Noun Lecture1

Lecture 1. Kinds of nouns The word noun comes from Latin word ‘nomen’ which means name. Noun names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. Concrete and abstract nouns A noun that names something that can be seen, smelled, heard, tasted, or touched is called a concrete noun. An abstract noun, on the other hand, names an idea, a quality, or a feeling. Common and proper nouns A common noun refers to any person, place, thing or idea. Do not capitalize common nouns in the middle of a sentence. A proper noun identifies a particular person, place, thing or idea. Proper nouns are always capitalized. For example: Common nouns Proper nouns City Tel Aviv People Chinese, Pakistanis Collective nouns A collective noun refers to a group of persons, animals, or things. A crowd of students flocked into the room. Common collective nouns Audience class committee Band club family

group team

Compound nouns Two or more words used as a single noun are called a compound noun. A compound noun is written either as one word, as separate words, or as hyphenated words. For example: single word: newspaper, grandfather, separate words: New Year’s Day, truck driver, hyphenated words: make-up, son –in-law Practice Which nouns are concrete? Which are abstract? 1. Some early inventors had little education 2. These pioneers worked alone on their dreams.

3. Modern businesses hire people with creative abilities. 4. These designers develop new products: such as safer toys. 5. Scientists work with engineers on amazing gadgets. Which nouns are common? Which are proper? This famous inventor was born in Germany. The man changed production of books forever. Before Gutenberg, pages were slowly copied by hand. Then this designer invented a new type of printing press. Due to his works, many manuscripts could be printed at the same time for readers throughout Europe and the world. Label nouns either concrete or abstract and either common or proper. Modern inventors also strive for speed and convenience. Alexander Graham Bell had the idea for a telephone. His first phone was built with very crude equipment After much frustration, Bell

introduced this device. Messages could be sent quickly on his talking machine. The first callers shouted into a mouthpiece to their listeners. Engineers have improved that device beyond Bell’s hopes. Voices travel by wire, radio, or satellite now. An American for example: can dial to relatives in Africa or Asia. Computers can now transmit newspaper reports, legal documents, and even pictures across the globe. Which nouns are collective? We had an interesting collection of photographs. Our class had visited Colonial Williamsburg in May. No one in my family had ever been there. A committee of students and teachers planned the trip. There were about forty students in our group.

Which nouns are compound? The guides at Colonial Williamsburg dress like colonists. The Governor’s Palace is a storehouse of antiques. A footpath led us to the stores of several shopkeepers. A wigmaker and a candlemaker displayed their crafts. I read a story about a teen-ager in the Virginia Colony. Hampton Roads is one of the largest seaports in America. Here three waterways meet the Chesapeake Bay Some students bought postcards of James River Bridge. My brother –in- law took us on a tour of a large shipyard in the city of Newport News. Shipbuilding is not just for the military. A crew of workers had built a passenger liner called the United States. This ship was designed by W.F.Gibbs. At the launch a band played, and a crowd of spectators watched the ceremony. How did the onlookers bid farewell? The captain, the first mate, a swarm of stewards attended to the passengers’ needs. Is the vessel part of a fleet of ships? Because of its tremendous horsepower, this steamship set a record on its first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Not even the navy has been able to break that record. For almost two decades, the ship met the challenges of white-caps, violent storms, fog, and icebergs. The liner was then sold and restored in West Germany.

Nouns are divided as countable and uncountable. Countable nouns have two forms; singular plural Uncountable nouns can have two subgroups: only singular, only plural Many languages have category of gender. Old English had category of gender. During its development the category of gender was lost. Most of nouns represent both genders. Sometimes nouns distinguish gender lexically. For example: cock-hen Man-servant-woman servant Peacock-peahen Tom- cat –Pussy –cat Sometimes by adding suffix –ess For example: waitress, lioness, princess

Forming plurals Plurals are regularly formed by adding s to the singular form. Yield –yields alibi –alibis Freebie –freebies bayou –bayous Nouns ending in s, x, ch, sh, or z When the singular form ends in s, x, ch, sh, or z the plural is formed by adding es to the singular. Virus-viruses, quartz-quartzes. But quiz-quizzes.

Singular nouns ending in silent s do not change their forms in the plural. One corps –two corps, a rendevous- many rendevous /when the plural form is used the s ending is pronounced. /-s is pronounced as /z/ after vowels, voiced consonants: dogs, days -after unvoiced consonants as /s/: hats, roofs - after /s/,/z/, /∫/, /3/, /t∫/, /d3/, as /iz/: classes, roses, dishes, garages, benches, bridges/ When a singular noun ends in ‘y’ preceded by a consonant ‘y’ is changed to ‘i’ and adding ‘es’ to the singular form Proxy-proxies liability- liabilities To ‘y’ preceded by a vowel simply add ‘s’ Guy-guys But soliloquy-soliloquies Colloquy-colloquies Nouns ending in ‘o’ ‘O’ preceded by a vowel take ‘s’ in the plural form Tattoo-tattoos boo –boos Duo-duos Nouns ending in ‘o’ preceded by a consonant form plurals in different ways. a. to some nouns simply add ‘s’: placebo-placebos weirdoweirdos, typo-typos b. some add ‘es’: echo-echoes, embargo –embargoes, fiascofiascoes c. some have 2 forms/the preferred form is given first/ cargo-cargoes cargos, zero zeros, zeroes, motto- mottoes, mottos, proviso-provisos, provisos, tuxedo-tuxedos, tuxedoes, ghetto-ghettos, ghettoes d. musical terms form their plurals by adding ‘s’: alto-altos, cello-cellos Nouns ending in f, fe or ff a. most form their plurals by adding ‘s’: beliefs, safes, tariffs, proofs

b. some change to ‘ve’ half-halves, life-lives c. some have 2 forms /the preferred form is given first/: scarf scarves, scarfs, dwarf, dwarfs, dwarves Nouns with irregular plurals Some nouns are formed by a change of letters within: womanwomen, foot-feet A few plurals end in ‘en’, ’ren’ children, oxen, Some nouns have the same form sheep-sheep, deer-deer, swineswine, fish-fish /fishes for different types of fish. Ichthyology is that branch of zoology which treats of the internal and external structure of fishes Means, aircraft A good means-these means One aircraft-many aircraft /house /s/ -houses/z/, bath/ baths Foreign words. Latin . basis bases Datum data crisis-crises Erratum- errata analysis-analyses Memorandum-*memoranda phenomenon-phenomena Bacillus-bacilli miasma miasmata Nucleus –nuclei Terminus-termini Formula-formulae Series series Species species