Instituto Superior Josefina Contte

Grammar 1 - Noun
• Proper : Norman, Johnson, Christmas, Congress
• Common: chair, boy,
• Count
• Mass (uncount)
• Concrete
• Abstract
Proper vs. Common nouns
PROPER NOUNS
a) Personal names
b) Place names
c) Organization names
d) Time names
Note: arbitrary in form, capitalization. No determiner and number contrast.
Some proper nouns include multipart names: The White House, the Pacific Ocean
Proper plural nouns : the Himalayas

Proper nouns occurring regularly with the

a) Geographical names such as rivers, seas and cannals the Nile
b) Plural geographical names The Cayman Islands
c) Buildings in public functions The Ritz , The Metropolitan
d) Names of ships The Titanic
e) Newspapers The Times
Some proper nous can be used as common nouns
a) Person or family the Johnsons
b) Product a Cadillac
Proper nouns with modifiers little Harry (not to identify him, adds a descriptive label to someone already
identified)
Countable / Uncountable nouns
Common nouns: countable entities which can be counted
Uncountable nouns: things cannot be counted
a cow cows the cows ( definite and indefinite contrast)
− milk the milk ( definite and indefinite contrast)

• Proper nouns have no contrast for number or definiteness, they are always singular and definite
Uncountable nouns that refer to separate items furniture
• Same nouns as countable and uncountable
four chickens Would you like some chicken?
Two teas, please ( 2 cups)
Uncountable nouns can sometimes be used as countable nouns
level of education an education

Plural uncountable nouns( plural ending -s, go with plural determiner, uncountable because they have no
singular form) those clothes thanks scissors

Concrete / abstract nouns

• Concrete: physical entities or subtances
• Abstract : Abstractions such as events, states, times and qualities
There's a narrow distiction between what nouns are concrete and which ones are abstract. Some nouns can be
used as both.
This thing is too small ( refering to an object)
These things take time (refering to process)
Countable concrete nouns refer to persons, objects, places
Uncountable concrete nouns refer to subtances, materials, liquids, gases.

Package nouns
a) Collective nouns refer to groups of people, objects or things, work like count. nouns.
a team/ the team/ teams staff
Names of organizations and official bodies: the UN, Parliament
Collective with -of
a bunch of flowers/thieves/idiots
a flock of birds/ doves/ sheep/ children
a group of animals/ buildings/ disasters/things
Some of them have a negative effect eg. bunch, gang, pack
b) Unit nouns
used to cut up generalized mass or substance into individual or pieces. They are countable nouns, followed by
an of- phrase.
a piece of cake a bit of luck a sheet of paper
Bit and piece are the most general. Some occur with certain collocations a loaf of bread
Some uncountable nouns can be combined with more than one unit noun.
A ball/ bit/ /piece/ pile/ sheet of paper

c) Quantifying nouns
• For a type of container a basket of eggs a cup of tea
• For shape a pile of bills
• Measure nouns a liter of beer a pound of cheese
• Plural numeral nouns hundreds of time
• Nouns for large quantities a load of garbage loads of work
• Nouns ending in – ful handful teaspoonful bowlful
• Pair and couple a pair of hands a couple of days
d) Species nouns
Refer to a type of sthg a sort of / type of / kind of

Number
• Singular form is unmarked. Plural form with suffix.
• Regular andirregular plural form
ash- ashes map-maps piano- pianos lady- ladies
man- men foot – feet child – children knife-knives
• Latin and Greek plural (foreign plural )
curriculum- curricula criterion- criteria
• Zero plural
Some animal names sheep, fish
Some quntifying nouns dozen , hundred
Others dice, series, aircraft
• Plural- only nouns
They look singular but are actually plural
people police cattle
• Singular nouns in -s : They look plural but are actually singular news checkers
Plural invariable nouns Scales- scissors - shorts - trousers
Gender
Masculine uncle

Animate Femenine aunt

Personal Dual teacher

Common baby

Collective family

Nonpersonal masc.higher animal bull

fem.higher animal cow

Higher organism ship France

Lower animal ant

Inanimate inanimate box

Personal femenine/ masculine nouns

• Morphollogically unmarked
 brother - sister king – queen monk – nun
• Morphologically marked
• host- hostess waiter – waitress
• Personal dual gender
student - friend
We can use some gender markers : male/female student boy/girlfriend

Lower animals
• male frog – female frog he-goat – she- goat

Formation of derived nouns

Derived nouns are formed from other words by means of affixation (prefixes and suffixes), conversion and
compounding.

