NOUNS

Nouns are commonly thought of as "naming" words, and specifically as the names of "people, places, or things". Nouns such
as John,London, and computer certainly fit this description, but the class of nouns is much broader than this. Nouns also denote
abstract and intangible concepts such as birth, happiness, evolution, technology,management, imagination, revenge,
politics, hope, cookery, sport,literacy....   

Because of this enormous diversity of reference, it is not very useful to study nouns solely in terms of their meaning. It is much
more fruitful to consider them from the point of view of their formal characteristics.   
    

Characteristics of Nouns

Many nouns can be recognised by their endings. Typical noun endings include:  

-er/-or actor, painter, plumber, writer

-ism criticism, egotism, magnetism, vandalism

-ist artist, capitalist, journalist, scientist

-ment arrangement, development, establishment, government

-tion foundation, organisation, recognition, supposition

  

Most nouns have distinctive SINGULAR and PLURAL forms. The plural of regular nouns is formed by adding -s to the singular:  

 
Singular Plural

car cars

dog dogs

house houses
  

However, there are many irregular nouns which do not form the plural in this way:  

 
Singular Plural

man men

child children

sheep sheep
  

The distinction between singular and plural is known as NUMBER CONTRAST.  

We can recognise many nouns because they often have the, a, oran in front of them:   

the car   
an artist   
a surprise   
the egg   
a review

These words are called determiners, which is the next word class we will look at.  
Nouns may take an -'s ("apostrophe s") or GENITIVE MARKER to indicate possession:   
  

the boy's pen   
a spider's web   
my girlfriend's brother   
John's house
If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural
form:   
  
the boys' pens   
the spiders' webs   
the Browns' house
The genitive marker should not be confused with the 's form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good boy (= John is a good boy).  

Nouns often co-occur without a genitive marker between them:   

  

rally car   
table top   
cheese grater   
University entrance examination
We will look at these in more detail later, when we discuss noun phrases.  

  

Common and Proper Nouns

Nouns which name specific people or places are known as PROPER NOUNS.   
  
John   
Mary   
London   
France
Many names consist of more than one word:   
  
John Wesley   
Queen Mary   
South Africa   
Atlantic Ocean   
Buckingham Palace
Proper nouns may also refer to times or to dates in the calendar:   
  
 January, February, Monday, Tuesday, Christmas, Thanksgiving
All other nouns are COMMON NOUNS.   

Since proper nouns usually refer to something or someone unique, they do not normally take plurals. However, they may do so,
especially when number is being specifically referred to:   
  

there are three Davids in my class   

we met two Christmases ago
For the same reason, names of people and places are not normally preceded by determiners the or a/an, though they can be in
certain circumstances:   
  
it's nothing like the America I remember   
my brother is an Einstein at maths
Count and Non-count Nouns

Common nouns are either count or non-count. COUNT nouns can be "counted", as follows:    

one pen, two pens, three pens, four pens...

 NON-COUNT nouns, on the other hand, cannot be counted in this way:    

 one software, *two softwares, *three softwares, *four softwares...

 From the point of view of grammar, this means that count nouns have singular as well as plural forms, whereas
non-count nouns have only a singular form.

 It also means that non-count nouns do not take a/an before them:

Count Non-count

a pen *a software

 In general, non-count nouns are considered to refer to indivisible wholes. For this reason, they are sometimes
called MASS nouns.

Some common nouns may be either count or non-count, depending on the kind of reference they have. For
example, in I made a cake,cake is a count noun, and the a before it indicates singular number. However, in I like
cake, the reference is less specific. It refers to "cake in general", and so cake is non-count in this sentence.

Pronouns

Pronouns are a major subclass of nouns. We call them a subclass of nouns because they can sometimes replace a
noun in a sentence:

Noun Pronoun

John got a new job ~He got a new job

Children should watch less television ~They should watch less television

In these examples the pronouns have the same reference as the nouns which they replace. In each case, they refer
to people, and so we call them PERSONAL PRONOUNS. However, we also include in this group the pronoun it,
although this pronoun does not usually refer to a person. There are three personal pronouns, and each has a
singular and a plural form:

Person Singular Plural

1st I we

2nd you you

3rd he/she/it they

These pronouns also have another set of forms, which we show here:

Person Singular Plural

1st me us

2nd you you

3rd him/her/it them

The first set of forms (I, you, he...) exemplifies the SUBJECTIVE CASE, and the second set (me, you, him...)
exemplifies the OBJECTIVE CASE. The distinction between the two cases relates to how they can be used in
sentences. For instance, in our first example above, we say that he can replace John

John got a new job ~He got a new job

But he cannot replace John in I gave John a new job. Here, we have to use the objective form him: I gave him a new
job.

