Download Lesson 8 Nouns

Lesson 8 Nouns
8.1 Definition
A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns
answer the questions who and what. Eg.

The cat ran after the mouse.
( cat and mouse are nouns).
8.2 Position
8.2.1 Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the,
this, that, these, those, my, your, his, her, its, our, their, such, etc.), eg.

a relief

an afternoon
my house
such stupidity
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
8.2.2 Nouns can also come after a quantifier (quantifiers are a lot of, many, much,
a few, every, each, all, most, both, half, some, any, no, etc.), eg.




a lot of money
two people
every student
no pain, no gain
8.2.3 Nouns often come after one or more adjectives:

a great relief

a peaceful afternoon
the tall, British doctor
my brown and white house


8.3 Noun phrases
A noun phrase is a noun or a pronoun + a determiner and/or a quantifier and/or
adjective(s). Eg.

a great relief
(a is the determiner, great the adjective, relief the noun)
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
a lot of her friends

(a lot of is the quantifier, her the determiner, friends the noun)
each of the brown panels
(each of is the quantifier, the the determiner, brown the adjective, panels the
noun)
8.4 Functions of a noun in a sentence
A noun can be the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, the subject and object
of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Eg.

subject of a verb: Doctors work hard.

object of a verb: He likes coffee.
subject and object of a verb: Teachers teach students.
object of a preposition: She went to school.
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
But the subject or object of a sentence is not always a noun. It could be a noun, a
pronoun or a noun phrase. In the sentence “My students work hard,” the noun is
“students” but the subject is “My students.”
8.5 Classification
8.5.1 A noun can be concrete or abstract.
8.5.1.1 A concrete noun is something you can touch, see, etc. Eg.


I am holding my cat.
The cat is running after the mouse.
The animals cat and mouse in the sentences above are concrete nouns.
8.5.1.2 An abstract noun refers to abstract objects, like ideas, concepts, etc. Eg.


She loves music.
He was searching for knowledge.
The abstract concepts of music and knowledge in the sentences above are both
nouns.
8.5.2 A noun can be proper or common.
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8.5.2.1 A proper noun represents a unique entity, and always begins with a
capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence; eg.


She visited New York every year.
Christmas is in December.
New York, Christmas, and December are all proper nouns.
8.5.2.2 A common noun describes a class of entities, eg.


She traveled to New York by plane.
George is the only boy in the class.
Plane, boy and class in the sentences above all refer to classes of entities.
8.5.3 A noun can be countable or uncountable.
8.5.3.1 A countable noun, also called count noun, has both a singular and a
plural form. To form the plural, we usually add an “s” or “es.” Eg.


cat--cats
stewardess--stewardesses
8.5.3.2 An uncountable noun is also called a non-count noun, or a mass
noun.
8.5.3.2.1 An uncountable noun usually cannot be expressed in a plural
form. These nouns are substances, concepts, etc. (see also 8.5.1.2 abstract
noun) that cannot be divided into separate elements; we cannot “count” them.
Eg.

milk, water, air, money, food, art, love, happiness, advice, information,
news
8.5.3.2.2 We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a
singular verb, and this, that and it to denote the noun. Eg.


This news is very important. I’ll read it right away.
Your luggage looks heavy.
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8.5.3.2.3 We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable
nouns. We cannot say “an information” or “a music.” But we can say a
something of, eg.

a piece of news

a bottle of water
a grain of rice

8.5.3.2.4 We can use some, any, a little, and much with uncountable nouns:

I've got some money.

Have you got any rice?
I've got a little money.
I haven't got much rice.


8.5.3.3 Nouns that can be both countable and uncountable
Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a
change of meaning.


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There are two hairs in my coffee! (countable)
I don't have much hair. (uncountable)
There are two lights in our bedroom. (countable)
Close the curtain. There's too much light! (uncountable)
8.5.4 Compound nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound
noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other
combinations. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by
adjectives and other nouns. There are 3 forms of compound nouns:
8.5.4.1 Open or spaced - space between words, eg.

tennis shoe, bus stop, full moon, washing machine, school teacher, apple
tree
8.5.4.2 Hyphenated - hyphen between words, eg.

mother-in-law, grown-up, good-for-nothing, house-builder, blue-green
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8.5.4.3 Closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words, eg.

bedroom, football, blackboard, software, sunrise, toothbrush, passersby,
highlight
Two or more nouns together – noun as adjective (see also 9.2.5 Noun
as Adjective)
A noun is a person, place or thing; and an adjective is a word that describes a noun.
But sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first
8.5.5
noun acts as an adjective (see also 8.5.4
Compound noun). Eg.

history teacher

bus driver
Hong Kong basketball team coach
(we can have more than one “noun as adjective”; here Hong Kong,
basketball and team are all “nouns as adjective,” describing coach.)

8.5.6 Collective noun
A collective noun refers to a group of objects, where the objects can be people,
animals, emotions, inanimate things, concepts, or other things. Eg.

committee, team, school, church, group, class, tribe, troop, colony, flock,
congress
It is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural
verb form depending on the context. Eg.

The team is in the dressing room.
(refer to the team as an ensemble)

The team are fighting among themselves.
(refer to individual team members)
8.5.7 Verbs acted as nouns, such as gerunds and infinitives (see also Lesson 5
Verbs: Gerunds, Infinitives, and Participles).
8.5.7.1 Use of nouns vs use of gerunds
In a sentence, if there is a place for a noun, and a noun can be used,
then the noun should be used instead of the gerund. Eg.

I am fond of study / not: I am fond of studying
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
Flush the toilet after use / not: Flush the toilet after using
8.6 The possessive form
8.6.1 When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something,
we usually add ‘s to a singular noun and an apostrophe ‘ to a plural noun, eg.

the boy’s ball (one boy, one ball)
the boy’s balls (one boy, two or more balls)
the boys’ ball (two or more boys with one ball)
the boys’ balls (two or more boys with two or more balls)



8.6.2
Possessive with names
8.6.2.1
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
We very often use possessive ‘s with names, eg.
This is Mary’s car.
Where is Ram’s telephone?
8.6.2.2 When a name ends in s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun,
and add ‘s:

This is Charles’s chair.
8.6.2.3 But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add
the apostrophe ‘:

Who was Jesus’ father?
8.7 Noun ending
There are certain word endings (suffixes) that show that a word is a noun. In English,
many abstract nouns are formed by adding suffixes to adjectives or verbs. Eg.





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-ity > nationality
-ment > appointment
-ness > happiness
-tion > relation
-hood > childhood
-ful> spoonful
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