Nouns

Nouns can be divided into few types of nouns and each of them is different.
a) common nouns
b) proper nouns
c) countable and uncountable nouns
d) singular and plural nouns
e) possessive nouns
f) collective nouns
g) regular and irregular plural nouns

a)

Common Nouns

Common nouns are words used to talk about people, things, animals and places. No
capital letter is used unless they are the first word in a sentence.
Examples of common nouns:

book

children

cat

school

Examples of common nouns sentences:

1. My sister has a new story book.

2. The dog is crossing the busy road.

3. The broken chair is in the storeroom since yesterday.
4. The puppy is sleeping under the tree.
5. The teachers and the pupils are at the school hall.

b)

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are words used to name particular people, things, animals or places. Capital
letters must be used.

Examples of proper nouns:

Malaysia

South China Sea

Sekolah Kebangsaan Suka Hati

Tenaga Nasional Berhad

Examples of sentences with proper nouns:

1. I study at Sekolah Kebangsaan Mat Jenin.
2. South China Sea is part of the Pacific Ocean.
3. We bought Miss Ninas gift at Giant Hypermarket.
4. Aidi is visiting China to get some informations for his new company project.
5. My cat Bobo had an accident while crossing the road last week.

c)

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted. The following determiners can be
used with countable nouns.
Determiners
a / an
the
any
some
many
a few
several
a lot of / lots of
plenty of
a small / large number of

Countable Nouns
pen
books
cars
apples
chickens
oranges
pupils
passengers
mangoes
trees

orange
woman
sweaters
boys
bicycles
pencils
flowers
visitors
people
boats

Examples of countable nouns sentences:

1. There is an orange left on the table.
2. The woman is standing besides the roadside waiting for a taxi.
3. Some apples that I bought last night had rotten.
4. My brother had a stomach aches because he ate a few oranges last night.
5. There were lots of visitors waiting for their turn to enter the amusement park.

Uncountable nouns are nouns which cannot be counted. The following determiners can
be used with uncountable nouns.
Determiners
the
any
some
much

Uncountable Nouns
oil
sugar
water
juice

sand
coffee
tea
sand

a little / little
a lot of / lots of
plenty of
a great deal of
a small / large number of

flour
milk
food
rain
money

salt
sugar
rice
soup
dirt

Examples of uncountable nouns sentences:

1. The sand at the beach are white.
2. There were lots of milk had spilt on the floor.
3. My mother put a little salt into the soup pot.
4. There were a great deal of rain and we cannot go out to play at the park.
5. A large number of money had been found under the tree near the old house.

d)

Singular and Plural Nouns

Singular nouns mean that the nouns are single or just one and it must not more than one.

Plural nouns mean that the numbers of nouns are more than one. The plural nouns are
varies and it is according to the ending of the words. Plurals are formed by:

i)

ii)

adding s to regular words

*

car

cars

fork

forks

building

buildings

adding es to nouns ending in o, s, sh, ch and x

*

mango

mangoes

iii)

iv)

bus

buses

brush

brushes

church

churches

box

boxes

adding s to nouns ending in y

*

boy

boys

monkey

monkeys

guy

guys

taking out y and adding ies to nouns ending in y when a vowel comes before
y

v)

ferry

ferries

baby

babies

lady

ladies

taking out f or fe and adding ves to nouns ending in f or fe

*

wolf

wolves

shelf

shelves

wife

wives

Examples of plural nouns sentences:

1. There were so many tall buildings in Kuala Lumpur.
2. I bought lots of mangoes at the night market last night.
3. I can see many monkeys in the zoo.

4. There were three ladies had been killed in an accident last week.
5. Pak Ali had three wives already and he is going to marry Aini as his fourth wives.

e)

Possessive Nouns

A possessive nouns tell us who or what owns or has something. Possessives answer the
question Whose?.
Possessive nouns can be used for singular or plural nouns. To make a singular word
possessive, just add s at the end of the nouns.
*

Ali

Alis

the teacher

the teachers book

the Adam

the Adams pen

To make a plural word possessive is different, we need to add to a regular plural noun
which ends in s.
*

chickens

chickens coop

athletes

athletes dorm

If the plural noun does not end in s, we need to add s . This is used for irregular plural
nouns
*

mice

mices trap

women

womens dress

Examples of possessive nouns sentences:

1. The bicycle belongs to Alis.

2. The chickens stay at the chickens coop at night.
3. This is not Ainis book but this is the teachers book.
4. My father put so many mices trap all over the kitchen.
5. That man had been caught for stealing those womens dress from their house.

f)

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are words used to show a group of people, animals, and things.
Examples of collective nouns:

People

- a choir of singers
- a staff of teachers
- a class of pupils

- a troupe of dancers
- an army of soldiers

Animals

- a litter of kittens
- a flock of birds
- a troop of monkeys
- a pack of wolves
- a brood of chickens

Things

- a bale of cloth
- a bouquet of flowers

- a comb of bananas
- a collection of stamps
- a bundle of sticks

Examples of collective nouns sentences:

1. My fianc gives me a bouquet of flowers for my birthday.
2. I found a litter of kittens in a box by the roadside last night.
3. The song has been sang beautifully by a choir of singers.
4. An army of soldiers had arrived to help the villagers to build their home.
5. My cousin had a collection of stamps from all over the world.

g)

Regular and Irregular Plural Nouns

Most nouns are made plural with few simple changes of adding s, or es, but there are
few nouns are not. Irregular plural nouns can be made by changing vowels, words, or
adding a different ending.

i.

changing vowels
Singular
Man
Foot

ii.