Affixation
Derivational prefixes do not normally alter the word class of the base form. Suffixes, on the other hand, usually
change the meaning and the word class.
Base word group trial dark agree friend
Suffixed noun subgroup retrial darkness agreement friendship

Noun Affixation

Affix Main meaning Examples

anti- against, opposite antibody, anticlimax
arch- supreme, most arch-enemy, archbishop
auto- self autobiography, autograph
bi- two bicentenary, bilingualism
bio- of living things biochemistry, biomass
co- joint co-chairman, co-founder
counter- against counteract, counterclaim disbelief,
dis- the opposite of discomfort
ex- former ex-Marxist, ex-student
fore- ahead, before forefront, foreknowledge
hyper- extreme hyperinflation
in- inside, or the opposite of inpatient, inattention
inter- between, among interaction, intermarriage kilobyte,
kilo- a thousand kilowatt
mal- bad malfunction, malnutrition megawatt,
mega- a million, supreme megastar
mini- small minibus, mini-publication
miss- bad, wrong misconduct, mismatch monopoly,
mono- one monosyllable neomarxist, neo-
neo- new colonialism nonpayment, non-
non- not specialist outpatient, outbuilding
out- outside, separate polysyllable, polytheism
poly- many re-election, re-organization
re- again, back semicircle, semi-darkness
semi- half subgroup, subset
sub- below superhero, supermarket telephone,
super- more than, above, large teleshopping
tele- distant tricycle, tripartism
tri- three ultrafilter, ultrasound
ultra- beyond underclass, underachievement
under- below, too little vice-chairman, vice-president
vice- deputy (second in command)

Noun suffixes

Suffix Main meaning Examples

-age Various meanings postage, baggage
- al action or instance of V-ing arrival, proposal
-an, -ian nationality, language, etc. American, Korean, Victorian
-ance, -ence action or state of V-ing, assistance, experience
state of being A dependence, difference, ignorance
-ant, -ent a person who V-s, something used for V-ing assistant, consultant, student,
intoxicant, lubricant
-cy state or quality of being A/N accuracy, adequacy,
-dom state of being A/N boredom, freedom, wisdom
-ee a person (various meanings) a person/thing that V-s, employee, trainee
-er, -or a person connected with N actor, teacher, visitor
footballer, New Yorker
-ery, -ry (various non-personal meanings) bakery, bravery, robbery
-ese nationality or language Chinese, Japanese,
-ess a female N journalese actress, waitress
-ette a small N cigarette, kitchenette,
-ful amount that fills a N handful, mouthful, spoonful
-hood state of being A/N childhood, falsehood,
-ician person concerned with N mathematician, physician
-ie, -y a pet name for N auntie, daddy, doggie, Johnny
-ing action/instance of V-ing, feeling, meeting, traíníng building,
place or material crossing,
-ism ideology, movement, tendency critícism, capítalísm, Marxísm
-ist follower of N/A-ism, specialist capítalíst, racist,
-ite citizen or follower of N Moabíte, Muscovite, Thatcheríte
-ity state or quality of being A abilíty, densíty, insaníty
-let a small N booklet, leaflet, píglet
-ment action or instance of V-ing argument, movement, treatment
-ness state or quality of being A blíndness, darkness, happíness
-ship state or skill of being a N fríendship, relatíonship
-tion action or instance of V-ing communícatíon, educatíon,
-ure action or instance of V-ing departure, exposure, pressure

Conversion
Conversion (or zero derivation): no affix is added to the base, the base itself is converted into a different word
class, usually form a verb or adjective into a noun.
Adj white someone who is white the whites
verb catch act of v-ing He took a brilliant catch.

Compounding

a- Noun + noun eye-witness, wallpaper, lamp post

b- Noun+ verb moonwalk, handshake
c- Noun+ verb-er dishwasher, dressmaker,screwdriver
d- Noun+verb-ing housekeeping, thanksgiving, window shopping
e- verb/noun+noun cookbook, swimsuit
f- self+noun self-control, self-esteem

The parts of a compound can be written as a single word, or else hyphenated for written as two words.

