Akki English
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Transcript of Akki English
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lady
palettedesert
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What is a noun?
A noun is a person, place, thing, or
idea.
Person:
cowboy
Place:
church
Thing:
beachball
Idea:
justice
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WHAT ARE NOUNS?
Nouns are naming words.They name people, places and objects.
They can also name ideas, emotions,qualities and activities.Here are some examples of nouns: Peter, Elizabeth, driver, sister, friend.
Bristol, Severn, Brazil, pen, dog, money. Love, beauty, industry, nature, greed,
pain.
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Typesof noun
All nouns can be divided into commonandpropernouns.
Common nouns can then be divided intocountableand uncountablenouns.
Both countable and uncountable nouns
can then be further divided intoconcreteand abstractnouns.Well look at each type in turn.
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First, look again at those types
and how they relate.
nouns
proper
common
countable
uncountable
abstract
concrete
abstract
concrete
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Proper nounsProper nouns start with capital
letters.They are the names of people, places,
times, organisations etc.They refer to unique individuals.Most are not found in the dictionary.They often occur in pairs or groups.Here are some examples.
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Tony Blair
King Henry
Bridget Jones
Christmas
China
Thames
Keynsham
Sony
Coca Cola
Macbeth
President Bush
The Jam
Coronation Street
Saturn
Carly
John
Portugal
The Ford Motor Company
Oxfam
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Common nounsAll nouns which are not proper nouns
are common nouns.
A few examples: cup, art, paper, work,frog, bicycle, atom, family, mind.
Common nouns are either countableor
uncountable.
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Countablenouns
Use these tests for countable nouns:Countable (or just count) nouns can be
made plural: a tree two trees; a manmen; a pony ponies.
In the singular, they may have thedeterminer aor an: a sausage; an asterisk.
We ask: How many words/pages/chairs?We say: A few minutes/friends/chips?
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Uncountable nouns
Use these tests for uncountable nouns:Uncountable (or non-count) nouns cannot be
made plural. We cannot say: two funs,three advicesor five furnitures.
We never use aor anwith them.
We ask: How much money/time/milk?(Not How many?)We say: A little help/effort. (Not A few.)
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Dual category nouns Some nouns may be countable or
uncountable, depending on how we usethem.
We buy a box of chocolates(countable) ora bar of chocolate(uncountable). We ask: How much time?but How many
times?(where times= occasions).
We sit in front of a television(set) towatch television(broadcasting).
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Field-specific nouns
Uncountable nouns are often turned intocountable nouns by specialists in aparticular field.They become part of the
jargon of that specialism. Grassis usually uncountable but botanists
and gardeners talk aboutgrasses.
Linguists sometimes talk about Englishes. Financiers refer to moneysor even monies. Teasmay be used to mean types of tea.
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Remember that both countable and uncountablenouns can be divided into concrete and abstractnouns.
The distinction between concrete and abstract
nouns is the most important one of all when you areanalysing linguistic data. A lot of abstract nouns ina text will have a big impact on its register.
The Plain English Campaignhas an excellent websitewhich will tell you more about the stylistic impact ofabstract nouns.
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Concrete nouns
Concrete nouns are the words that mostpeople think of as nouns.
They are mostly the names of objects andanimals (countable) and substances ormaterials (uncountable).
Cake, oxygen, iron, boy, dog, pen, glass,pomegranate, earthwormand doorare allconcrete nouns.
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Abstract nouns
Abstract nouns name ideas, feelingsand qualities.
Most, though not all, are uncountable. Many are derived from adjectives and
verbs and have characteristic endings
such as ity, -ness, -ence, and -tion. They are harder to recognise as nounsthan the concrete variety.
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Abstract noun or adjective
You wont confuse abstract nouns withadjectives, as long as you apply a few
tests. Happyis an adjective. It behaves like
one: very happy; so happy; happier; ashappy as
Happinessbehaves like a noun: Thehappiness I feel; her happiness; greathappiness.
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A few more examplesVerb or adjective Abstract noun
We were differentfrom each other.
The differencebetween us.
My work is precise. I work with precision.
The air is pure. The purityof the air.
I composedthis
tune.
This tune is my
composition.
It is so beautiful. It has such beauty.
You supportme. The supportyou give me.
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The morphology of nouns
Nouns change their form for only twogrammatical reasons:
Countable nouns have a plural form. This isusually formed by adding s, of course, butthere are some irregular forms.
The possessive form of a noun is createdby adding s (Henrys cat)or just anapostrophe (all our students results).
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Irregular plurals
Some nouns retain plural endings from OldEnglish:
Men, geese, mice, oxen, feet, teeth, knives. Loan words from Latin, Greek, French andItalian sometimes keep their native ending:
Media, bacteria, formulae, larvae, criteria,
phenomena, gateaux. Graffiti, an Italian plural, is now an
uncountable noun in English.
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Noun phrases
When we see a noun as performing a role ina sentence, we think of it as a noun phrase.
A noun phrase may function as the subjector object of a clause.
A noun phrase may consist of a single word(a noun or pronoun) or a group of words.
The most important noun in a noun phrase iscalled the headword.
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Examples of noun phrases
(headword in brackets) (She) always bought the same
(newspaper).
A young (man) in a suit was admiringthe (view) from the window.
Concentrated sulphuric (acid) must be
handled carefully. My old maths (teacher) was Austrian.
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The syntax of noun phrases The headword of a noun phrase may be pre-
modified by determiners, adjectives orother nouns.
For example, a large, dinner (plate).
It may be post-modified by a prepositionalphrase.
This is simply a noun phrase with a
preposition at the beginning. For example, a (painting) by Rembrandt. Can you spot the modifiers in the last
slide? (Left arrow key takes you back)
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Clauses modifying nouns
We can use a clause (a group of wordscontaining a verb) to post-modify a noun.
A clause which post-modifies a noun iscalled a relative clause or adjectival clause.
Here are some examples:
This is the (house) that Jack built. (People) who live in glass houses should notthrow stones.