168840190 english grammar nouns

8/12/2019 168840190 English Grammar Nouns

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Definition

A nounis the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be

named, and that name is a noun. A proper noun, which names a specific person, place, or thing

(Carlos, Queen Marguerite, Middle East, Jerusalem, Malaysia, Presbyterianism, God, Spanish,

Buddhism, the Republican Party), is almost always capitalized. A proper noun used as an

addressed person's name is called a noun of address. Common nounsname everything else,

things that usually are not capitalized.

A group of related words can act as a single noun-like entity within a sentence. ANoun

Clausecontains a subject and verb and can do anything that a noun can do:

What he does for this town is a blessing.

A Noun Phrase, frequently a noun accompanied by modifiers, is a group of related words acting

as a noun: the oil depletion allowance; the abnormal, hideously enlarged nose.

There is a separate section on word combinations that become Compound Nouns such

as daughter-in-law, half-moon, and stick-in-the-mud.

Categories of Nouns
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Nouns can be classified further as count nouns, which name

anything that can be counted (four books, two continents, a few

dishes, a dozen buildings); mass nouns(or non-count nouns),

which name something that can't be counted (water, air, energy,

blood); and collective nouns, which can take a singular form but

are composed of more than one individual person or items (jury,

team, class, committee, herd). We should note that some words can

be either a count noun or a non-count noun depending on how

they're being used in a sentence:

a. He got into trouble. (non-count)

b. He had many troubles. (countable)

c. Experience (non-count) is the best teacher.

d. We had many exciting experiences (countable) in college.

Whether these words are count or non-count will determine whether they can be used

witharticles and determinersor not. (We would not write "He got into the troubles," but we

could write about "The troubles of Ireland."

Some texts will include the category of abstract nouns, by which we mean the kind of

word that is not tangible, such as warmth, justice, grief,andpeace. Abstract nouns are sometimes

troublesome for non-native writers because they can appear with determiners or without: "Peace

settled over the countryside." "The skirmish disrupted the peace that had settled over the

countryside." See the section on Pluralsfor additional help with collective nouns, words that

can be singular or plural, depending on context.

Forms of Nouns

Nouns can be in the subjective, possessive, and objective case. The word casedefines the

role of the noun in the sentence. Is it a subject, an object, or does it show possession?

The English professor [subject] is tall.

He chose the English professor [object].

The English professor's [possessive] car is green.

Click on "Noun School" to

read and hear Lynn Ahren's

"A Noun is a Person Place

or Thing" fro! Scholastic

ock# $%&(.

Schoolhouse ock) and its

characters andother

ele!ents are

trade!arks and ser*ice

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+roadcasting Co!,anies#

-nc. sed with ,er!ission.
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Nouns in the subject and object role are identical in form; nouns that show the possessive,

however, take a different form. Usually an apostrophe is added followed by the letter s(except

for plurals, which take the plural "-s" ending first, and then add the apostrophe). See the section

on Possessivesfor help with possessive forms. There is also a table outlining the cases of

nouns and pronouns.

Almost all nouns change form when they become plural, usually with the simple addition

of an -sor -es. Unfortunately, it's not always that easy, and a separate section on Pluralsoffers

advice on the formation of plural noun forms.

Assaying for Nouns*

Back in the gold rush days, every little town in the American

Old West had an assayer's office, a place where wild-eyed

prospectors could take their bags of ore for official testing, to make

sure the shiny stuff they'd found was the real thing, not "fool's gold."

We offer here some assay tests for nouns. There are two kinds of

tests: formal and functional what a word looks like (the endings it

takes) and how a word behaves in a sentence.

Formal Tests

1. Does the word contain a noun-making

morpheme? organization, misconception, weirdness, statehood, government,

democracy, philistinism, realtor, tenacity, violinist

2. Can the word take a plural-making morpheme? pencils, boxes

3. Can the word take a possessive-making morpheme? today's, boys'

Function Tests

4. Without modifiers, can the word directly follow an article and create a

grammatical unit (subject, object, etc.)? the state, an apple, a crate

5. Can it fill the slot in the following sentence: "(The) _________ seem(s) all

right." (or substitute other predicates such as unacceptable, short, dark,

depending on the word's meaning)?

Testing the Tests:

With most nouns, the test is clear. "State," for example, can be a plural ("states"), become a

possessive ("state's"), follow an article ("a/the state"), and fit in the slot ("the state seems all

right"). It doesn't have a noun-making morpheme, but it passes all the other tests; it can pass as a

noun. (The fact that "state" can also be a verb "We state our case" is not relevant.)

