6.1 Nouns and noun groups
1. Form: singular/plural/possessive. + Determiners
Nouns are naming words for people, places, animals, things and ideas. When you examine a noun, pay attention first to its FORM.
What is the type? Is it singular? plural? singular possessive? plural possessive?
| Types | Examples |
|---|---|
| Singular | The girl is sitting down. |
| Plural | The girls are sitting down. |
| Singular possessive | The girl's eyes are blue. (1 girl) |
| Plural possessive | The girls' eyes are blue. (2 or more girls) |
Often a word is recognisable as a noun because of its ending or suffix. NOTE, however, that countless numbers of nouns do not end in suffixes. Below is a list of commonly used suffixes.
| Suffixes | Examples |
|---|---|
| -ment | There was excitement in the air. |
| -ship | Friendship is a precious gift. |
| -ance | Do we all realise the importance of arriving early on the day? |
| -ence | The woman's interference was not appreciated by the group. |
| -tion | "Please give me your attention!" said the teacher. |
| -sion | His size gave the illusion of strength. |
| -ness | Such kindness! |
| -ture | The temperature rose to an uncomfortable level. |
| -er | The three debaters were proud of their success in the round. |
| -or | The director called for a break in proceedings. |
NOUN ENDINGS
NB. Not all nouns end in the suffixes listed above. When dealing with nouns in the plural, keep the following points in mind:
GENERAL FORM OF PLURAL - ADD "S" TO THE NOUN
eg: cats, dogs, houses, storeys, venues, girls, boys.
SPECIAL CASES:
- Nouns ending in -x, -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -z take an "es"
eg: buses, bushes, bosses, boxes, quizzes lunches- Nouns ending "-y". change "-y" to "ies"
eg: countries, stories, lotteries.- Some nouns ending in "-f" or "-fe" change "f" to "v" and add -es
eg: life - lives; leaf - leaves; calf - calves.
Exceptions: chiefs, roofs, beliefs, proofs (not to be confused with the verb form - "proves")- Most nouns ending in "o" add "es".
eg: tomatoes, potatoes.
but there are many that simply take an "s"
eg: solos, pianos, studios.
NOUNS BORROWED FROM OTHER LANGUAGES SHOW THE SIGN OF THE PLURAL IN DIFFERENT WAYS:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| criterion | criteria |
| radius | radii |
| phenomenon | phenomena |
| stratum | strata |
| parenthesis | parentheses |
| larva | larvae |
| plateau | plateaux |
SOME NOUNS CHANGE TO A DIFFERENT FORM IN THE PLURAL:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| woman | women |
| child | children |
| man | men |
| foot | feet |
| mouse | mice |
SOME NOUNS REMAIN UNCHANGED IN SPELLING IN THE PLURAL:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| sheep | sheep |
| deer | deer |
| series | series |
SOME NOUN PLURALS MAY HAVE TWO FORMS:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|---|
| fish | fish or fishes |
NOTE: Nouns are frequently preceded by determiners - definite or indefinite articles, possessive adjectives or demonstrative adjectives (pointers).
| DETERMINERS | Examples |
| "the", "a","an", "my","our"
"your","his""her","their","this" "that","these","those". |
My excitement was obvious. That friendship is finished. Their interference was timely. |