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Notes about nouns
A.4 KINDS OF NOUNS IN ENGLISH :
Common nouns : dog, table, man
Proper nouns : Tom, France, Madrid, Mrs Kadiri
Abstract nouns : charity, beauty, fear, courage, joy
Collective nouns : team, crowd, flock, group
B.FUNCTION. A noun can function as :
The complement of the verb be, become, seem : Tom is an actor
The object of a verb : I saw Tom .
The object of a preposition : I spoke to Tom.
Nb : after be, become, seem,- if the noun is singular, we use the indefinite article « a » or « an »
Mary is an actress. - if the noun is plural, no article :
Both Tom and Mary are actors.
C.GENDER
Masculine : men, boys and male animals (pronoun « he » or « they »)
Feminine : women, girls and female animals (pronoun « she » or « they »)
Neuter : inanimate things, animals whose sex we don’t know and sometimes babies whose sex we
don’t know (pronoun « it » or « they »)
Most nouns have the same form for masculine and feminine :
Parent, teacher, child, painter, singer, cousin.
Some have different forms :
Brother, sister uncle, aunt nephew, niece cock, hen horse, mare lord, lady
Some form the feminine from the masculine by adding « ess » :
Actor, actress conductor, conductress
D.PLURALS
● The plural of a noun is made by adding “s” to thesingular, i.e, we add “s” in most cases
(books, boys, days). BUT
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1. If the noun ends in the letter “S”, “SH” or “CH”, we add “ES”: bus, buses; church,
churches; watch, watches; kiss, kisses.
2. If the noun ends in a consonant + Y, the “Y” changes to “IES”:
Country, countries; fly, flies; party, parties. (If the noun ends in a vowel+
Y, we just add “S”: boys)
3. If the noun ends in “O”, the plural is “OES”, as in “tomatoes”.
4. Irregular plurals: child, children; woman, women; person, people (persons is
possible but not common), sheep, sheep; fish, fish; shelf, shelves; knife,
knives; wife, wives; half, halves; leaf, leaves; thief, thieves.
NON-COUNT NOUNS
If it is a non-count noun, no article is used. It has no plural form and has a singular construction
(meaning it is used with a singular verb.):
Information, time, money, news (Bad news travels fast), insurance, software,
inflation, butter, cheese, advice, chocolate, bread, luck, justice, freedom,
politics, painting, music, physics (Physics is a science subject), mathematics,
economics, gymnastics, furniture, luggage….
Notes about articles
Articles are words which may or may not be used before a noun to show if the noun is new to the
listener or reader (the indefinite article “a”/ “an”). If the listener or reader definitely knows what
we’re talking about, we use the definite article “the”.
Article « a » or « an »
« a » if the first letter of the following word is pronounced like a consonant:
A hospital, a university, a one-hour walk, a guitar, a U-turn.
« an » if the first letter of the following noun is pronounced like a vowel:
An apple, an hour, an MBA, a European car, an orange juice, an honour, an honest person,
USES OF « a » or « an »
1. With singular, unspecified count nouns when we mention them for the first time.
They are building a new hospital in Hay El Hassani.
2. In definitions, to talk about an element representing a category
A hit is a successful song.
3. With the names of jobs:
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Ali is a lawyer.
Afaf became an architect last June.
4. Before a noun put in apposition (a noun put in apposition gives additional
information):
Al-Farabi, a renowned philosopher and philosopher of the Islamic
Golden Age, was an I
ranian.
5. Between a preposition and a noun:
He went out without an umbrella.
He went to Italy as a tourist.
6. In exclamations:
What a good idea!
He is such a helpful, generous person!
7. In expressions about frequency, measurements, prices, quantity or number.
Mokhtar practices the piano once a day.
The speed limit is 60 kilometers an hour in urban areas.
Gasoline c
osts 8.56 MAD a liter.
He has done a lot of work.
I have a little money. We can get ourselves some hot coffee.
We can talk. I have a few minutes before going to work.
REMEMBER: DO NOT USE « a » or « an » WITH:
Plural nouns (Children belong in school, not at the factory); non-count nouns
(He never asks for advice); meals (See you at dinner tonight).
Article « the »
ouns, count nouns or non-count nouns, singular or
The definite article “the” can be used with all n
plural.
Note about pronunciation: /ðə/ or "the" /ði:/
“the” is pronounced / ðə/
before a consonant (the sun, the one and only), a consonant
sound (the European Union, the universe) and / ði:/
before a vowel (the
environment, the outsider) and a vowel sound (the FBI, the MP3 player).
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USES OF “the”
1. To talk about a specific noun, known to both the speaker and the listener.
They have two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is six and the
girl is four. (the children have been mentioned for the second time in
the second sentence, so the speaker and listener both know which boy
and girl they are talking about).
2. The noun is known from the context.
I’m going to the supermarket. Do you need anything?
Where is the umbrella?
Here’s the hotel.
3. To talk about something unique (there is only one)
The President; the Earth; the sun; the moon
4. With ordinal numbers.
The first. The fifth time
5. With superlatives.
The most interesting place.
The largest
6. With an adjective to refer to a group of people (with a plural construction)
The poor are asking for help.
The old deserve our respect.
The rich are sometimes selfish.
7. To talk about a specific category, such as an animal species.
The lynx is an endangered species.
8. With musical instruments.
He is learning to play the lute/piano/guitar/violin/drums
9. With seas and oceans. The Atlantic. The Mediterranean.
10. With rivers and deserts. The Nile. The Sahara.
11. With mountain ranges. The High Atlas Mountains.
12. With geographical areas. The Middle East. The Midwest.
13. With groups of countries, islands or states. The Bahamas. The Gulf
States. The Canary Islands.
14. With public buildings. The Parliament.
15. With theaters and cinemas. The Megarama. The Rialto. The Kawakib.
The Municipal Theatre.
16. With newspapers. The Washington Post.
17. With hotels. The Hyatt Regency. The Sheraton.
18. With radio and computer
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I’m working on the computer at the moment.
Zero article Ø with:
Example: I like Ø music, Ø cycling, and Ø cars.
1. We use zero article with plural count nouns when talking about people or things in general.
Ø Cats like Ø milk.
2. With non-count nouns and abstract nouns when talking in general.
Ø Heavy industry causes Ø pollution.
Note: If the non-count noun is specified (we know which pollution exactly), we use the
definite article “the”: The pollution in the city center is worse today than ten years ago.
3. Public buildings where the focus is on the activity taking place there.
My older sister goes to Ø university every weekday (as a student; the speaker is thinking
about higher education)
She spent three months in Ø prison (as a punishment for committing a crime)
They took him to Ø hospital after the accident.(as a patient)
It’s June 30th. Ø School is out.(No more studying and exam taking)
4. Countries
Morocco is the largest canned sardine exporter in the world.
5. Streets.
I live on Ø Fifth avenue/ Ø Oxford Street
6. Lakes. Ø Lake Agualmane Oumlil.
7. Mountains. I wanted to climb Ø Mount Toubkal.
8. TV. I saw it on Ø Television
9. Airports. We arrived at Ø Orly at 7PM
10. With “little”+ non count noun to mean “hardly any; almost no”.
We had Ø little snow last year.
11. With “few” + count noun to mean a very small number. Almost nobody.
Ø Few people were interested in the exhibition. (The number of visitors was very
small. Almost no visitors came).