Plural
Men
Feet

changing words
Singular

Plural

Mouse
Person
iii.

Mice
People

adding different ending

Singular
Appendix
Child

Plural
Appendices
Children

But there were few nouns are not change at all, some words are using singular form for
plural words. Example:

Singular
Sheep
Deer
Offspring

Plural
Sheep
Deer
Offspring

There were also few words are using plural form for singular words. Example:
Singular
Gallows
Series
Species

Plural
Gallows
Series
Species

Examples of irregular plural nouns sentences:

1. There were few men had survived the accident that happened last night.
2. The mouse trap at the kitchen had trapped four mice .
3. All the boys that play football there are Pn Ainis children.
4. Pak Abu rears lots of animals including chicken and sheep in his farm.
5. Tiger is one of the endangered species that need special protection.

Prepositions
Prepositions shows the relationship between two or more things that are talked
about in a sentence.
Prepositions can be classified into two groups. They are simple prepositions and
compound prepositions.

Simple prepositions consist of one syllable words:

~ in

~ up

~ at

~ down

~ by

~ past

~ of

~ for

~ to

~ from

~ on

~ like

~ off

~ out

~ since

~ through

~ with

Compound prepositions consist of two or more syllables and they can also be made up
of two or more words.
~ along

~ above

~ among

~ beyond

~ into

~ under

~ inside

~ after

~ before

~ beside

~ over

~ upon

~ alongside

~ outside

~ across

~ against

~ behind

~ beside

~ throughout

~ within

~ underside

~ amid

~ around

~ beneath

~ between

~ towards

~ without

~ underneath

~ about

~ aside

~ below

~ during

~ until

~ opposite

We use prepositions to join nouns to other nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs or verbs.

1. To show the relationship between a noun and a noun.

Example: The gift is inside the box.

The preposition inside shows the relation between the gift and the box. It shows where
the gift is placed.

2. To show the relationship between a noun and a pronoun.

Example: The father hugged his child beside him.

The preposition beside shows the relation between the child and the father. It shows that
the child was next to the father.

3. To show the relationship between a noun and an adjectives.

Example: Johan is the most handsome in this class.

The preposition in shows the relation between Johans appearance and other people in the
class.

4. To show the relationship between a noun and an adverb.

Example: Sarah dance well for her age.

The preposition for shows the relation between Sarahs skill at dancing and her age.

5. To show the relationship between a noun and a verb.

Example: Lily went for a trip to Pulau Pangkor last month.

The preposition for shows the relation between the act of going and the trip to Pulau
Pangkor.

There are 4 types of prepositions

i-

Prepositions of place or position

Preposition of place or position indicate a relationship of place.
* in

the preposition in is used with three dimensional spaces like boxes,

rooms, towns, and others.

* at

the preposition at is used to show where something is happening.

* on

the preposition on is used with two dimensional surfaces like

tables, walls, floors, and others.

Other preposition of place or position are as follows.

* within

* above

* under

* next to

* about

* by

* beside

* near

* behind

* in front of

* over

* between

Examples of preposition of place or position sentences:

1. The windows in the rooms are not very big.

2. I will be waiting for Ayu at the cinema this evening.
3. She fell on the stairs last night and broke her leg.
4. He put the bouquet flower under the dining table to surprise her girlfriend.
5. Alia put the book beside her before she went to bed last night.
ii-

Preposition of direction
Preposition of direction are used to show movement.
* into

* down

* up

* to

* from

* out of

* along

* off

* towards

* past

* through

Examples of preposition of direction sentences:

1. The robbers got into their car and speed away from the bank.
2. The kitten fell down while climbing that tree.
3. I will always love you from this day forward.
4. The car appeared out of nowhere and hit the old man.
5. How long does it take to get from Kulim to Ipoh?

iii-

Preposition of time

Preposition of time indicate when an event happens.

* in

the preposition in is used with weeks, seasons, months, years,

centuries and expressions like the morning, the evening and others.

* at

the preposition at is used with clock time and mealtime.

* on

the preposition on is used with days, dates and expressions like

Saturday night, Sunday afternoon and special occasions.

Other examples of prepositions of time are as follows.

* by

used when something takes place before or at a certain time

* for

used to show how long an event is

* before

used to show an earlier time

* after

used to show a later time

Examples of preposition of time sentences:

1. We are going to Redang Island in the first week of June.
2. They are going to meet their client at lunchtime.
3. The birthday party is on Sunday afternoon.
4. They are going to the cinema after they had finished their shopping.
5. The man just had his lunch at that restaurant before the car hit him.

iv-

Preposition of measure
* of

the preposition of is used to show one of many.

Examples of preposition of measure sentences:

1. Two out of her four daughters are blind.
2. It will take plenty of time to make this dirty room look clean and tidy.
3. It took all of my strength to lift those heavy boxes.
4. Few of the boys are out from the game because they had injured.
5. I spend most of the money in repairing the house.

References

June Yogeswaran, N.V. Pillay & S.Shoba ( 2012 ). Good Grammar Guide. Ilmu Bakti.

Dr. Koh Soo Ling ( 2012 ). Complete Grammar Guide. Ilmu Bakti.

Francis Foo & Hamidah Hamid ( 2004 ). Total Grammar. Pelangi.

http://www.english-zone.com/spelling/plurals.html

http://www.k12reader.com/irregular-plural-nouns/

http://www.barstow.edu/lrc/tutorserv/handouts/015%20Irregular%20Plural
%20Nouns.pdf

http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/Materials/ndakota/spelling/lesson5.html

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/nouns/Possessive-Nouns.html