Download word class 1: nouns in english for biotechnology

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine / Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology
March 17, 2015
WORD CLASS 1:
NOUNS IN ENGLISH FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY
1)
Features of Nouns in BioTech English
noun or name? (see the handout 1, “Name Words”, unit 2)
countable and/or uncountable
Here follows the main features in the behaviour of a C-noun
compared to an U-noun:
Countable nouns [C]
Uncountable nouns [U]
have singular and plural forms
only have one form
take singular and plural verbs
always take a singular verb
can have a/an (= indefinite
article) and numbers in front of
them
never have a/an or a number
directly in front of them
have many / a lot of / lots of in
front of them
have few / a few in front of
them
have much / a lot of / lots of in
front of them
have little / a little in front of
them
It can be useful to list uncountable nouns into the following
categories:
substances: blood, corn, glass, iron, gold, oil, plasma,
plastic, water, wax, wheat, etc.;
abstract ideas: access, freedom,
progress, relevance, safety, etc.;
health,
humour,
verbal nouns (i.e. -ing verbal forms used as nouns):
rendering, neutering, spaying, timing, etc. as well as all
the nouns indicating the various acts of parturition (see
the handout 2, “Species Names”; and the handout 3,
“Common Species Names”, unit 2);
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
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Faculty of Veterinary Medicine / Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology
March 17, 2015
diseases: BSE, cold, influenza, rabies, salmonellosis, etc.;
subjects: biology, chemistry, etiology, mathematics /
maths, physics, statistics, etc;
miscellaneous: accommodation, advertising, advice,
damage, equipment, evidence, exposure, hardware,
information, money, news, research, software, traffic,
training, transport, travel, weather, work, etc.
Moreover note that:
1 some words which are countable in some other languages
are uncountable in English (e.g. advice, information,
management, news);
2 some words can be used in two different ways – one
countable, one uncountable (e.g. business, glass, hair,
meal, paper);
3 collective nouns can take singular and plural verbs (e.g.:
board, committee, government, team; cattle, livestock,
offspring, wildlife, poultry);
4 to make countable quantities of uncountable nouns
use the formula “a/an … of” as in the following examples:
− 100 sheaves / ears of corn;
− 21 bunches of wheat;
− a field of corn;
− a lock / wisp of hair;
− an item of information;
− four pieces of reasearch;
− six surgeries of neutering;
− ten books of physics;
− two sacks of blood;
or use another similar word (= a synonym) or expression
(= a synonymic compound word): e.g. work a job / a
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
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Faculty of Veterinary Medicine / Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology
March 17, 2015
task; progress a step forward; training a training
course
Apart from “an item of …” and “a piece of …” that can be
used with almost all the U-nouns, each item needs an
adequate periphrasis.
standard plural formation with the ending -(e)s plus:
♦ a set of nouns of classical (Greek or Latin) origin (see the
handout 4, “Plural Formation”, unit 2);
♦ a small group of nouns maintaining a Germanic plural
formation (e.g. child children; goose geese; louse lice; man men; mouse mice; ox oxen; woman women);
♦ a small group of lexical items with a double spelling
adaptation – both in the final “f” of the word changing into
“v” and in the ending itself where a euphonic “e” goes
before final “s” (e.g. knife knives; sheaf sheaves).
However, such adaptation is not a permanent feature: in
fact, pay attention to chief chiefs, roof roofs;
♦ a set of nouns of classical origin ending in -x such as
appendix, index, matrix with a double chance of plural
formation: respectively, appendices and appendixes;
indices and indexes; matrices and matrixes (see also the
handout 4, “Plural Formation”, unit 2).
Anyway, pay attention to cervix cervices; cortex cortices; phalanx phalanges; thorax thoraces as well
as to box boxes; fax faxes; fox foxes;
♦ a set of nouns ending in -sis such as crisis, diagnosis,
meiosis, prognosis whose plural forms are respectively
crises, diagnoses; meioses and prognoses;
♦ a set of countable nouns where singular and plural form are
the same: e.g. bison bison; deer deer (also deers);
elk elk (also elks) salmon salmon (also salmons);
sheep sheep; species species; status status;
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
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Faculty of Veterinary Medicine / Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology
March 17, 2015
no gender, but in some cases and in Veterinary English
above all (see the handout 2, “Species Names”; and the
handout 3, “Common Species Names”, unit 2) …
compound nouns (forthcoming)
collocations (forthcoming)
false friends (forthcoming)
© 2015 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
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