"Greyness" cannot take plural ending nor can it be possessive, but it does contain a noun-making
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morphene and it can follow an article and fit in the slot sentence. Can the word "grey," which is

obviously also an adjective, be a noun? It's hard to imagine it passing any of the formal tests, but

it can follow an article and fill the slot: "The grey seems acceptable." And what about "running,"

which is often part of a verb (He is running for office)? Again, it won't pass the formal tests, but

it will fit the slot sentence: "Running is all right." (It can also follow an article, but in rather an

odd way: "The running is about to begin.") "Grey" and "running" are nouns, but just barely: oneis an adjective acting like a noun, and the other is a verb acting like a noun (agerund).

Additional Help With Nouns

A simple exercise in Naming Nounswill help answer any questions you might have about

count and non-count nouns and help you distinguish between plural and singular forms.

The categories of count and non-count nouns can be confusing, however, and we suggest

further review, especially for writers for whom English is a second language. The second section

we offer is called Count and Non-Count, a basic review of those concepts and their uses in

sentences, with many examples. Third, we offer WORKING WITH NOUNS,a more extensive

(and somewhat more advanced) review of the count and non-count distinction, along with

exercises. Finally, just when you thought you couldn't stand such riches, we suggest you review

the uses of Articles, Determiners, and Quantifierswith count and non-count nouns.

PLUALN!UNF!"#

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter s.

more than one snake = snakes

more than one ski = skis

more than one Barrymore = Barrymores

Words that end in -ch,x,sor s-likesounds, however, will require an -esfor the plural:

more than one witch = witches

more than one box = boxes

more than one gas = gases

more than one bus = buses

more than one kiss = kisses

more than one Jones = Joneses
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Note that some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus." Presumably, this is

because the plural "buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses."

"Buses" is still listed as the preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural, of course, for "buss," a

seldom used word for "kiss."

There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way aresometimes called mutated (or mutating) plurals.

more than one child = children

more than one woman = women

more than one man = men

more than one person = people

more than one goose = geese

more than one mouse = mice

more than one barracks = barracks

more than one deer = deer

And, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural. (See

media and data and alumni, below.)

more than one nucleus = nuclei

more than one syllabus = syllabi

more than one focus = foci

more than one fungus = fungi

more than one cactus = cacti (cactusesis acceptable)

more than one thesis = theses

more than one crisis = crises*

more than one phenomenon = phenomena

more than one index = indices (indexesis acceptable)

more than one appendix = appendices (appendixesis acceptable)

more than one criterion = criteria

/Note the ,ronunciation of this word# crises0 the second syllable sounds like ease.1ore than one base in the ga!e ofbaseball is bases,but !ore than one basisfor an argu!ent# say# is also bases,and then we ,ronounce the wordbasease.


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A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:

The news is bad.

Gymnastics is fun to watch.

Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult. ("Economics" cansometimes be a plural concept, as in "The economics of the situation demand that . .

. .")

Numerical expressions are usually singular, but can be plural if the individuals within a

numerical group are acting individually:

Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.

One-half of the faculty is retiring this summer.

One-half of the faculty have doctorates.

Fifty percent of the students have voted already.

And another handful of nouns might seem to be singular in nature but take a plural form and

always use a plural verb:

My pants are torn. (Nowadays you will sometimes see this word as a singular

"pant" [meaning one pair ofpants]especially in clothing ads, but most writers

would regard that as an affectation.)

Her scissors were stolen.

The glasses have slipped down his nose again.

When a noun names the title of something or is a word being used as a word, it is singular

whether the word takes a singular form or not.

Facesis the name of the new restaurant downtown.

Okies,which most people regard as a disparaging word, was first used to describe

the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s.

Chelmsley Brothers is the best moving company in town.

Postcardsis my favorite novel.

The term Okieswas used to describe the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s.

(In this sentence, the word Okiesis actually an appositive for the singular subject,

"term.")

Plural Compound Nouns


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Compound words create special problems when we need to pluralize them. As a general

rule, the element within the compound that word that is pluralized will receive the plural -s, but

it's not always that simple.Daughters-in-lawfollows the general rule, but cupfulsdoes not. See

the special section on Compound Nouns and Modifiersor, better yet, a good dictionary, for

additional help.

Pro$lem Children

Many careful writers insist that the words dataand mediaare Latin plurals and must,

therefore, be used as plural words. The singular Latin forms of these words, however, are seldom

used: datumas a single bit of information or mediumas a single means of communication. Many

authorities nowadays approve sentences like My data is lost. and The media is out to get the

President. Even textbooks in computer science are beginning to use "data" as a singular.

Alumniand alumnaeremain problematic. The plural of masculine

singular alumnusis alumni; the plural of feminine singular alumnais alumnae.In traditionalLatin, the masculine plural form, alumni,could include both genders. This does not go over well

with some female alums. We note, furthermore, that Vassar College, which now has both, has

lists of alumni and alumnae. Hartford College for Women, we assume, has only alumnae. In its

publication style manual, Wesleyan University approves of alumni/ae. The

genderless graduateand the truncated and informal alumhave much to commend them.

