You are on page 1of 5

1

THE NOUN

Definition: part of speech which names objects: Human beings


Plants
Characteristics
States
Actions
Abstractions
Ann/man/crowd/country/lamb/grass/hill/tin/walk/state/redness/peace/

Classification:
Common nouns: objects of the same kind-
woman/boy/dog/flower/tree/bird/people/family/water/happiness

Proper nouns: Guy/Jane/Thomson/Bucharest/Danube/Romania/Romanian/The Lake


District/Britain/Europe/Terra/Mars/Monday/April/

Some objects after origin place: a bedlam/china/etons /holland/jersey/morocco/oxfords/sherry/


Objects after inventors: a chesterfield/ a davenport/ a hovercraft/ a Johnny/ A Land Rover/a
machintosh/
An Oscar/ a teddy bear/ a Caesar/ a Venus/

Concrete Nouns name material objects: persons/animals/plants/things/phenomena/events/


John/moon/Astronauts/lion/tree/heat/rain/factory/ballpoint pen

Abstract Nouns: name: actions/states/feelings/sensations/characteristics/relations/considered notions:


Walk/rest/dizziness/health/ease/joy/love/force/wisdom/friendship/greatness/

Some abstract nouns have concrete meanings: curiosity = obiect rar/neobisnuit


=curiozitate(abstract)

delicacy
=delicatete (a)
=delicatesa/trufanda
justice = dreptate(a)
=judecator (C)
medicine =medicina(A)
=doctorie©
surgery =chirurgie(A)
cabinet medical©
Common and abstract can be both individual and collective:

Individual Nouns name a singular object: concrete: child/wife/cat/robin/street/town/lily/oak/spoon/ticket


Abstract nouns: pride/modesty/strength/grace/hope/anger/idea/joy/value/taste/
Collective nouns: at singular they call a plurality seen unitary- army/fleet/audience/flight/galaxy/team
Abstract Nouns: government/congress/majority/minority/association/council/the public/the press/
Names of Matter and concrete Mass and Names of Abstract nouns:
Concrete: gold/wine/cotton/maize/milk/wood
Abstract; poetry/philosophy/knowledge/music/TV/information/intelligence/nonsense

Countable Nouns-characteristics

Countable: children/birds/flowers/houses/crowds/families/days/ideals

Uncountable: applause/laughter/light/news/sunshine/fun/heat/homework/housework/light/news/sunshine
2
Categories of uncountable nouns: sports-football/cricket/hockey/skiing/tennis/water-polo///Material and
Mass Nouns: steam/smoke/sugar/bacon/mutton/wheat/silver/

Singular Number when they name a single object: book/watch/baby/leaf/man/sheep

Plural Number when they call more objects: books/watches/babies/leaves/men/sheep

THE PLURAL OF THE NOUNS

General Rule: <<S>>1. book-books/top-tops/laugh-laughs


Head-heads/chair-chairs/circle-circles/heels-heels/cinema-cinemas/eye-eyes/
2. place-places/garage-garages/rouge-rouges/judge-judges/house-houses/vase-vases
<<ES>3. bus-buses/class-classes/fox-foxes/buzz-buzzes/quiz-quizes/fish/fishes/match-
matches/sandwich-sandwiches
4. Nouns ended in Y preceded by cons =ies-sky-skies/story-stories/baby-babies
Y preceded by vowel= boy-boys/day-days/key-keys
5. Nouns ended in F or FE get S chief-chiefs/grief-griefs/gulf-gulfs/dwarf-
dwarfs/roof-roofs/proof-proofs/cliff-cliffs/
nouns ended in F/FE form plurals in VES-leaf-leaves/thief-thieves/loaf-
loaves/half-halves/elf-elves/shelf-shelves/knive-knives/life-lives/wife-wives/
6. Nouns ended in O preceded by cons get ES-cargo-cargoes/domono-dominos/echo-
echoes/fresco-frescoes/hero-heroes/volcano-volcanoes/tomato-tomatoes/potato-potatoes/tornado-
tornadoes/
Nouns ended in O preceded by Vowel get S embryo-embroys/bamboo-
bamboos/portfolio-portfolios/radio-radios/scenario-scenarios/studio-studios/taboo-taboos

And also: canto-cantos/casono-casinos/magneto-magnetos/octavo-octavos/photo-photos/rondo-rondos


And both forms: bravo-
bravos/domino/dominos/dominoes/flamingo/flamingoes/fresco/frescoes/manifesto/manifestos/manifestoe
s/motto-mottos/mottoes/soprano-sopranos/sppranoes/stilleto/stilettos/tabacoo/tabacoos/tabacooes/
7. Nouns ended in TH get S: breaths/deaths/months/healths /faiths/growths/
: baths/mouths/paths/youths
8. Irregular Plurals: man-men/woman-women/foot-feet/tooth-teeth/mouse-mice/
9. The same form singular and plural: foot/pound/stone/mile/ton
10. The plural of Collective Nouns: have only singular form and name a plurality of
objects seen as a unit:
army/assembly/class/club/committee/company/crew/crowd/family/government/jury/public/mess/party/
press/flight/school/
The above nouns have singular meaning or plural meaning:

The class was taken by a very able teacher.