Deverbal Nouns
Noun related to a verb, they are regular concrete nouns.
Brown's paintings ( can be replaced by pictures or photograps)

Verbal nouns
Nouns related to verbs, they are abstract nouns that can be formed by adding -ing and inserting of before the
noun phrase that corresponds to subject if the object is not expressed
Brown paints - the painting of Brown

or before a noun phrase that corresponds to object if this is expressed

They polished the furniture – their polishing of the furniture.

the painting of Brown (referring to a product, a technique of painting, or act or painting)

Case
Meanings
a) possessive genitive Mr Johnson's passport
b) subjective genitive the boy's application (the boy applied)
c) genitive of origin the boy's story (the boy told a story)
d) objective genitive the family's support the boy's release
e) descriptive genitive a women's college a doctor's degree
Genitives usually fill the determiner slot in a noun phrase.
They specify the reference of the noun phrase, same function as the possessive determiners: Specifying
genitives
His parents' home their home
Other genitives have the role of classifying the reference of the head noun: Classifying genitives
a bird's nest

They are sometimes equivalent to an adjective or noun modifier.

the women's movement a summer's day
(the feminist movement) a summer day

Genitives of time and measure

•Time in this week's issue
•Duration, distance/length, or value
a month's holiday at arm's length fifty pounds' worth

Independent genitives
Genitive phrases that stand alone, sometimes involved ellipsis
•Elliptic genitives ( the head can be recovered from the preceding text)
It isn't my handwriting, It's Celina's.
•Genitives can become conventional, they need no supporting head (referring people's home, to other places
such as business and clubs)
an open bottle of Jack Daniel's to a friend's (a friend's house)

Double genitives
•special construction in which either the independent genitive or a possessive occurs in an of-phrase
There's a talk by this lady from Boulder who is a student of Sandy's.
A friend of ours ( one of our friends)

Genitive or of -phrases
Genitives are used with animate nouns, particularly with persons and animals with personal gender
characteristics.
Note: with certain kinds of inanimate nouns, in some cases the of-phrase is also possible
•geographical names Europe's future Hollywood's studios
•locative nouns (denotes regions, institutions, etc) a country's population
•temporal nouns a day's work

The of-phrases are used with lower animals and inanimate nouns. the engine of the car

Consider:
•semantic class of nouns. Proper nouns are more likely to be used in the genitive, but inanimate and abstract
nouns are used with the of-construction.
the future of socialism
•the meaning between the two words
Meaning relations favoring the genitive
1.possessive genitive the family's car
2.attributive genitive Marta's courage (she is courageous)
3.subjective genitive Maria's recognition (Maria recognized something)
Meaning relations favoring the of-construction
1.objective construction where the noun after of has a role like the object of a verb the brutal murder of a child
Combination of genitive and of-constructions
the government's denial of the need (the government denied the need)
Mr Burt's description of the quarrel (Mr Burt described the quarrrel)

•Collocations for God's sake at death's door

•Information flow- end focus: genitive tends to express given information and the of-phrase tends to introduced
new information.
 United's manager, Alex Ferguson, (after United has been mentioned)
1998- takes over as manager of Liverpool ( after manager's jobs have been mentioned)

•Register- genitives common in news and conversations, while of-phrases common in academic writing.

Grammar 1 – Practice - NOUNS

1- Use these base forms to complete the sentences.

Swap- recommend- spoon- member- product- replace- invent- major
1.________________of the club is open to all who live in the village.
2.The factory has four ______________lines working at any one time.
3.Add a ______________ of sugar to the recipe.
4.I came to this restaurant on the ______________ of a friend.
5.One team member dropped out and we had to find a _____________.
6.Before the ______________of money, people used to get the goods and services they wanted by
________________things with others.
7.The ______________of the people believe that luck plays an important part in their daily lives.

2-Complete the chart.

Singular - Plural
ox- ____________
appendix - ___________
__________- criteria
goose- _____________
chief- ______________
larva- ______________
Masculine- Femenine
__________- spinster
tiger- __________
_________- hen
nurse- _____________
___________- duchess
male frog- _________

3- Some of these sentences have a mistakes. Correct them.

The life will be different in a hundred year's time.
Swimming is a good way to keep fit.
The potatoes grow underground.
Europe is the home of one seventh of world's population.
The longest river there is River Volga.
An association which has been formed to unite the countries of the Europe is called European Union.