#pe%ial Cases

With words that end in a consonant and ay,you'll need to change theyto an iand add es.

more than one baby = babies

more than one gallery = galleries

(Notice the difference between this and galleys,where the final y is not preceded by

a consonant.)

more than one reality = realities

This rule does not apply to proper nouns:

more than one Kennedy = Kennedys

Words that end in ocreate special problems.

more than one potato = potatoes

more than one hero = heroes

. . . however. . .

more than one memo = memos
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more than one cello = cellos

. . . and for words where another vowel comes before the o . . .

more than one stereo = stereos

Plurals of words that end in -for -feusually change thefsound to a vsound and add sor -es.

more than one knife = knives

more than one leaf = leaves

more than one hoof = hooves

more than one life = lives

more than one self = selves

more than one elf = elves

There are, however, exceptions:

more than one dwarf = dwarfs

more than one roof = roofs

When in doubt, as always, consult a dictionary. Some dictionaries, for instance, will list

both wharfsand wharvesas acceptable plural forms of wharf.It makes for good arguments when

you're playing Scrabble. The online version ofMerriam-Webster's WWWebster

Dictionaryshould help.

Colle%ti&e Nouns' Company Names'Family Names' #ports Teams

There are, further, so called collective nouns, which are singular when we think of them as

groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole (which happens

sometimes, but not often).

audience

bandclasscommittee

crowd

dozen

family

flockgroupheap

herd

jury

kind

lot[the] numberpublic

staff

team
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Thus, if we're talking about eggs, we could say "A dozen is probably not enough." But if

we're talking partying with our friends, we could say, "A dozen are coming over this afternoon."

The jury delivers its verdict. [But] The jury came in and took their seats. We could say the Tokyo

String Quartet is one of the best string ensembles in the world, but we could say the

Beatles were some of the most famous singers in history. Generally, band names and musical

groups take singular or plural verbs depending on the form of their names: "The Mamas and thePapas were one of the best groups of the 70s" and "Metallica is my favorite band."

Note that "the number" is a singular collective noun. "The number of applicants issteadily

increasing." "A number," on the other hand, is a plural form: "There are several students in the

lobby. A number are here to see the president."

Collective nouns are count nounswhich means they, themselves, can be pluralized: a

university has several athletic teams and classes. And the immigrant families kept watch over

their herds and flocks.

The word following the phrase one of the(as an object of the preposition of) will always be

plural.

One of the reasons we do this is that it rains a lot in spring.

One of the students in this room is responsible.

Notice, though, that the verb ("is" agrees with one,which is singular, and not with

the object of the preposition, which is always plural!

When afamily name(a proper noun) is pluralized, we almost always simply add an "s." So

we go to visit the Smiths, the Kennedys, the Grays, etc.When a family name ends in s, x, ch,

sh,orz,however, we form the plural by added -es,as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes,

the Bushes, the Rodriguezes. Do notform a family name plural by using an apostrophe; that

device is reserved for creating possessive forms.

When a proper noun ends in an "s" with a hard "z" sound, we don't add any ending to form

the plural: "The Chambers are coming to dinner" (not the Chamberses); "The Hodges used to

live here" (not the Hodgeses). There are exceptions even to this: we say "The Joneses are coming

over," and we'd probably write "The Stevenses are coming, too." A modest proposal: women

whose last names end in "s" (pronounced "z") should marry and take the names of men whose

last names do not end with that sound, and eventually this problem will disappear.

The names of companies and other organizationsare usually regarded as singular,

regardless of their ending: "General Motors has announced its fall lineup of new vehicles." Try

to avoid the inconsistency that is almost inevitable when you think of corporate entities as a

group of individuals: "General Motors has announced their fall lineup of new vehicles." But note

that some inconsistency is acceptable in all but the most formal writing: "Ford has announced its
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breakup with Firestone Tires. Their cars will no longer use tires built by Firestone." Some writers

will use a plural verb when a plural construction such as "Associates" is part of the company's

title or when the title consists of a series of names: "Upton, Vernon, and Gridley are moving to

new law offices next week" or "Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego & Associates have won

all their cases this year." Singular verbs and pronouns would be correct in those sentences, also.

The names of sports teams, on the other hand, are treated as plurals, regardless of the form

of that name. We would write that "The Yankees have signed a new third baseman" and "The

Yankees are a great organization" (even if we're Red Sox fans) and that "For two years in a row,

the Utah Jazz have attempted to draft a big man." When we refer to a team by the city in which it

resides, however, we use the singular, as in "Dallas has attempted to secure the services of two

assistant coaches that Green Bay hopes to keep." (This is decidedly not a British practice. In the

UK, the city or country names by which British newspapers refer to soccer teams, for example,

are used as plurals a practice that seems odd and inconsistent to American ears: "A minute's

silence will precede the game at Le Stadium today, when Toulouse play Munster, and tomorrow

at Lansdowne Road, when Leinster attempt to reach their first European final by beatingPerpignan" [report in the onlineLondon Times].)

