The category of number. Irregular plurals.
Number is the form of the noun which shows whether one or more than one object is meant. Some nouns in English have both the sing. and the pl. forms. These nouns are called variable nouns. Other nouns are used either only in the sing. or only in the pl. they are called invariable nouns. Variable nouns can be regular plurals and irregular plurals.Some nouns (12) ending in –f form their pl. changing –f into –v: wife-, shelf-, leaf-, loaf-, half-.life, self, elf
Others: beliefs, proofs, roofs, cliffs. Both : scarfs\scarves, handkerchief/ handkerchieves. Mutation: man-men, mouse-mice, goose-geese, louse-lice, foot-feet. en plural ox-oxen. children, brethren Some nouns have the same form in both sing. and pl. *nationality nouns: Japanese, *quantitative nouns: hundred, million, * nouns in –S: species, means, works, crossroads, *animal names: sheep, deer.
Loan words: foreign plurals are common in technical usage (formulas(general) — formulae (in maths)
Some typical number inflections of loan words: stimulus-stimuli, opus-opera, phenomenon-phenomena, stratum-strata, appendix-appendices, index-indices, basis-bases, formula-formulae
The noun. Semantic classification.
The noun is a notional word which refers to people, things, ideas, feelings, qualities.
Morphological composition
· Simple(cat, desk, floor)
· Derived : - abstract nouns( arrival, meeting, election)- concrete noun (servant, student, dancer)
· Compound nouns (airport, bluebird, living room, parents-in-law)
Semantic characteristics
Nouns can be divided into 2 groups – proper nouns and common nouns.
A proper noun is used for a particular person, place, thing which is, or is imagined to be , unique.
Common nouns are subdivided into count nouns and uncount nouns. Count nouns denote objects that can be counted: they may be either concrete (table, tree) or abstract (idea, question). Uncount nouns are names of objects that cannot be counted. They may be material (silver,milk) or abstract (love, friendship).
There are a number of nouns in Engl. which refer to a set of objects collected together. These nouns are called collective nouns. They include group nouns, nouns of multitude and mass nouns.
Group nouns refer to groups of individuals: army, crew, crowd, family, minority. G. nouns also include proper names, such as the name of a country denoting a national team(England) or the name of a business company. Nouns of multitude are used as plural but have no plural ending: people, police, clergy, gentry, cattle. Mass nouns fall into 2 groups: those which are always used in the sing. and those which are always used in the pl. The sing. Mass nouns denote the substance which is divisible into separate things: furniture consist of pieces of furniture, grass consists of separate blades of grass. Some more: clothing, food, homerwork, mail. The plural mass nouns are marked by the plural endings -s: archives, belongings, clothes, earnings, goods.
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Singular and plural invariable nouns.
Singular invariable: Material nouns: sand, water, silver, Abstract nouns: music, Proper names: the Thames, London, substantivized adjectives denoting abstract notions: the inevitable, Some nouns ending in –S (some diseases: mumps, measles, some games: billiards, darts), Subject names in -ics: aerobics, genetics, linguistics. Some proper names:, Wales, the United States.
Plural invariable: Words denoting things consistingof two matching parts: glasses, jeans trousers, miscellaneous nouns: archives, customs, earnings, some plural proper names: the Middle Ages, the Midlands, nouns of multitude: cattle, police, clergy, substantivized adjectives denoting people: the rich, the poor, the old, the young.
The use of the definite article with countable nouns.
Functions: specifying, generic. The definite article in its specifying function serves to single out an object from all other objects of the same kind. The specification is carried out by means of the situation, the context, the meaning of the noun.
Specification can be also carried out by various kinds of limiting attributes.
Prepositive limiting modifiers.
1. Adjectives in the superlative degree.
2. Ordinal numerals.
3. Limiting adjectives and same (the main reason, the right way)
but an only child!!!
4. Attributive proper nouns (The Pushkin Theatre.)
5. Nominal modifiers (the colour red, the number seven.)
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