The committee consists of 12 people.
His family was small.
The book appeals to a large public.
The teaching staff was large.

Nearly all the class were given good marks.


The committee have come to an understanding.
The family were asleep in their beds.
The public are requested to keep the grass.
The teaching staff were all expected to be fully qualified.

B. Some collective nouns have always the verb in the plural.


Five thousands French infantry were facing the English.
Two police direct the traffic.
3
The police were after him.

11.Singular without Plural-


advice/business/furniture/income/information/intelligence/knowledge/luggage/

merchandise/money/nonsense/produce/progress/remorse/strength/work/
and; lightening/thunder

Abstract nouns names of matter natural products:


business/happiness/peace/copper/cotton/nylon/sand/bread/wheat/

Her advice was always excellent.


(Sfaturile ei erau intotdeauna excelente)
The furniture in this room belongs to various periods of style
Mobilele din aceasta camera au stiluri diferite.
Much valuable information has followed the launching of manned spacecraft into outer space.
S-au obtinut multe informatii pretioase in urma lansarii navelor spatiale,cu echipaj uman,in spatial
extraterestru.
His knowledge of History is very slight.
Cunostintele lui de istorie sunt foarte slabe.
On this train all luggage is to be deposited in the van.
La acest tren toate bagajele sunt depuse la vagonul de bagaje.
The nonsense the braggart said talked was surprising.
Era surprinzator cate prostii spunea acel laudaros.
His progress in English is highly satisfactory.
Progresele lui in limba engleza sunt satisfacatoare.
Her strength was failing fast.
Puterile o paraseau cu repeziciune.
We ran home because there was thunder and lightening in the sky.
Am alergat ca tuna si fulgera.

When we refer to singular we will use: ITEM/PIECE

A piece of an advice/a piece of furniture/ a piece of luck/ apiece of nonsense/


A piece of work/ a piece of information/ a loaf of bread/ a flash of thunder/
A flash of lightening//a crash of thunder/

12. Plural without singular:


parts of the body: bowels/genitals/vitals/
illnesses and states of spirit: measles/rheumatics/blues/hysterics/

clothes of two pieces:


braces/breeches/clothes/drawers/etons/jeans/knickers/overalls/oxfords/pants/shorts/tights/trousers/

tools and instruments: binoculars/compasses/eyes-glasses/pliers/scales/scissors/spectacles/

games: billiards/cards/darts/dominoes/draughts/ninepins/skittles/

sciences and objects: astrophysics/ acrobatics/aerostatics/astronautics/athletics/ballistics//cosmonautics/


dynamics/economics/ethics/linguistics/mathematics/informatics/optics/phonetics/physics/poetics/politics/

geographical names: The Alps/ the Carpathians/the Hebrides/ the Highlands/ the Netherlands/the United
States

verbal nouns: doings/earnings/goings-


on/leavings/savings/settlings/shortcomings/surroundings/talkings/winnings/
4

Adjectives + s= nouns: antics/betters/feelings/


chemicals/drinkables/empties/edibles//news/odds/Olympics/riches/shorts/theatricals/tights/valuables/

The agreement with the verb and its determinants:

Names of games:

Ninepins requires great skill.


Draughts is a very entertaining game.

Names of diseases: measles and mumps

Mumps is contagious

Names of sciences and objects:

Acoustics studies sound.


Ethics is concerned with the principles of morals.
Hydrostatics deals with the pressure of liquids at rest.
Mathematics is indispensable t the study of the next sciences.
Optics treats of light.

When all these above don’t refer to science they agree with the verb in the plural:

Acoustics of our new auditorium leave nothing to be desired.


His ethics are above reproach.
The mechanics of the play writing are unknown to him.
Their phonetics are beneath contempt.

United States of America with sg and pl

The United States of America has Washington as a capital.


The United States of America have voted their representatives in congress.

News just with the singular:

What is the news? No news is good news.


Nowadays news travels with lightening speed.

Nouns as corps/headquarters/links/odds/thanks with sg and pl:

The theatre had a corps de ballet which was famous.


The two army corps have been advised of the change of the tactics.

Where is the army headquarters?


The headquarters of the two trade unions were in the same street.

What’s the odds?


In the championship contest, the odds were against the British middleweight.

Thanks. Thank you very much.


I owe you many thanks.
No thanks are needed.
5

You might also like