-n a rare dictu!2!aking !ood# Willia! Safire in No Uncertain Terms,344( declaresthat ,lurali5ed na!es like Packers and 6ankees should take ,lural *erbs ob*iously(#but that tea! na!es like the 7a55# the 8eat# the Lightning# the Connecticut Sun shouldtake singular *erbs. This dictu! see!s to ,re*ail in Safire's own New York Times:"The91ia!i: 8eat# ty,ical of its resilience at ho!e# was far fro! through. " +ut ;ust aboute*erywhere else in the world of s,orts re,orting# this is not the case.


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You have fifteen and's in that last paragraph.

Notice that we do not use an apostrophe -sto create the plural of a word-in-itself. For instance,

we would refer to the "ins and outs" of a mystery, the "yeses and nos" of a vote (NYPL Writer's

Guide to Style and Usage), and we assume that Theodore Bernstein knew what he was talking

about in his bookDos, Don'ts & Maybes of English Usage. We would also write "The shortstopmade two spectacular outs in that inning." But when we refer to a word-as-a-word, we first

italicize it I pointed out the use of the word outin that sentence. and if necessary, we

pluralize it by adding the unitalicized apostrophe -s "In his essay on prepositions, Jose used an

astonishing three dozen out's." This practice is not universally followed, and in newspapers, you

would find our example sentence written without italics or apostrophe: "You have fifteen ands in

that last paragraph."

Some abbreviations have embedded plural forms, and there are often inconsistencies in

creating the plurals of these words. The speed of an internal combustion engine is measured in

"revolutions per minute" or rpm(lower case) and the efficiency of an automobile is reported in"miles per gallon" or mpg(no "-s" endings). On the other hand, baseball players love to

accumulate "runs batted in," a statistic that is usually reported asRBIs(although it would not be

terribly unusual to hear that someone got 100 RBIlast year and some baseball commentators

will talk about "ribbies," too). Also, the U.S. military provides "meals ready to eat" and those

rations are usually described as MREs(not MRE). When an abbreviation can be used to refer to

a singular thing a run batted in, a meal ready-to-eat, a prisoner of war it's surely a good

idea to form the plural by adding "s" to the abbreviation: RBIs, MREs, POWs. (Notice that no

apostrophe is involved in the formation of these plurals. Whether abbreviations like these are

formed with upper- or lower-case letters is a matter of great mystery; only your dictionary editor

knows for sure.)

Notice, furthermore, that we do notuse an apostrophe to create plurals in the following:

The 1890sin Europe are widely regarded as years of social decadence.

I have prepared 1099sfor the entire staff.

Rosa and her brother have identical IQs, and they both have PhDsfrom Harvard.

She has over 400 URLs* in her bookmark file.

Authority for this last ,aragra,h0 Keys for riters: ! Brief Handbookby Ann ai!es. 8oughton 1ifflin0 New 6ork.$%%=.

#ingular #u$(e%ts' Plural Predi%ates' et%)

We frequently run into a situation in which a singular subject is linked to a plural predicate:

My favorite breakfast is cereal with fruit, milk, orange juice, and toast.


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Sometimes, too, a plural subject can be linked to singular predicate:

Mistakes in parallelism are the only problem here.

In such situations, remember that the number (singular or plural) of the subject, not the predicate,

determines the number of the verb. See the section on Subject-Verb Agreementfor furtherhelp.

A special situation exists when a subject seems not to agree with its predicate. For instance,

when we want each student to see his or her counselor (and each student is assigned to only one

counselor), but we want to avoid that "his or her" construction by pluralizing, do we say

"Students must see their counselors" or "Students must see their counselor"? The

singular counseloris necesssary to avoid the implication that students have more than one

counselor apiece. Do we say "Many sons dislike theirfatherorfathers"? We don't mean to

suggest that the sons have more than one father, so we use the singularfather.Theodore

Bernstein, inDos, Don'ts and Maybes of English Usage, says that "Idiomatically the nounapplying to more than one person remains in the singular when (a) it represents a quality or thing

possessed in common ("The audience's curiositywas aroused"); or (b) it is an abstraction ("The

judges applied their reason to the problem"), or (c) it is a figurative word ("All ten children had a

sweet tooth") (203). Sometimes good sense will have to guide you. We might want to say

"Puzzled, the children scratched their head" to avoid the image of multi-headed children, but

"The audience rose to their foot" is plainly ridiculous and about to tip over.

In "The boys moved their car/cars," the plural would indicate that each boy owned a car, the

singular that the boys (together) owned one car (which is quite possible). It is also possible that

each boy owned more than one car. Be prepared for such situations, and consider carefully the

implications of using either the singular or the plural. You might have to avoid the problem by

going the opposite direction of pluralizing: moving things to the singular and talking about what

each boy did.

