NOUNS
TYPES OF NOUNS AND NUMBER
REGULAR AND IRREGULAR PLURALS |
1. The noun appears at various positions of a sentence to bring out the name of an object, a person, a place, and a concept or idea. |
CONCRETE NOUNS |
A person = Peter, Paul, a man, a woman, a girl, a boy |
A place: New York, Israel, Cameroon, etc |
an Object: a table, a chair, a shirt etc |
ABSTRACT NOUNS |
a concept or idea: an imagination, a fact, Geography, politics, a dream etc |
2. Number in Nouns |
Some nouns can be singular or plural. |
*Regular plurals: adding ‘S’ changes a noun from singular to plural. Eg – an egg –some eggs, a book –> books, |
* Other plurals with some nouns ending in the letter: “f” changes to ‘ves’ – eg thief – thieves, leaf – leaves, calf – calves, shelf – shelves, loaf – loaves, knife – knives BUT Chief – chiefs, fief – fiefs, beef – beefs/ beeves, “y” changes to ‘ies’ – eg. treaty – treaties, booty – booties, duty – duties, county – counties BUT Boy – boys, buoy – buoys, toy –toys borrowed words from other languages take their plural from the source language a nouveau-riche, nouveaux-riches “X” and “S” ending add “es” in the plural eg. suffix – suffixes, tax – taxes, class – classes, bus – buses “o” endings add “es” mulatto – mulattoes, potato – potatoes |
** Irregular plurals: There is a change in form of the word eg. Sheep – Ox – oxen, mouse – mice, mouse – mice, goose – geese, man – men, tooth – teeth, foot –feet, woman – women, child – children, cactus – cacti, cacti, fungus – fungi, appendix – appendices, alga – algae/algas, formula – formulas/formulae, matrix – matrices |
* some nouns remain unchanged in the plural: sheep, offspring, moose, aircraft, deer, fish, species, salmon, trout |
*Collective nouns: They imply in themselves the plural : the people, the group, the family, etc |
*uncountable nouns: The units that make up the noun are too much or tiny to be counted. Eg Rice, water, powder. |
THE 10 FUNCTIONS OF NOUNS IN A SENTENCE ref. grammar.com
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1. Subjects of sentences: Nouns determine the way a verb is conjugated – /Mary: Shamelessly John, the lion, only shows his strength to weak girls/ Proud ministers’ children have the police at their beck and call!/The Minister… is too fair with school cases/ His daughter’s pride caused her mates so much humiliation./ |
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2. Subject complements (predicate nouns or predicate nominatives): Here the noun relates to the subject with the help of a linking verb. The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, /You, John are the bold lion. / |
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3. Direct objects of transitive verbs:/….he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly,/…. she offered her mates a party of abundance generously, …/you gave the Minister’s child a knock on the head fearlessly/ the lion, only shows his strength to weak girls./Proud ministers’ children have the police at their beck and call!/His daughter’s pride caused her mates so much humiliation, |
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4. Objects of verbal phrases: /….He gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, /his students feverishly taking notes on all he said./ |
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5. Indirect objects:/ …He gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly/She offered her mates a party of abundance generously/His daughter’s pride caused her mates so much humiliation |
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6. Objects of a preposition: /He gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly./ she offered her mates a party of abundance generously./ His daughter’s pride caused her mates so much humiliation, the latter carefully avoiding problems with the Police/The Minister, a teacher by profession,/ |
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7. Noun appositives: /The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert/The girl, Mary Stuart, is the party host/Shamelessly John, the lion, only shows his strength to weak girls./ |
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8. Noun modifiers: The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert. |
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9. noun adverbs: The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said. |
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10. Noun absolutes: /So yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said./The Minister, a teacher by profession, is too fair with school cases, his job being so precious to him |
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You form a noun absolute by taking a noun(or pronoun) and adding five different structures 1) true adjective, 2)present-participial phrase (-ing)3) past participial phrase (-ed phrase)4) prepositional phrase, and 5) true noun |
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