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Nouns and Noun Phrases (Other types of nouns (compound noun (made up of…
Nouns and Noun Phrases
Other types of nouns
compound noun
made up of combinations of independent words
noun + noun
e.g. boyfriend, computer screen
noun + ING-form
e.g. sleepwalking, air-conditioning
ING-form + noun
e.g. driving school, reading-room
verb + noun
e.g. pickpocket, wash-basin
verb + particle
e.g. black-out, lock-out
derived noun
To change adjectives and verbs into nouns with suffixes
Verb + er
e.g. player
Verb + or/ress
e.g. survivor, actor, actress
Verb + ar
e.g. liar
Verb + ment
e.g. resentment
Verb + ion
e.g. abortion
Verb + a-/ence
e.g. acceptance, absence
Verb + a-/ency
e.g. pregnancy, fluency
Adj + ness
e.g. hapiness
group noun
in a way the opposite of unit nouns as they provide a collective reference for separate entities, often followed by an
of-phrase
e.g. a
group of children
e.g. a
set of alternatives
e.g. a
pair of cowboys
e.g. a
bouquet of flowers
e.g. a
flock of sheep
e.g. a
swarm of bees
collective noun
refer to groups of people which can be singular or plural depending on the concord of the verb and co-referent pronouns.
plural
e.g. The Jury
are
collecting
their
thoughts on the case.
singular
e.g. The class
has
a test next week.
both
e.g. My family
is
in the other room.
They
are anxious to meet you.
Genetive
used to express possession and is
NOT
plural
by adding
's
to nouns in singular and plural nouns which don't end in
s
e.g. the
girl
's
mother
e.g.
Tom
's
car
by adding ONLY an apostrophe to plural nouns with regular s-ending
e.g. the two
girl
s'
mother
The Noun Phrase
Head
place
The most important aspect of the noun phrase and
always
a noun
Premodifier(s)
vibrant and exciting
Modifies before the head, often an adjective/adjectives or an adjective phrase
Postmodifier(s)
to visit
Modifies after the head, often a prepositional phrase but can also be a relative clause or a non-finite verb
Determiner
A
Determines ownership and specifies the head, e.g. his, Sally's, the
NOUNS
COMMON
COUNTABLE
SINGULAR
e.g. cat, girl, match
PLURAL
Regular plural
ending in (e)s
e.g. toe - toes e.g. book - books
-y becomes -ies in plural and -o becomes -oes
e.g. spy - spies e.g. baby - babies
e.g. potato - potatoes e.g. echo - echoes
Irregular plurals
Foreign plurals
nouns that often derives from Greek or Latin
Latin nouns ending in
-us
:
-i
e.g. alumn
us
-
alumni
Latin nouns ending in
-um
:
-a
e.g. spectr
um
-
spectra
Latin nouns ending in
-a
:
-ae
e.g. formul
a
-
formulae
/formulas
Latin nouns ending in
-ex
/
-ix
:
-ces
e.g. append
ix
-
appendices
/appendixes
Greek nouns ending in
-is
:
-es
e.g. analys
is
-
analyses
, thes
is
-
theses
Greek nouns ending in
-on
:
-a
e.g. phenomen
on
-
phenomena
Zero plural
have the same form in both singular and plural
some animals
e.g. sheep, salmon
quantifying nouns
e.g. million, dozen
other
e.g. dice, Swiss (etc.), aircraft, species, blues
Consonant change
e.g. calf - calves e.g. knife - knives e.g. wife - wives
Vowel change
e.g. woman - women e.g. foot - feet
e.g. mouse - mice
Adding -(r)en
e.g. child - children e.g. ox - oxen
Plural-only nouns
e.g. binoculars, scissors, trousers
e.g. cattle, people, police
e.g. arms (weapon), damages, spirits (alcohol)
e.g. measles, billiards, linguistics, statistics
UNCOUNTABLE
Entities that can't be counted
Unit noun
makes uncountable nouns countable
e.g. a
bar
of chocolate/soap/gold
e.g. a
piece
of advice/toast
e.g. a
bit
of luck
refers to substances (air, sand), emotional and other states (love, ownership), qualities (importance, strength), and abstract concepts (peace, time)
NB! Some common nouns have capital letters
e.g. a Ford, a Kennedy, a real Ceasar
PROPER NOUN
Some proper nouns have determiners despite this being primarily a trait for common nouns
e.g. The BBC
e.g. Oslo, Sally, Wednesday