/The ;ury still see!s to be out on whether L acrony! for nifor! 9or ni*ersal: esource Locator(# the address ofa Website on the World Wide Web# should be ,ronounced like the na!e of your ncle "arlor as a series of letters0//L. The infor!ation technology e>,erts at the college where - work use the "earl" ,ronunciation# and one wouldha*e to ask why you'd want to say "you2are2ell" when a si!,le "earl" would suffice. -n either case# though# the ,luralof L would be s,elled Ls. T#e New York Times,by the way# would insist on ..L.'s because their style guidereBuires that e*erything be ca,itali5ed in headlines and LS would look du!b in a headline. So use Ls unlessyou're writing for the New York Times

C!UNTANDN!NC!UNTN!UN#
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What are C!UNT N!UN#+

Look around the room or the classroom you're sitting in the more "stuff" in the

room, the better. Name some things that somebody must have carried into the room.

desks# chairs# flag# clock# co!,uters# keyboards# ,ro;ector# books# bookcases# ,ens#notebooks# back,acks# lights# students Well# !aybe the students walked in under theirown ,owerD(

Now name some things that are part of the room itself.

floor# wall# ceiling# windows# door# chalkboard

You can imagine there being more than one of everything you've named so far

although you might have to have more than one room to have more than one floor or

ceiling. These are allCOUNT NOUNS, things that you can count.

Usage Notes:

Count nouns can be pluralized when appropriate. See the section onPluralsfor

help with the proper formation of noun plurals.

We can use expressions such as

a. many bottles

b. few bottles

c. a few bottles

These nouns, both singular and plural, can be preceded by the appropriate definite

and indefinite articles thewith both singular and plural, aor anwith singular

count-nouns.

Singular count nouns can be preceded by thisand thatand by every, each,

either,and neither.

Plural count nouns can be preceded by theseand thoseand by some, any,enough,and thezero article. The phrase number ofis accompanied by count nouns.

Count nouns cannot be preceded by much. The phrase amount ofis also a sure sign

that you are notdealing with a count noun.
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What are "A## ,N!NC!UNT-N!UN#+

Here is a list of MASS NOUNSfor you to consider. Can

you count any of these things? Do we use the plural formof any of these words in common speech and writing? What do the things

in the first column have in common? the second column? In the first

section, above, we named things in the classroom that we could count.

What are some things in the same room that we can't count?

wood

clothice

plastic

wool

steelaluminum

metal

glassleather

porcelain

hairdust

air

oygen

water

milkwine

beer

cake

sugarrice

meat

cheeseflour

reading

boatingsmoking

dancing

soccer

hockeyweather

heat

sunshineelectricity

biology

historymathematics

economics

poetry

#hinese

$panish%nglish

luggage

e&uipment

furnitureeperience

applause

photographytraffic

harm

publicityhomework

advice

Usage Notes:

Are there categories of things in the third and fourth columns as well?

Click HEREfor categories we see.

Generally, these nouns cannot be pluralized. The non-count nouns of the second

column (foodstuff) are pluralized when we use the word to express a "type":

a. There are new wines being introduced every day.

b. The waters of the Atlantic are much warmer this time of year.

c. The Dutch are famous for their cheeses.

d. The spring rains came early.

We can use expressions such as

a. much harm
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b. little harm

c. a little harm

It is appropriate to precede these nouns with a definite or indefinite article.

a. the sunshine

b. an experience

c. a wine

But they frequently appear with zero article:

d. Smoking is bad for you.

e. Poetry is beautiful.

f. Sugar is sweet.

g. Experience is the best teacher.

These nouns can be preceded by some, any, enough, this, that, and much.

Because they are not countable, these nouns cannot be preceded by these, those,

every, each, either,and neither.

What are A.#TACT N!UN#+

Here is a list of ABSTRACT NOUNSfor you to think

about. Can you touch or see any of these things in the

physical sense? Can you count any of them? Can you

create sentences in which some of these words can be used asplurals?

peace

warmthhospitality

information

angereducation

melancholysoftnessviolence

conduct

courageleisure

knowledge

safetyshopping

justicechaosprogress

speed

eperiencetime

friendship

troublework

culturevirtue

taste

evilliberty

democracy

deathgrief

piety

Usage Notes:


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Because they refer to ideas, concepts, it is difficult to see how abstract nouns can be

pluralized. In fact, many of them cannot be. The abstract nouns in the first two

columns (above) cannot be pluralized; the abstract nouns in the second two columns

can be. The section below discusses what happens to an abstract noun when it is

pluralized.

a. The griefs of the nation are too much to bear.

b. The editors took liberties with our prose.

c. She formed many friendships at college.

In terms of quantifiers and words that precede these words, what we say about the

non-count nouns, above, can be said about abstract nouns.

