NOUNS

  

What is a noun?

A noun is a word or set of words for a person, place, thing, or idea.

 A noun of more than one word (tennis court, gas station) is called a compound noun.

 Nouns in English

• Noun Gender
• Regular and irregular plural nouns
• Countable and uncountable nouns
• Definite pronouns
• Indefinite pronouns
• Compound nouns
• Capitalization rules for nouns
• Nationalities in English
• Forming the possessive

Nouns answer the questions "What is it?" and "Who is it?" They give names to things, people, and places.

EXAMPLES

• dog
• bicycle
• Mary
• girl
• beauty
• France
• world

In general there is no distinction between masculine, feminine in English nouns. However, gender is sometimes shown by different forms or different words when referring to people or animals.

EXAMPLES

Masculine	Feminine	Gender neutral
man	woman	person
father	mother	parent
boy	girl	child
uncle	aunt
husband	wife	spouse
actor	actress
prince	princess
waiter	waitress	server
rooster	hen	chicken
stallion	mare	horse Many nouns that refer to people's roles and jobs can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject, like for example cousin, teenager, teacher, doctor, student, friend, colleague EXAMPLES Mary is my friend. She is a doctor. Peter is my cousin. He is a doctor. Arthur is my friend. He is a student. Jane is my cousin. She is a student. It is possible to make the distinction for these neutral words by adding the words male or female. EXAMPLES Sam is a female doctor. No, he is not my boyfriend, he is just a male friend. I have three female cousins and two male cousins. Infrequently, nouns describing things without a gender are referred to with a gendered pronoun to show familiarity. It is also correct to use the gender-neutral pronoun (it). EXAMPLES I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion. France is popular with her (France's) neighbours at the moment. I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth; she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship. THE PLURAL OF NOUNS REGULAR NOUNS Most nouns form the plural by adding -s. EXAMPLES Singular Plural boat boats house houses cat cats river rivers A noun ending in s, x, z, ch, sh makes the plural by adding-es. EXAMPLES Singular Plural bus buses wish wishes pitch pitches box boxes A noun ending in a consonant and then y makes the plural by dropping the y and adding-ies. EXAMPLES Singular Plural penny pennies spy spies baby babies city cities daisy daisies IRREGULAR NOUNS There are some irregular formations for noun plurals. Some of the most common ones are listed below. EXAMPLES Singular Plural woman women man men child children tooth teeth foot feet person people leaf leaves mouse mice goose geese half halves knife knives wife wives life lives elf elves loaf loaves potato potatoes tomato tomatoes cactus cacti focus foci fungus fungi nucleus nuclei syllabus syllabi/syllabuses analysis analyses diagnosis diagnoses oasis oases thesis theses crisis crises phenomenon phenomena criterion criteria datum data Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural. EXAMPLES Singular Plural sheep sheep fish fish deer deer species species aircraft aircraft IRREGULAR VERB/NOUN AGREEMENT Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb. Plural nouns used with a singular verb Sentence news The news is at 6.30 p.m. athletics Athletics is good for young people. linguistics Linguistics is the study of language. darts Darts is a popular game in England. billiards Billiards is played all over the world. Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. They are not used in the singular, or they have a different meaning in the singular. Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits Plural noun with plural verb Sentence trousers My trousers are too tight. jeans Her jeans are black. glasses Those glasses are his.