Tai 102-104
English I
DENISSE LOPEZ AGUILERA
NOUNS
Characteristics of nouns
As the head of a noun phrase, a noun has a range of functions. For example, the noun teachers is the
head of the subject noun phrase of [1] and the noun dinner is the head of the object noun phrase in [2]:
[1] The teachers aren't perhaps aware of how they can work with the disabled student
[2] The people we were staying with they (, ,) cooked us a traditional Normandy dinner
Typically, nouns are introduced by a determiner. the definite article the in [1] and the indefinite article a in
[2].
They may be premodified:
in [2] by the adjective traditional and the noun Normandy. They may also be postmodified: the relative
clause we were staying with postmodifies people in
[2] nd the prepositional phrase in the building postmodifies room in [3]:
[3] And they were saying wait until summer and you'll get the benefit then (, > because it's the coolest
room in the building
The typical noun has both singular and plural forms: teacher/teachers, dinner/dinners,
building/buildings.
Proper nouns
Nouns are either common or proper.
Proper nouns name specific people, animals, institutions, places, times, etc.
They have unique reference, and in writing they begin with a capital letter; Bill
Clinton, Jerusalem, Christmas, December. Names may consist of a combination
of a proper noun with other words (adjectives, common nouns, prepositional
phrases), and it is usual for the initial letters of each open-class word in the
name to be written in capitals, and also the definite article the if it is part of the
name:
The Hague
Queen Elizabeth
The New York Times
Scotland Yard
Lake Michigan
Great Britain
Closed-class words, such as the definite article (when not part of the name)
and prepositions, are generally in lower case:
the
Pacific
the United States of America
the
University of Michigan
the King of Belgium
Proper names are non-count: they have no contrast in number. Generally,
they have only a singular form, but some place-names have only a plural form:
the Netherlands
the Bahamas
the Alps
the Andes
the United Nations
the British Isles
Proper names are treated as common nouns when they do not have unique
references, though they retain capitals in writing. They can then be in the
plural and take determiners that are confined to count nouns:
[1] I bet it's busy on Sundays
[2] I've got a lot of Julians in my class
some general rules or tips
schedule
Our classes will start and finish at the
official time - break
Covid-19
Masks and late arrivals - checking
attendance
presence
face to face classes and exiting the
classroom
Count and noncount nouns
Common nouns are either count (or countable) or non-count (or
uncountable or mass). Count nouns have both a singular and a plural and they can be
introduced by determiners that accompany distinctions in number.
For example:
contents
Non-count nouns
indicate entities that are viewed as uncountable. They
are singular in form and are treated as singular for subject-verb agreement. They are
introduced by a restricted set of determiners. For example:
We can often achieve countability with non-count nouns (particularly
concrete nouns) through partitive expressions. There are general
partitive expressions, such as a piece of/pieces o/and a bit of/bits of:
Missing an evaluation
There are also partitive expressions that tend to go only with
certain noncount nouns:
two slices of
bread/cheese/cake/meat
a lump of
sugar/coal
a bar of
chocolate/soap/gold
a glass of
water/soda/whisky
three cups of coffee/ tea
We can also use measurements:
two pounds of
sugar/coffee/tea
a ton
of coal
a litre of
brandy
Regular plurals
Count nouns make a distinction between singular and plural. Singular denotes one, and plural
more than one:
[1] It weighs one pound exactly.
[ l a ] It weighs at least one and a half pounds.
In writing, the regular plural ends in -s:
cat/cats book/books house/houses
Some spelling rules affect the addition of the regular -s inflection:
1. If the singular ends in a sibilant (see below) that is not followed by -e, add
-es:
pass/passes buzz/buzzes bush/bushes church/churches box/boxes
A few nouns ending in -s have a variant in which the consonant is doubled before the inflection:
bus/buses or busses bias/biases or brasses focus/focuses or focusses
gas/gases or gasses
2. If the singular ends in a consonant plus y, change the y to i and then
add -es:
spy/spies curry/curries worry/worries
Proper nouns are exceptions:
the Kennedys Bloody Marys
If a vowel precedes the final y, the plural is regular:
toy/toys play/plays
3. For some nouns ending in -o, add -es. Here are common examples:
echo/echoes hero/heroes potato/potatoes tomato/tomatoes
veto/vetoes
In some instances, there is variation between -os and -oes; for example:
cargo/cargos or cargoes motto/mottos or mottoes volcano/volcanos
or volcanoes
The regular -s plural inflection is pronounced as /iz/, /z/, or /s/ depending
on the final sound of the singular.
1. /iz/ if the singular ends in a sibilant:
/s/ bus/buses box/boxes
Irregular plurals
1. Voicing of final consonant
Some nouns ending in -/or -fe form their plurals by
changing the ending to -ves. They include:
calf/calves life/lives
half/halves loaf/loaves
knife/knives self/selves
leaf/leaves thief/ thieves
Others have regular plurals as well:
dwarf/dwarves or dwarfs
handkerchief/handkerchiefs or handkerchieves
hoof/ hooves or hoofs
scarf/scarves or scarfs
wharf/wharves or wharfs
Some nouns ending in -th have the regular plural in
spelling, but the pronunciation of th is voiced / 5 / and
therefore followed by /z/. However, in most cases, the
regular pronunciation /9s/ is a variant:
baths oaths paths sheaths truths wreaths youths
2. Mutations
In a few nouns, the plural is formed by mutation (a change
in the vowel):
man/men woman/women tooth/teeth
foot/feet goose/geese
mouse/mice
louse/lice
Collective nouns
Singular collective nouns refer to a group of people or animals
or to institutions. They may be treated as either singular or
plural. They are treated as plural (more commonly in British
English than in American English)*when the focus is on the
group as individuals rather than as a single entity. They may
then take a plural verb, and plural pronouns may be coreferential with them
The Argentine team are in possession now inside their
own half.
Tai400
English IV
Cristian González
cristian.gonzalez_pac@edu.udla.cl