Ho/ %an something $e .!THa C!UNT

N!UN and a "A## N!UN+

If we conceive of the meaning of a noun as a continuum from being specific to being general

and abstract, we can see how it can move from being a count noun to a mass noun. Consider, for

example, the nounexperiences. When I say

- had !any horrifying e>,eriences as a ,ilot.

I'm referring to specific, countable moments in my life as a pilot. When I say,

This ,osition reBuires e>,erience.

I'm using the word in an abstract way; it is not something you can count; it's more like an idea, a

general thing that people need to have in order to apply for this job.

If I write

The talks will take ,lace in Eegnan 8all.

these talks are countable events or lectures. If I say

- hate it when a !eeting is nothing but talk.

the word talkis now uncountable; I'm referring to the general, abstract idea of idle

chatter. Evils refers to specific sins pride, envy, sloth, and everyone's favorite, gluttony

whereas evil refers to a general notion of being bad or ungodly.


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One more example: "I love the works of Beethoven" means that I like his symphonies, his

string quartets, his concerti and sonatas, his choral pieces all very countable things, works. "I

hate work" means that I find the very idea of labor, in a general way, quite unappealing. Notice

that the plural form means something quite different from the singular form of this word; they're

obviously related, but they're different. What is the relationship

betweenplasticandplastics,woodand woods,iceand [Italian] ices,hairandhairs?

Further, as noted earlier, almost all mass nouns can become count nouns when they are used

in a classificatory sense:

a. They served some nice Brazilian wines.

b. There were some real beauties in that rose garden.

c. We had some serious difficulties in this project.

But some things cannot be made countable or plural: we cannothave furnitures,

informations, knowledges, softnesses, or chaoses. When in doubt, consult a good dictionary.

W!01N2W1THN!UN#

The concept of count versus non-count nouns presents special difficulties for students for

whom English is a second language. For one thing, the determination of what nouns are countableand what nouns are non-countable is by no means universal. For instance, although somebody

can advise us several times, we can't say they give us advices, although that would translate quite

nicely into several other languages. We would say, in English, that they give us advice. In some

languages, it makes sense to sit in a restaurant with a friend and ask for waters (and get

two glassesof water) something that would sound quite peculiar in English. There are

categories of count and non-count nouns and interesting ways in which these categories overlap

and merge into one another. The following table will illustrate these categories. In this table, the

words in reverse type (white on black) are either impossible or quite unlikely. (Seinfeldis the

name of a popular American television program.)

Carlos sa/ 3 4 5 6

Seinfeld tree dan%ing paper

theSeinfeld the tree the dan%ing the paper

a Seinfeld a tree a dan%ing a paper


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someSeinfeld some tree some dan%ing some paper

Seinfelds trees dan%ings papers

Nouns that would fall into the column 1category, along with Seinfeld, would be called

proper nouns and proper nouns are generally non-countable (exceptions: We can say that "there

are four Harrys in the room," and political entities such as the U.S. Virgin Islands can be

countable when used as geographical entities "the Virgin Islands are among the most beautiful

" and a definite article is used with such pluralized geographical names). Nouns in the other

three columns are common nouns.

In column 2, along with tree, we could place count-nouns that we regard always as

individual, countable items.

In column 3, we could place non-count nouns like dancingthat are not countable, things that

we regard as "undifferentiated mass" (like the waterwe spilled on the floor, one big mess, as

opposed to the beadsthat we spilled on the floor, dozens of little countable things).

In column 4, we could place nouns such aspaper, stone,and cakethat can be either count or

non-count nouns. For instance, I can enter a bakery and say "I want a cake" (an individual bakery

product), or, before we enter, I can tell a friend that "I want cake" and not refer to a specific cake

but simply mean that the idea of eating cake appeals to me any cake or piece of cake with

chocolate frosting will do, thank you.

It is this fourth column of nouns that confounds many writers. The distinction we make here

between count and non-count is important for two reasons: it makes a difference whether we use

an article with the noun or not and the meaning of the word can change depending on whether it

is being used in its count or non-count form. Some examples:

Count NonCount

$he had many eperiences! 'oes she have enough eperience

)he lights were bright! *ight hurts my eyes!

)here+s a hair in my soup -air is important on a cold day!

.ive me three coffees! /+d love some coffee!

0e study sugars in organic chemistry! 1ut sugar in my coffee!

)he papers were stacked on the table! 0e wrote on paper!


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When a non-count noun is used to classify something, it can be treated as a count noun.

Thus, wineis usually a non-count noun ("I'd love wine with dinner"), and even if we have more

than one glass of wine, we're still enjoying wine, not wines. But when we put wine into

categories, the noun becomes countable: "There are many fine Canadian wines." Even watercan

become countable under the right circumstances: "the waters of the Pacific Ocean are noticeably

colder this year." Sometimes a noun will be either countable or non-countable and mean

practically the same thing:

Chilean wine is superb.

