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Mihai ION Basic English Morphology
THE NOUN
1. CLASSIFICATION
word-formation
simple:pencil, dog, meal
derived: childhood, driver, unhappiness
compound:postcard, dining-room, editor-in-chief
content
countable (count): apple, lesson, table
[+s, +a(n), many/few] Give mean apple. They eatmany apples.
uncountable (mass): noise, milk, wisdom
[-s, -a(n), much/little] There ismuch noise in here.
proper:John, Italy, July, Tuesday, Christmas, Newsweek
collective: army, audience, class, club, committee, company, crew, crowd, family, jury,
party, press, public, gang, herd, pack, poultry, swarm, shoal, mankind
2. NUMBER
a) Variable nouns (sg & pl)
Plural1) -s added to the singular
books, toys, radios, photos, sopranos2) -es added to the singular nouns ending in: -s, -z, -sh, -ch, -x, -o
buses, fezzes, brushes, watches, boxes, potatoes3) consonant + y > consonant + ie +s
city/cities, fly/flies
4) -f(e) > -ve +s
knife/knives, calf/calves, elf/elves, loaf/loaves, life/livesbut: belief/beliefs, chief/chiefs, proof/proofs, roof/roofs, safe/safes
5) compound nouns
washing-machines, forget-me-nots, grown-ups, merry-go-rounds
lookers-on, mothers-in-law, passers-by
women drivers, men singers6) foreign plurals
stimulus stimuli, larva larvae, stratum strata, analysis analyses,
criterion criteria, corpus corpora, genus genera, tempo tempi
but: cactus cacti/cactuses, formula formulae/formulas,
medium media/mediums, appendix appendices[books]/appendixes[anatomy]
7) irregular plurals
man men, woman womenfoot feet, tooth teeth, goose geese
louse lice, mouse mice
child children, ox oxen, brother brethren[religious]
8) zero plurals
deer, sheep, fish, fruit
Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Swiss
means, series, species, barracks
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Mihai ION Basic English Morphology
b) Invariable nouns (sg / pl)
Singular1) concrete mass nouns: bread, meat, luggage, furniture, money
2) abstract mass nouns: music, progress, information, knowledge, advice
3) nouns ending in -s: news, measles, linguistics, cards
4) abstract nouns derived from adjectives: the beautiful, the good, the evil, the sublime5) proper nouns:Athens, Brussels, Naples, Wales, the Thames
Partitives: a of + mass Npiece, bit, item, bar, slice, pound, loaf, lump, sheet, blade, stick, strip, article, roast
Plural1) summation plurals: trousers, pyjamas, glasses, compasses, scales, scissors2) pluralia tantum nouns: savings, customs, wages, outskirts, colours, goods
3) unmarked plurals: cattle, clergy, people, police, youth, infantry, gentry
4) personal nouns derived from adjectives: the rich, the poor, the injured, the sick
5) proper nouns: the Alps, the Highlands, the Netherlands, the United States
3. GENDER
masculine (he/who): man, brother, uncle
feminine (she/who): woman, sister, aunt
neuter (it/which): book, house, snow
common/dual (he/she/who): cousin, friend, patient
Gendercontrasts
different words: husband wife, boy girl, bull cow, cock hen
compounds:male student female student,he-bear she-bear, Tom-cat Tabby-cat,
bull-elephant cow-elephant, schoolboy schoolgirl, landlord landladysuffixes: host hostess, hero heroine, bridegroom bride, widower widow
4. CASE. The Genitive
a) The Saxon genitive (sg N1s N2; pl N1 N2) is used with
nouns denoting persons or other beings:
fathers car, Dickens novel, Kim and Joes flat, my mother-in-laws job, a cows milk
nouns denoting time, distance, size, weight, value:
a three hours talk, a two miles walk, a kilos weight, two pounds worth of sugar
collective nouns: the companyspolicy, the governments decision
geographical names:Englands history, Londons museums
nouns denoting abstractions or unique things: lifes joys, the moons rotation
b) The prepositional genitive (N1 of N2) is used
with neuter (inanimate) nouns: the coverofthe book
with long noun phrases: the wifeofthe man you have met
in titles: The Complete WorksofWilliam Shakespeare
Special constructions
the elliptic genitive: at the bakers (shop), St. Pauls (Cathedral), at my aunts (house)the double genitive: a pictureofJims (=made by) vs. a pictureofJim (=presenting)