir .

8. address: Tom, come here.

2.6 partitives (经经)

Partitives, also called unit nouns, are commonly used to denote a part of a whole or

the quantity of an undifferentiated mass. Both countable and uncountable nouns canenter partitive constructions. With plural count nouns, partitive constructions can denote

the idea of “a group”, “a pack”, etc. With uncountable nouns, such constructions can

achieve countability. Partitives fall into the following categories.

1. general partitives

With uncountable 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, e.g.,

a piece of paper / advice / chalk / cloth / evidence / information

a bit of trouble / advice / grass / wood

an item of news / ice / land / meat

an article of furiture / coal

several pieces of bread / three items of news

2. partitives related to the shape of things

There are partitives that are semantically related to the shape of things and whose

power of collocation is, therefore, quite limited, e.g.,

a cake of soap / a drop of water / a bar of chocolate / a flight of stairs ( 一段楼梯) / two

ears of corn (经) / a bundle of firewood / ten head of cattle [cabbage] / a loaf of bread ( 经

经经经) / a lump of sugar / a spiral [ 经] of incense (一香马 )

3. partitives related to volume

A thiird class of partitives are those that are semantically related to volume, and all of

which are common nouns. They can freely collocate with related uncountable nouns,

e.g.,

a bottle of ink [oil] / a cup of tea / two bowls of rice / a handful of clay ( 一把土) /

several pails of water / a glass of beer / a bucket of milk / two spoonful of hot water / a

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truckload of steel / four lorryload of sand

4. partitives related to the state of action

The use of these partitives is limited to certain set phrases, e.g.,

a bit of anger / coughing / laughter / fever (有点生气/经经/ 笑马 /马马

)a peal of applause / laughter / thunder (一马…)

a flash of hope / light / lightning (一希望马 /一道亮光/一道马马)

a display of courage / force / power / skill / fireworks ( 经经)

5. partitives denoting pairs, groups, flocks, etc.

The partitives commonly occur with plural count nouns, e.g.,

a pair of shoes / scissors / trousers

a flock (经经) of birds / chicken / sheep / goats

a herd (经经) of elephants / cattlea swarm (经经经经经经经 / 物群马 /经经/经经) of bees / flies /animals / people

a troupe (经经经) of actors

a shoal [] (经经) of [a school of ] fish / whales (经经)

a gang of hooligans / criminals (一马/一帮)

a pack of lies / cigarettes / thieves (一派言马 /一包香烟/一窃马马)

a bench of judges (法官席)

a group of people

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English Grammar(Lecture 2 Nouns)

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