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THE ENGLISH NOUN

NOUN CLASSES

1. COMMON NOUNS VS PROPER NOUNS

COMMON NOUNS – name a class of things/objects/persons and identify


individual objects, entities, persons etc., only as members of that class
(woman, school, boy, house)

PROPER NOUN – identify the name of a particular person, place or things


(Britain, the Danube, John)
- are always capitalized in English
- sometimes they can be used with the indefinite article and
thus they are felt slightly derogatory

e.g. A Miss Smith wants to see you.

2. CONCRETE VS ABSTRACT NOUNS


CONCRETE NOUNS - refer to physical objects or to things that can be perceived by
the human senses (building, rock, water, car)
ABSTRACT NOUNS – refer to qualities which physical things may have, to an activity
or state of being (pleasure, wisdom, etc)

Some nouns may have dual membership:

BEAUTY is in the eyes of the beholder.


Isn’t she a beauty? (a beautiful person)

3. COUNTABLE/COUNT NOUNS VS UNCOUNTABLE/MASS NOUNS

COUNTABLE/COUNT NOUNS:
- admit a plural form
- may be determined by the indefinite article
- may be used with quantifiers like many, few, several
UNCOUNTABLE/MASS NOUNS:
- lack the number contrast
- cannot be determined by the indefinite article
- can be used with the zero article
- may be used with quantifiers like much, little
e.g. many/several/few boys a boy
* much boy, *Boy is present

Time is important Freedom is important to me.


* times * freedoms

Some nouns are uncountable/countable according to the context in which they


occur

 ( change of meaning)

Time is money vs How many times have you visited Paris?

Mass/uncountable nouns may be quantified with the help of partitives:

 measure partitives: Kilo, mile, metre, a ton of coal, a pint of beer, a litre
of wine
 typical partitives (used with specific lexical items):
a bar of chocolate, an amount of money, a grain of rice, a loaf of bread, a
word of advice
 general partitives (are not restricted to specific lexical items):

bit, item, piece

a bit of luck, a bit of information, a piece of cake, a piece of work, a piece


of advice

Mass/uncountable nouns include:


 material nouns: silver, lead, iron, silk, cotton, smoke
 abstract nouns: advice, intelligence, approval, happiness
 names of towns, countries, months : Europe, London, August

NOUN NUMBER
According to the category of number we distinguish between:
1. Variable nouns – have two forms, one for singular, one for plural
2. Invariable nouns – have only one form
 Singular invariable (furniture, advice, money)
 Plural invariable (scissors, trousers, tweezers)

VARIABLE NOUNS

1) Regular plural nouns “s”

2) Irregular plural nouns:

 A change of vowel man-men, woman-women, foot-feet, tooth -


teeth,
mouse – mice, goose – geese
compounds – postman – postmen, country woman- country women

 -en plural child-children, ox-oxen

3) Zero plural nouns- have the same form in the singular and in the plural
Here we include:
 Animal names: sheep, deer, trout, salmon
 Nationality names –ese Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese,
Portuguese, Lebanese, Maltese, Swiss
 Nouns ending invariably in - s, - es : means, headquarters,
barracks, species, series
4) Foreign plurals

a) Latin plurals
- us -i
stimulus stimuli
bacillus bacilli

-us -ora
corpus corpora
focus foci / focuses
syllabus syllabi/syllabuses

- um -a
simulacrum simulacra
bacterium bacteria
aquarium aquaria
medium media/mediums
memorandum memoranda, memorandums
symposioum symposia, symposiums

- ex -ices
index indices
appendix appendices/appendixes

b) Greek plural
- is -es
axis axes
analysis analyses
emphasis emphases
thesis theses

- on -a
criterion criteria
phenomenon phenomena

c) Italian plural
bambino bambinos/bambini
bandit bandits/banditti
virtuoso virtuosos/virtuosi

INVARIABLE NOUNS
- have only one form
SINGULAR INVARIABLE NOUNS
PLURAL INVARIABLE NOUNS

1. SINGULAR INVARIABLE NOUNS


- take a singular verb
1. concrete mass nouns: chocolate, sugar, rice, grass, silver, furniture,
luggage
2. abstract mass nouns: evidence, progress, research, income, information,
knowledge, advice
3. proper nouns: Germany, Bucharest, the Danube
4. abstract substantivized adjectives: the evil, the good, the unusual
5. news, money
6. names of diseases: measles, mumps, rickets, shingles
7. names of sciences/branches of knowledge: economics, cybernetics,
linguistics, mathematics, statistics
!!!!
Statistics is a branch of mathematics.
Statistics show an increase of the petrol price.
8. names of games: billiards, darts, ninepins, skittles, dominoes,
draughts,

2.PLURAL INVARIABLE NOUNS


- take a plural verb

1. nouns denoting parts of the human body: bowels, vitals


2. nouns denoting a state of mind: blues, hysterics, fidgets, sulks
3. nouns denoting items of dress (2 objects): trousers, jeans, pyjamas,
overalls, shorts, suspenders, nylons, braces, pants
4. tools, instruments made of two parts: scissors, spectacles, tweezers, scales,
pliers, compasses, tongs
5. unmarked plurals: cattle, clergy, people, police
6. substantivized adjectives designating a group of people: the rich, the poor,
the blind

Translate into English:

1. Ar trebui să-i apărăm pe cei slabi şi pe cei bolnavi. 2. Statisticile au


constatat că femeile care şofează sunt mai atente şi produc mai puţine
accidente mortale. 3. Statistica este materia ei preferată.4. Nu există criterii
conform cărora unghiile să facă parte din categoria lucrurilor comestibile.
5. A afirmat că cunoştinţele lui de germană sunt slabe şi nu le va putea
folosi curând. 6. Periferia orasului era foarte murdară şi periculoasă. 7.
Vama se afla la 30 de kilometri de oraşul nostru. 8. Din pacate informaţiile
ei erau neactualizate şi complet nefolositoare. 10. Sfaturile lui sunt foarte
valoroase, n-ar trebui să le ignori. 11. Sediul firmei a fost recent renovat.
12. Bagajele au fost făcute şi desfăcute timp de trei ore fără întrerupere. 13.
Conţinutul acestor scrisori a rămas un mister. 14. De ce nu consulţi tabla de
materii de la sfarşitul cărţii? 15. Banii nu aduc fericirea.

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