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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)