Chilean wines are superb.

-deas for the abo*e tables are based on !aterial found in! Uni$ersity Grammar of "n%lis#by andol,h Fuirk andSidney Greenbau!. Long!an Grou,0 #


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show possession. For instance, we would probably say the "constitution of Illinois," as opposed to

"Illinois' (or Illinois's ??) constitution."

To answer that question about Illinois, you should know that most words that end in an

unpronounced "s" form their possessive by adding an apostrophe + s. So we would write about

"Illinois's next governor" and "Arkansas's former governor" and "the Marine Corps's policy."

However, many non-English words that end with a silent "s" or "x" will form their possessives

with only an apostrophe. So we would write "Alexander Dumas' first novel" and "this bordeaux'

bouquet." According to the New York Public Library's Guide to Style and Usage,there are

"certain expressions that end in sor the ssound that traditionally require an apostrophe only: for

appearance' sake, for conscience' sake, for goodness' sake" (268). Incidentally, the

NYPL Guidealso suggests that when a word ends in a double s,we're better off writing its

possessive with only an apostrophe: the boss' memo, the witness' statement. Many writers insist,

however, that we actually hear an "es" sound attached to the possessive forms of these words, so

an apostrophe -s is appropriate: boss's memo, witness's statement. If the look of the three s's in arow doesn't bother you, use that construction.

When we want the possessive of a pluralized family name, we pluralize first and then

simply make the name possessive with the use of an apostrophe. Thus, we might travel in

the Smiths' car when we visit the Joneses (members of the Jones family) at the Joneses' home.

When the last name ends in a hard "z" sound, we usually don't add an "s" or the "-es" and simply

add the apostrophe: "the Chambers' new baby."

1any writers consider it bad for! to use a,ostro,he &s,ossessi*es with

,ieces of furniture and buildings or inani!ate ob;ects in general. -nstead of"the desk's edge" according to !any authorities(# we should write "the edgeof the desk" and instead of "the hotel's windows" we should write "thewindows of the hotel." -n fact# we would ,robably a*oid the ,ossessi*ealtogether and use the noun as an attributi*e0 "the hotel windows." This ruleif# in fact# it is one( is no longer uni*ersally endorsed. We would notsay "theradio of that car" instead of "that car's radio" or the "car radio"( and wewould not write "the desire of !y heart" instead of "!y heart's desire."Writing "the edge of the ski" would ,robably be an i!,ro*e!ent o*er "theski's edge#" howe*er.

?or e>,ressions of ti!e and !easure!ent# the ,ossessi*e is shown with ana,ostro,he &s0 "one dollar's worth#" "two dollars' worth#" "a hard day's night#""two years' e>,erience#" "an e*ening's entertain!ent#" and "two weeks'notice" the title of the 8ollywood !o*ie nothwithstanding(.

Remember that personal pronounscreate special problems in the formation of possessives.
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See the chart ofNoun and Pronoun Cases.

Possessi&es 9 2erunds

Possessive forms are frequently modifiers for verb forms used as nouns, or gerunds. Using

the possessive will affect how we read the sentence. For instance, "I'm worried about Joe running

in the park after dark" means that I'm worried aboutJoeand the fact that he runs in the park after

dark (the word "running" is apresent participlemodifying Joe). On the other hand, "I'm worried

about Joe's running in the park after dark" puts the emphasis on the runningthat Joe is doing

("running" is a gerund, and "Joe's" modifies that verbal). Usually, almost always in fact, we use

the possessive form of a noun or pronoun to modify a gerund. More is involved, however.

ClickHEREfor further information about using the possessive form with gerunds.

Possessi&es &ersus Ad(e%ti&al La$elsDon't confuse an adjectival label (sometimes called an "attributive noun") ending in swith

the need for a possessive. Sometimes it's not easy to tell which is which. Do you attend

a writers' conferenceor awriters conference? If it's a group of writers attending a conference,

you want the plural ending, writers.If the conference actually belongs to the writers, then you'd

want the possessive form, writers'.If you can insert another modifer between the -s word and

whatever it modifies, you're probably dealing with a possessive. Additional modifiers will also

help determine which form to use.

Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe threw three touchdown passes. (plural asmodifier)

The Patriots' [new] quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, threw three touchdown passes.

(possessive as modifier]

Possessi&es of Plurals 9 1rregular Plurals

Most plural nounsalready end in s.To create their possessive, simply add an apostrophe

after the s:

The Pepins' house is the big blue one on the corner.

The lions' usual source of water has dried up.

The gases' odors mixed and became nauseating.

The witches' brooms were hidden in the corner.

The babies' beds were all in a row.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cases.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cases.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm#gerundhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm#participlehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm#participlehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm#possessivehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm#possessivehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cases.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm#gerundhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/definitions.htm#participlehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm#possessive


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With nouns whose plurals are irregular(see Plurals), however, you will need to add an

apostrophe followed by an sto create the possessive form.

