ENGLISH GRAMMAR : Chapter 1

1. NOUNS KINDS OF NOUNS:          Common Nouns – are names of people (e.g. man), things (e.g. books),animals (e.g. monkey) and places (church).         Proper Nouns – are special names of people (e.g. George Bush), things (e.g. Financial Times), animals (e.g. King Kong) and places (e.g. Paris). A proper noun begins with a Capital Letter.          Abstract Nouns – An abstract noun is the name of something that we can only think of or feel but cannot see (e.g. friendship).         Collective Nouns – are names used for a number of people, things or animals together and treated as one. For example: a group of friends, a bunch of bananas, a litter of puppies.              Countable and Uncountable Nouns – Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted (e.g. trees). Uncountable nouns are nouns which cannot be counted. (e.g. smoke). Countable and Uncountable Nouns are used with the following: Countable Noun Uncountable Noun a, an, a few, several, many, a little, much, some, plenty of, some, plenty of, a lot of, a lot of, a large amount of, a large number of a great deal of Nouns have four genders: 1.         Masculine Gender – The masculine gender is used for all males. Example: boy, man 2.         Feminine Gender – The feminine gender is used for all females. Example: girl, woman 3.         Common Gender – The common gender is used where the noun can be both male and female. Example: cousin, friend, person, child, student 4.         Neuter Gender – The neuter gender is used for things which have no life or sex. Example: table, chair. Singular and Plural Nouns – A noun that shows only one person (e.g. a girl), thing (e.g. pencil), animal (e.g. tiger) or place (e.g. market) is called a singular noun). A noun that shows more than one person (e.g. girls), thing (e.g. pencils), animal (e.g. tigers) or place (e.g. markets) is called a plural noun. How plural nouns are formed. By adding –s. By adding ‘es’ to nouns ending in –ch, –s, –sh and –x. beach beaches peach peaches branch branches speech speeches ditch ditches watch watches   boss bosses glass glasses bus buses lens lenses chorus choruses pass passes   brush brushes fish fishes bush bushes lash lashes dish dishes wish wishes   box boxes hoax hoaxes fax faxes six sixes fox foxes tax taxes   By adding ‘es’ to nouns ending in –o. buffalo buffaloes potato potatoes cargo cargoes mosquito mosquitoes echo echoes tomato tomatoes   By adding ‘s’ to nouns ending in –o. banjo banjos patio patios bamboo bamboos photo photos radio radios                         video videos   By replacing ‘y’ with –ies. baby babies lorry lorries fly flies navy navies hobby hobbies                      puppy puppies   By adding ‘s’ to nouns ending in –y. boy boys key keys day days toy toys donkey donkeys                     turkey turkeys   By replaying ‘f’ or ‘fe’ with –ves. calf calves loaf loaves half halves self selves life lives                           wife wives    By adding ‘s’ to nouns ending in –f or –fe. chief chiefs hoof hoofs dwarf dwarfs reef reef gulf gulfs                           roof roofs   By changing vowels.       foot feet louse lice goose geese tooth teeth mouse mice                           woman women Some nouns have same words for plural and singular. aircraft aircraft music music crossroads crossroads series series furniture furniture                    sheep sheep   Exceptional plural. child children ox oxen crisis crises passer-by passers-by mouse mice                         radius radii   FORMING NOUNS Nouns can be formed from nouns, verbs and adjectives. They are formed by adding certain letters to them. Nouns Nouns widow widowhood friend friendship king kingdom Verbs Nouns add addition fail failure give gift Adjectives Nouns clean cleanliness sad sadness beautiful beauty