Objective: To learn the rudiments of parts of speech and naming words.
Idioms: Piece of cake (a task that is easily accomplished) E.g.It was a piece of cake. I had everything done before lunch this morning.
It cost an arm and a leg(If something costs an arm and a leg, it is very expensive indeed.) E.g.Lia: How much was the hospital bill? Eric: It cost an arm and a leg!
Phrasal Verbs: Ask around (ask many people the same question) E.g. I asked around but nobody has seen my wallet.
Add up to something (to result in sth/ to mean sth) E.g. The details dont add up to a complete picture of what caused the explosion.
Limbs of a language: The following parts are considered to be the limbs of English. 1. Noun 2. Pronoun 3. Verb 4. Adjective 5. Adverb 6. Preposition 7. Conjunction 8. Interjection
A noun is a naming word. E.g. Ram, John, Chennai, New york, Fan, Board A pronoun is used instead of a noun. E.g. He, She, It, You, We, I, They A verb is an action word. E.g. Run, Eat, Read, Sleep, Dance An adjective adds something to a noun. E.g. Beautiful, terrific, interesting, sloppy An adverb adds something to a verb or an adjective or an adverb itself. E.g. beautifully, easily, carefully, usually, often A preposition is a relationship word. It relates a noun or pronoun to other words in the sentence. It is always positioned before a noun or pronoun. E.g. in, on, at, over, above, across, through A conjunction is a connecting word. It connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. An interjection expresses emotion or sentiment. E.g. Wow!, Alas!, Well!, Oh!, Cheers!, Hurray!, Oh dear!
Naming words A noun is a naming word. It can be a name, place or a thing. Generally, nouns are classified into two categories. They are, 1. Countable nouns and 2. Uncountable nouns
Countable nouns: Things that we can count. E.g. dog, cat, animal, man, person Countable nouns can be singular or plural: My dog is playing. My dogs are hungry. Note:"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count people: There is one person here. There are three people here.
Uncountable nouns: substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. E.g. rice, sugar, butter, water, music, art, love, happiness, electricity, gas, power We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example: This news is very important. Your luggage looks heavy. Note: Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns". Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns:
Countable Uncountable Dollar Money Song Music Suitcase Luggage Table Furniture Battery Electricity Bottle Wine Report Information Tip Advice Journey Travel Job Work View scenery
When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable.
Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.
Countable Noun Uncountable There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don't have much hair. There are two lights in our bedroom. light Close the curtain. There's too much light! Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise. There are so many different noises in the city. noise It's difficult to work when there is too much noise. Have you got a paper to read? (newspaper) Hand me those student papers. paper I want to draw a picture. Have you got some paper? Our house has seven rooms. room Is there room for me to sit here? We had a great time at the party. How many times have I told you no? time Have you got time for a coffee? Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works. work I have no money. I need work!
Note:Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example): Two teas and one coffee please.
Different types of nouns: There are five different types of nouns. They are, 1. Proper noun 2. Common noun 3. Collective noun 4. Concrete noun and 5. Abstract noun
Proper noun: Proper nouns are nouns that refer to specific entities. Writers of English capitalize proper nouns like Chennai, Krishna, Anna, or White House to show their distinction from common nouns.
Common noun: Common nouns refer to general, unspecific categories of entities. Whereas Tamilnadu is a proper noun because it signifies a specific state, the word stateitself is a common noun because it can refer to any of the states in India. Annarefers to a particular institution of higher learning, while the common noun universitycan refer to any such institution.
Collective noun:In general, collective nouns are nouns that refer to a group of something in a specific manner. Often, collective nouns are used to refer to groups of animals. Consider the following sentences. Look at the gaggle of geese. There used to be herds of wild buffalo on the prairie. A bevy of swans is swimming in the pond. A colony of ants live in the anthill. In the above examples, gaggle, herds, bevy, and colony are collective nouns.
Concrete noun:Concrete nouns are nouns that can be touched, smelled, seen, felt, or tasted. Steak, table, dog, Maria, salt, and wool are all examples of concrete nouns. Can I pet your dog? Please pass the salt. Your sweater is made of fine wool. Concrete nouns can be perceived by at least one of our senses.
Abstract Noun: More ethereal, theoretical concepts use abstract nouns to refer to them. Concepts like freedom, love, power, and redemption are all examples of abstract nouns. They hate us for our freedom. All you need is love. We must fight the power. In these sentences, the abstract nouns refer to concepts, ideas, philosophies, and other entities that cannot be concretely perceived.
The Rules of Regular and Irregular Plurals For most nouns, just add -s
For nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh, add - es Singular Plural
Singular Plural hand hands
box boxes rabbit rabbits
pitch pitches key keys
wish wishes clock clocks
boss bosses football footballs
buzz buzzes door doors
glass glasses
For some words ending in o, add -es
However, for some words ending in o, just add -s Singular Plural
Singular Plural potato potatoes
cello cellos tomato tomatoes
disco discos hero heroes
hairdo hairdos echo echoes
logo logos banjo banjoes
patio patios The plural of many words ending in o can be spelt with -s or -es.
photo photos
piano pianos
radio radios
For some words ending in f, change the f to a v and add -es However, for some words ending in f, just add -s Singular Plural
Singular Plural half halves
chef chefs loaf loaves
cliff cliffs elf elves
ref refs leaf leaves
roof roofs self selves
The plural of some nouns ending in f can be spelt using either variation. shelf shelves
thief thieves
wolf wolves
For some nouns ending in ife, change the f to a v and then add -s For common nouns that end with consonant + y, change the y to an i and then add -es Singular Plural
Singular Plural wife wives
poppy poppies life lives
fly flies knife knives
penny pennies
spy spies
nappy nappies
sty sties
Some nouns are the same in both singular and plural from For some nouns, change other letters or just change the word completely! Singular Plural
Singular Plural fish fish
person people sheep sheep
child children deer deer
ox oxen tuna tuna
foot feet salmon salmon
tooth teeth trout trout
goose geese
mouse mice
louse lice
man men
Check your understanding Part I: Finish the sentences with the singular or plural form of the nouns.
Example: There is a ____ on the table. Answer: There is a book on the table. 1) The cat is sitting on my __________ [bed/beds]. 2) There are five__________ on my desk [pen/pens]. 3) I have two _________ [sister/sisters]. 4) They are riding their _________ [bike/ bikes]. 5) We have a ________ [dog/ dogs]. 6) How many __________ do you have in your bag? [book/ books] 7) My mother has a new _____________ [computer/ computers]. 8) There are three windows in the ___________ [room/ rooms]. 9) Susan has four ______________ [poster/ posters]. 10) There is one __________on the floor [doll/ dolls].
Part II: Put in the correct form of the plural of the given nouns.
Example: car - ___ Answer: car - cars Half_____________; Kilo ______________; Woman_____________; Mouth_____________ Foot_____________; Sheep ____________; Penny______________; Bus_______________ Day______________; Fish____________
(Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 223) Teresa Fanego (Ed.), Javier Pérez-Guerra (Ed.), María José López-Couso (Ed.) - English Historical Syntax and Morphology_ Selected Papers from 11 ICEHL, Santia