Other Types of Pronoun

As well as personal pronouns, there are many other types, which we summarise here.

Pronoun Type Members of the Subclass Example

Possessive mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs The white car ismine

Reflexive myself, yourself, himself, herself, He injured himselfplaying football

itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves,
themselves

Reciprocal each other, one another They really hateeach other

Relative that, which, who, whose, whom, The book that you gave me was
where, when really boring

Demonstrative this, that, these, those This is a new car

who, what, why, where, when,

Interrogative What did he say to you?
whatever

Indefinite anything, anybody, anyone, There's somethingin my shoe

something, somebody, someone,
nothing, nobody, none, no one

Case and number distinctions do not apply to all pronoun types. In fact, they apply only to personal pronouns,
possessive pronouns, and reflexive pronouns. It is only in these types, too, that gender differences are shown
(personal he/she, possessive his/hers, reflexive himself/herself). All other types are unvarying in their form.

Many of the pronouns listed above also belong to another word class - the class of determiners. They are pronouns
when they occur independently, that is, without a noun following them, as inThis is a new car. But when a noun
follows them - This car is new - they are determiners. We will look at determiners in the next section.

A major difference between pronouns and nouns generally is that pronouns do not take the or a/an before them.
Further, pronouns do not take adjectives before them, except in very restricted constructions involving some
indefinite pronouns (a little something,a certain someone).

While the class of nouns as a whole is an open class, the subclass of pronouns is closed.    
Numerals
Numerals include all numbers, whether as words or as digits. They may be divided into two major types.
CARDINAL numerals include words like:  

nought, zero, one, two, 3, fifty-six, 100, a thousand

ORDINAL numerals include  

first, 2nd, third, fourth, 500th

We classify numerals as a subclass of nouns because in certain circumstances they can take plurals:  

five twos are ten  
he's in his eighties
They may also take the:  

the fourth of July  
a product of the 1960s
And some plural numerals can take an adjective before them, just like other nouns:  

the house was built in the late 1960s  

he's in his early twenties  
the temperature is in the high nineties
In each of our examples, the numerals occur independently, that is, without a noun following them. In these
positions, we can classify them as a type of noun because they behave in much the same way as nouns do. Notice,
for example, that we can replace the numerals in our examples with common nouns:

he is in his eighties ~he is in his bedroom

the fourth of July ~the beginning of July

a product of the 1960s ~a product of therevolution

Numerals do not always occur independently. They often occur before a noun, as in   

one day  
three pages  
the fourth day of July
In this position, we classify them as determiners, which we will examine in the next section.

Finally, see if you can answer this question:

Is the subclass of numerals open or closed?  

  

The Gender of Nouns

The gender of nouns plays an important role in the grammar of some languages. In French, for instance, a
masculine noun can only take the masculine form of an adjective. If the noun is feminine, then it will take a
different form of the same adjective - its feminine form.

In English, however, nouns are not in themselves masculine or feminine. They do not have grammatical gender,
though they may refer to male or female people or animals:

the waiter is very prompt ~the waitress is very prompt

the lion roars at night ~the lioness roars at night

These distinctions in spelling reflect differences in sex, but they have no grammatical implications. For instance,
we use the same form of an adjective whether we are referring to a waiter or to a waitress:

an efficient waiter ~an efficientwaitress

Similarly, the natural distinctions reflected in such pairs asbrother/sister, nephew/niece, and king/queen have no

consequence for grammar. While they refer to specific sexes, these words are not masculine or feminine in
themselves.

However, gender is significant in the choice of a personal pronoun to replace a noun:

John is late ~He is late

Mary is late ~She is late

Here the choice of pronoun is determined by the sex of the person being referred to. However, this distinction is
lost in the plural:

John and Mary are late ~They are late

John and Davidare late ~They are late

Mary and Jane are late ~They are late

Gender differences are also manifested in possessive pronouns (his/hers) and in reflexive pronouns
(himself/herself).

When the notion of sex does not apply -- when we refer to inanimate objects, for instance -- we use the pronoun it:

the letter arrived late ~it arrived late