NEWSLETTER 3
11.12.2008
Hi Reader,
Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening,
Last week we saw the uses of the articles-‘a,’ ‘an ‘and ‘the’.
Today, are you ready to know about “Noun”? Shall we proceed?
Perhaps you may know what a verb is. A verb describes what a person / thing does.
E.g. He writes a letter. The dog barks.
An adverb tells about a verb. Eg. He writes. How? Slowly. Fast.
Then, what is a noun?
A noun can be either a subject or an object. E.g. Sashank met Rohith. Both Sashank
and Rohith are nouns since the first name is a subject and the second one, an object.
Shall we go to learn in detail about Noun?
4 types of Noun
1. Common Noun: It refers to something or somebody in general. E.g. Boy, girl, town,
city.
2. Proper Noun: It refers to the name of a particular person or place. E.g. Akash, Kanika,
Kolkatta.
3. Collective Noun: It tells about the name of number of persons or things. E.g. Police,
fleet, army.
4. Abstract Noun: It mentions the quality (goodness, honesty), action (laughter, theft)
and state (youth, childhood). Abstract nouns are formed from adjectives (kindkindness), from verbs (obey-obedience) and from common nouns (child-childhood).
O.k. Reader, do you know the number of the following words - a) cattle b) soldiers
c) sailors?
Functions of a noun
1. A noun can function as a subject and it is called in Nominative case.
E.g. He drew the picture.
2. A noun can act as an object and it is called in Objective (Accusative) case.
E.g. He met Rashmi.
3. A noun can act as an indirect object and it is called in Dative case.
E.g. She gave me a book. (me- indirect object, book- direct object).
4. A noun can denote possession. It is called in Possessive case.
E.g. Mother’s care. Shakespeare’s dramas.
5. A noun can be the complement (a word/phrase that completes the meaning of a
sentence) of a sentence.
E.g. She is a doctor. (What is she? A doctor).
Noun: Gender
Nouns have 3 genders.
A) Masculine: man, boy, bull
B) Feminine: woman, girl, cow
C) Neuter: (inanimate things and animals whose sex is not
known) tree, stone.
But we use feminine gender to ship (car or vehicle that we love).
Reader, do you know the other gender of the following words?
Duck, dog, stag, goose. Yes, you are right.
Answer- drake, bitch, doe, gander.
In the past the feminine gender of ‘actor’ and ‘author’ were ‘actress’ and ‘authoress’.
But the same word is used nowadays to refer to the masculine and feminine genders.
Noun: Number
Are these words singular or plural- scissors, pants, mumps, rickets, billiards?
What is the plural of ‘son-in-law’- ‘son-in-laws’ or ‘sons-in-law’?
Are there rules to make a singular noun into a plural?
Yes. The following are a few rules (!) and, if they are followed, then mistakes in making a
singular into a plural will be easy.
1. By adding –s to the noun. E.g. Boy> Boys
2. By adding –es- E.g. Tomato>tomatoes
3. By adding –ies. E.g. Country>countries
4. F becomes v- wife>wives
5. Vowel change- foot>feet (o becomes e)
6. No change in plural-aircraft>aircraft
7. Collective noun takes a singular or plural verb according to the meaningE.g. Our team is better than the other ones.
Our teams wear (plural) black pants.
8. Certain nouns are plural and take plural verb- binoculars>binoculars
9. Words ending in –ics, either singular or plural- maths (singular), athletics(plural)
10. Words in plural form but singular in meaning- billiards, bowls (singular)
11. Greek words form plural in a different way- radius>radii
12. Forming
two plural
forms with
two
different
meanings- index>indexes(in
books)indices(maths)
13. Last word is plural in some compound words-boy friend>boy friends
14. In ‘man’ and ‘woman’ compound words, both are made plural-man-driver>men-drivers
15. In –er ending words, the first word is made plural- hangers-on>hangers-on
16. Initials are made plural-VIP>VIPs
17. No plural for mass/non-count/uncountable nouns-I bought some paper(when number
is not known); He gave me advice(He gave some pieces of advice(plural)
18. Uncountable nouns begin with a/an, singular-a bit of news, a cake of soap
19. Experience (of a person)and work(job) singular –
E.g. He had an exciting experience.
He is looking for a work.
But ‘works’ can be used as plural in literary compositions- E.g. Shakespeare’s works
20. Some abstract nouns can be used with a/an in the singular formE.g. My children are a great help to me. It was a relief to sit down.
21. A fear/fears, a hope/hopes, a suspicion/suspicions are used with that-clause introduced
by ‘there’E.g. There is a fear/There are fears that he has been kidnapped.
O.K. Reader, are you tired of going through so many rules for making a singular
into a plural? If you master the above rules, you can answer the following questions
easily.
Are the following sentences correct or incorrect?
1. I go to Chennai on Monday with heavy luggages.
2. How are your brother-in-laws?
3. The wages of sin are death.
4. I bought new trouser.
5. Where is my spectacle?
Hello, sir/madam, all the above sentences are incorrect. If you find out the correct
answer for each question, just pat on your back.
For a change, reader, shall we discuss a general question like the following in our
next NEWSLETTER?
“IS MAKING CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE DIFFICULT OR EASTY?
WHY ARE STUDENTS, ESPECIALLY FROM MOTHER-TONGUE MEDIUM, UNWILLING
TO SPEAK?
I hope, you are a good conversationalist. So, guess your answer. Bye, Bye.