New Junior English Revised –
Further activities on Gender in Nouns
Some feminine nouns
There are some categories of nouns that are considered feminine in English. Things
that contain people, such as ships, vehicles, countries, etc., have traditionally been
considered feminine and referred to by the pronouns she, her and hers. The proud
driver of a fast car might say, ‘She can go from zero to a hundred and fifty in twenty
seconds!’ Interestingly, if a ship has a name that is male, it is nonetheless referred to
with the pronouns she, her, and hers. Thus, for example, ‘The Coast Guard acquired
a new vessel, The Marcus Garvey. She was launched last month.’ The convention is
dying out in places.
Gender in nouns 1
Which of the following is feminine according to the description above?
HMS Queen Mary
Admiral Rodney Square
Antigua
A Ferrari motor car
The West Indies Cricket Team
A Spitfire aeroplane
The Kingstown Choral Group
CARICOM
St Mary Academy School Bus
Grenada
Gender in nouns 2
Change the masculine nouns in the following passage into the feminine form and
make any other necessary changes.
The manager of the farm in Botswana was an Englishman. He inherited it from the
family patriarch, his uncle, Lord Highhat. His brother and nephews helped him take
care of the bulls, boars, stallions and roosters kept in pens. Near where a boar was
guarding piglets, a stallion stood protectively by a colt. Suddenly the rams looked up
as a gaggle of gobbling ganders came round the barn. A tiger was plunging through
the forest with a lion at his heels!