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Functions of Nouns
Subject (S) - a noun or pronoun partnered with a predicate verb.
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Object of Preposition (OP) - a noun or pronoun answering "whom" or "what" after
a preposition in a a prepositional phrase.
Direct Object (DO) - a noun or pronoun answering "whom" or "what" after an action
verb. A direct object "receives" or is the "object" of the action.
Retained Object (RO) - a noun or pronoun answering "whom" or "what" after a passive
verb.
Indirect Object (IO) - a noun or pronoun answering "to whom/what" or "for whom/what"
after an action verb.
An indirect object
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Subjective Complement (SC) - a noun, pronoun, or adjective that renames or describes
(equals) the subject after a verb of being or a linking verb.
Test for OC: insert "to be" between the DO and the OC
Appositive (App) - a noun or pronoun that renames another noun; An appositive is usually
placed next to the noun it renames..
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Gourmet renames the noun Joe. Therefore, gourmet is an appositive of Joe.
When an appositive is not placed next to the noun it renames, the appositive is called
a delayed appositive.
In the above sentence, the appositive to meet you renames it. It (to meet you) is a
pleasure.
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Proper Nouns vs. Common Nouns
Names of people, places and organisations are called proper nouns. We spell proper nouns
with a capital letter:
Mohammed Ali; Birmingham; China; Oxford University, the United Nations
When we give the names of books, films, plays and paintings we use capital letters for
the nouns, adjectives and verbs in the name:
The opposite of a proper noun is a common noun, sometimes known as a generic noun. A
common noun is the generic name of an item in a class or group and is not capitalized
unless appearing at the beginning of a sentence or in a title.
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Girl is a common noun; we do not learn the identity of the girl by reading this
sentence, though we know the action she takes. River is also a common noun
in this sentence.
Types of Common Nouns
Common or generic nouns can be broken down into three subtypes: concrete nouns,
abstract nouns, and collective nouns. A concrete noun is something that is perceived by the
senses; something that is physical or real.
Nouns as Subjects
Every sentence must have a subject, and that subject will always be a noun. The subject of
a sentence is the person, place, or thing that is doing or being the verb in that sentence.
Nouns as Objects
Nouns can also be objects of a verb in a sentence. An object can be either a direct object (a
noun that receives the action performed by the subject) or an indirect object (a noun that is
the recipient of a direct object).
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Nouns as Subject and Object Complements
Another type of noun use is called a subject complement. In this example, the noun teacher
is used as a subject complement.
Plural Nouns
Plural nouns, unlike collective nouns, require plural verbs. Many English plural nouns can be
formed by adding -s or -es to the singular form, although there are many exceptions.
Example cat—cats
Example These two cats are both black.
Note the plural verb are.
Example tax—taxes
Example house—houses
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Count nouns
Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted, even if the number might be
extraordinarily high (like counting all the people in the world). Countable nouns can be used
with a/an, the, some, any, a few, and many.
Plural forms
We usually add –s to make a plural noun:
book > books; school > schools; friend > friends
We add -es to nouns ending in –ss; -ch; -s; -sh; -x
class > classes; watch > watches; gas > gases; wish > wishes; box > boxes
When a noun ends in a consonant and -y we make the plural in -ies...
lady > ladies; country > countries; party > parties
…but if a noun ends in a vowel and -y we simply add -s:
boy > boys; day > days; play > plays
Some common nouns have irregular plurals:
Man > men; woman > women; child > children; foot > feet;
person > people
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Plural count nouns do not have a determiner when they refer to people or things as
a group:
Computers are very expensive.
Do you sell old books?
There is a cat in the garden.
There are some birds in the trees.
For positive sentences we can use a/an or some (with a plural verb form)
There isn’t a dog in the garden.
There aren’t any birds in the tree.
For negatives we can use a/an or any (with a plural verb form).
Is there an orange on the tree?
Are there any chairs in the garden?
How many chairs are there?
The words for some minor ailments are countable. Examples are: a cold, a sore
throat, a headache etc.
I have got a headache. (NOT I have got headache.)
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Would you like SOME COFFEE? (uncountable because it's referring to the drink in
general)
The FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS about human nature. (countable, because it's referring to
facts or beliefs that are true)
There's no TRUTH in the rumours. (uncountable, because it refers to the quality or state
of being true)
Uncount nouns
Uncountable nouns are nouns that come in a state or quantity which is impossible to count;
liquids are uncountable, as are things that act like liquids (sand, air). They are always
considered to be singular, and can be used with some, any, a little, and much.
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Common uncount nouns
There are some common nouns in English, like accommodation, which are
uncount nouns even though they have plurals in other languages:
a piece of... pieces of... a bit of... bits of... an item of... items of...
Let me give you a piece of advice.
That’s a useful piece of equipment.
We bought a few bits of furniture for the new apartment.
She had six separate items of luggage.
but we do not use accommodation, money and traffic in this way.
These are called uncountable nouns, because they cannot be separated or counted.
some things are seen as a whole or mass.
Ideas and experiences: advice, information, progress, news, luck, fun, work
Materials and substances: water, rice, cement, gold, milk
Weather words: weather, thunder, lightning, rain, snow
Names for groups or collections of things: furniture, equipment, rubbish, luggage
Some nouns always have plural form but they are uncountable because we
cannot use numbers with them.
I bought two pairs of trousers.
Not: I bought two trousers.
Other nouns of this type are: shorts, pants, pyjamas, glasses (for the eyes), binoculars,
scissors.
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To refer to one or more quantities of an uncountable noun, expressions such as a bit of,
a piece of, an item of or words for containers and measures must be used.
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3: Nouns with two meanings
Some nouns have two meanings, one count and the other non count:
His life was in danger.
There is a serious danger of fire.
Linguistics is the study of language.
Is English a difficult language?
It’s made of paper.
The Times is an excellent paper.
Other words like this are:
5: Group nouns
Some nouns, like army, refer to groups of people, animals or things, and we can use
them either as singular nouns or as plural nouns.
army audience committee company crew enemy
family flock gang government group herd
media public regiment staff team
We can use these group nouns either as singular nouns or as plural nouns:
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My family is very dear to me.
I have a large family. They are very dear to me. (= The members of my family…)
The government is very unpopular.
The government are always changing their minds.
Sometimes we think of the group as a single thing:
The audience always enjoys the show.
The group consists of two men and three women.
Sometimes we think of the group as several individuals;
The audience clapped their hands.
The largest group are the boys.
The names of many organisations and teams are also group nouns, but they
are usually plural in spoken English:
Barcelona are winning 2-0.
The United Oil Company are putting prices up by 12%.
6: Two-part nouns
A few plural nouns, like binoculars, refer to things that have two parts.
glasses jeans knickers pincers pants pliers
pyjamas scissors shorts spectacles tights trainers
trousers tweezers
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Proper Nouns
Names of people, places and organisations are called proper nouns. We spell proper
nouns with a capital letter:
When we give the names of books, films, plays and paintings we use capital letters for
the nouns, adjectives and verbs in the name:
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