She plans on opening a women's clothing boutique.

Children's programming is not a high priority.

The geese's food supply was endangered.

(But with words that do not change their form when pluralized, you will have to add an -sor -es.)

The seaweed was destroyed by the fishes' overfeeding.

Holidays #ho/ing PossessionA number of American Holidays have possessive forms, and are peculiarly inconsistent.

"Mother's Day" and "Father's Day" are easy enough, one parent at a time, and "Parents' Day" is

nicely pluraiized, as is "Presidents' Day" which celebrates the birthdays of both Washington and

Lincoln. "All Souls' Day (Halloween)," of course, takes a plural possessive. "Veterans Day" is

plural but not possessive, for historical reasons shrouded in mystery. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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has no possessive. "New Year's Day," "St. Valentine's Day," St. Patrick's Day," and "April Fool's

Day" all have their singular prossessive form, and so, while we're at it, does "Season's Greetings."

Note that "Daylight Saving Time" is neither possessive nor plural.

Compound Possessi&es

When you are showing possession with compounded nouns, the apostrophe's placement

depends on whether the nouns are acting separately or together.

Miguel's and Cecilia's new cars are in the parking lot.

This means that each of them has at least one new car and that their ownership is a

separate matter.

Miguel and Cecilia's new cars are in the parking lot.

This construction tells us that Miguel and Cecilia share ownership of these cars. The

possessive (indicated by 's) belongs to the entire phrase, not just to Cecilia.

Another example:

Lewis and Clark's expectations were very much the same.

This construction tells us that the two gentlemen held one set of expectations in

common.

Lewis's and Clark's expectations were altogether different.

This means that the expectations of the two men were different (rather obvious from

what the sentence says, too). We signify separate ownership by writing both of the

compounded proper nouns in the possessive form.

When one of the possessors in a compound possessive is a personal pronoun, we have to put

both possessors in the possessive form or we end up with something silly: "Bill and my car had to

be towed last night."

Bill's and my car had to be towed last night.

Giorgio's and her father was not around much during their childhood.

If this second sentence seems unsatisfactory, you might have to do some rewriting so you end up

talking about theirfather, instead, or revert to using both names: "Giorgio and Isabel's father

wasn't around much . . . ." (and then "Giorgio" will lose the apostrophe +s).

Possessi&es 9 Compound Constru%tions

This is different from the problem we confront when creating possessives with compound

constructions such as daughter-in-law and friend of mine. Generally, the apostrophe -s is simply

added to the end of the compound structure: my daughter-in-law's car, a friend of mine's car. If


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this sounds clumsy, use the "of" construction to avoid the apostrophe: the car of a friend of mine,

etc. This is especially useful in pluralized compound structures: the daughters-in-law's car sounds

quite strange, but it's correct. We're better off with the car of the daughters-in-law. See the section

onCompound Nouns and Modifiersfor additional help.

Possessi&es /ith Appositi&e Forms

When a possessive noun is followed by an appositive, a word that renames or explains that

noun, the apostrophe +s is added to the appositive, not to the noun. When this happens, we drop

the comma that would normally follow the appositive phrase.

We must get Joe Bidwell, the family attorney's signature.

Create such constructions with caution, however, as you might end up writing something that

looks silly:

I wrecked my best friend, Bob's car.

You're frequently better off using the "of-genitive" form, writing something like "We must get

the signature of Joe Bidwell, the family attorney" and "I wrecked the car of my best friend, Bob."

Dou$le Possessi&es

Do we say "a friend of my uncle" or "a friend of my uncle's"? In spite of the fact that "a

friend of my uncle's" seems to overwork the notion of possessiveness, that is usually what we sayand write. The double possessiveconstruction is sometimes called the "post-genitive" or

"offollowed by a possessive case or an absolute possessive pronoun" (from the Oxford English

Dictionary,which likes to show off). The double possessive has been around since the fifteenth

century, and is widely accepted. It's extremely helpful, for instance, in distinguishing between "a

picture of my father" (in which we see the old man) and "a picture of my father's" (which he

owns). Native speakers will note how much more natural it is to say "He's a fan of hers" than

"he's a fan of her."

Generally, what follows the "of" in a double possessive will be definite and human, not

otherwise, so we would say "a friend of my uncle's" but not"a friend of the museum's[museum,instead]." What precedes the "of" is usually indefinite(a friend, not the best friend),

unless it's preceded by the demonstratives thisor that,as in "this friend of my father's."

Authority for the section on "double ,ossessi*es"0 T#e New 'owler(s )odern "n%lis# Usa%eedited by .W.+urchfield. Clarendon Press0 H>ford# ford ni*ersity Press. a!,lesour own
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm#appositivehttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm#appositive


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168840190 english grammar nouns

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