Noun (Parts of Speech)

Noun:

Noun is the name of a person, animal, birds, place, thing, action or quality

Name of Person: Ram, Kumar, Sheela, man, woman, Mala…..

Name of animals: lion, tiger, bear, deer, elephant, money…..

Name of birds: peacock, parrot, duck, hen, crow, sparrow….

Name of places: Delhi, New York, India, America, England….

Name of things: chair, table, stone, book, bag,

Actions: swimming, walking, breathing, seeing, running, rolling….

Quality: happiness, courage, love, hatred,

Classification of Nouns: Nouns can be classified into
1. Concrete nouns: (cane be seen)

2. Abstract nouns: ( can be felt)

It refers to names of qualities and also denotes action or state of something

Ex: I see beauty in nature

Honesty is the best policy

Laughter is the best medicine

The friendship between Ram and Rahim is very deep

Concrete Nouns:

Concrete nouns come under four different categories. They are

1.      Proper noun: Name of a particular person or thing

Ex: Nazeer, Vaigai, Chennai, Delhi, England, Monday

2.      Common noun: Name of a class or kind of person, place of thing

Ex: woman, man child, king, boy, village tree, house

3.      Collective noun: Name of a group of persons, or things

Ex: crowd, gang, army, herd, bunch, flock, committee

4.      Material noun: Name of a material or substance

Ex: gold, silver, iron, wood, steel, plastic, rubber,…

Noun – Gender

Nouns have four genders

Masculine gender – it denotes male person or animal

Ex: father, lion, bull, boy,

Feminine gender – it denotes female person or animal

Ex: mother, lioness, cow, girl

Common gender – it denotes either a male or a female

Ex: parent, child, friend,

Neuter gender -  it denotes lifeless things

Ex: table, chair, beauty, house,

Note: Sometime objects without life are personified, then they are regarded as males or females.

Ex: Sun, summer, winter time, death – masculine gender

Spring, nature, peace, earth, nation, moon – feminine gender

Formation of feminine gender:

1.      By using different word:

 

Masculine Gender	Feminine Gender
Bachelor	Spinster
Father	Mother
Boy	Girl
Ox	Oxen
Horse	Mare
Husband	Wife
Man	Woman
Dog	Bitch
Gander	Goose
Sir	Madam
Stag	Hind
Cock	Hen
Pig	Sow

2.      By adding a suffix (-ess, -ine, -a, etc)

Masculine	Feminine
Author	Authoress
Count	Countess
Giant	Giantess
Host	Hostess
Poet	Poetess

 

3.      Dropping of the vowel of the masculine gender ending before adding –ess

Masculine	Feminine
Actor	Actress
Conductor	Conductress
Hunter	Huntress
Emperor	Empress
Tiger	Tigress
Waiter	Waitress
Headmaster	Headmistress

 

4.      By adding a word before or after

Masculine	Feminine
Grandson	Grand daughter
Landlord	Land lady
Great uncle	Great aunt
Milkman	Milkmaid
Peacock	Peahen
Salesman	Saleswoman

                         

Note:  In present time we use ‘author, poet, actor’ to indicate both the genders

              Similarly instead of saying sportsman and sportswoman we say ‘sportsperson’

 

Noun: Number

Noun can be either 1) singular or 2) Plural

If noun denotes one person or thing, it is in the singular number

Ex: boy, girl, book, chair, student, child

If the noun denotes more than one person or thing, it is in the plural number

Ex: oxen, girls, boys, books, chairs, children

 

Ways of forming Singular and Plural nouns:

1.      By adding – s to the singular

Singular	Plural
Bell	Bells
Gun	Guns
Hand	Hands
House	Houses
Inn	Inns
Knee	Knees
Line	Lines
Stave	Staves
Plate	Plates

2.      By adding –es to the singular ( Nouns ending in ch, sh, s, x form this way)

Singular	Plural
Bench	Benches
Box	Boxes
Boss	Bosses
Dash	Dashes
Flash	Flashes
Glass	Glasses
Prize	Prizes
Wish	Wishes

3.      Nouns ending in ‘y’ preceded by consonant form the plural by changing ‘y’ into ‘ies’

Singular	Plural
Army	Armies
Baby	Babies
City	Cities
Duty	Duties
Enemy	Enemies
Fly	Flies
Lady	Ladies

 

 

4.      Nouns ending in ‘y’ but preceded by a vowel form the plural by adding – s to the singular

Singular	Plural
Boy	Boys
Day	Days
Key	Keys
Pay	Pays
Play	Plays
Toy	Toys
Valley	Valleys

Note: for soliloquy the plural is soliloquies

 

5.      Nouns ending in ‘o’ preceded by a consonant, generally form the plural by adding –es to the singular

Singular	Plural
Buffalo	Buffaloes
Cargo	Cargoes
Negro	Negroes
Mango	Mangoes
Echo	Echoes
Volcano	Volcanoes
Potato	Potatoes

6.      Some noun ending in ‘o’ form the plural by adding –s to the singular

Singular	Plural
Auto	Autos
Bamboo	Bamboos
Cuckoo	Cuckoos
Dynamo	Dynamos
Embryo	Embryos
Photo	Photos
Piano	Pianos
Portfolio	Portfolios
Studio	Studios

7.      Noun ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ form the plural by chaning ‘f’ or ‘fe’ into –ves

Singular	Plural
Calf	Calves
Elf	Elves
Half	Halves
Knife	Knives
Leaf	Leaves
Shelf	Shelves
Wife	Wives
Thief	Thieves
Wolf	Wolves

 

Note: Exception 1: Some nouns ending in ‘ff’ ‘eff’ ‘oof’ ‘ief’ and some noun ending in ‘f’ form their plurals by adding –s to the singular

Singular	Plural
Belief	Beliefs
Chief	Chiefs
Dwarf	Dwarfs
Gulf	Gulfs
Hoof	Hoofs
Proof	Proofs
Puff	Puffs
Roof	Roofs
Stuff	Stuffs
Handkerchief	Handkerchiefs
Turf	Turfs

Exception 2: the following nouns ending in ‘fe’ form the plurals by simply adding –s

 

Ex. Safes, fifes

 

8.      The following nouns form their plurals by changing the inside vowel

Singular	Plural
Foot	Feet
Goose	Geese
Man	Men
Mouse	Mice
Tooth	Teeth
Woman	Women
Louse	Lice

     8a. There are a few nouns that they form their plurals by adding –en to the singular

    Ex: ox –oxen;  child- children; brother- brethren

9.      Compound nouns form plural by adding –s to the principal word

Singular	Plural
Daughter-in-law	Daughters-in-law
Father-in-law	Fathers-in-law
Passer-by	Passers-by
Commander-in-chief	Commanders-in-chief
Maid-servant	Maid-servants
Major-general	Major-generals

     9a. The following nouns take double plural:

              Ex: man-servant – men-servants; woman-servant – women-servants

10.   Plurals of foreign words:

Singular	Plural
Erratum	Errata
Formula	Formulae (formulas)
Index	Indices (indexes)
Memorandum	Memoranda
Radius	Radii
Terminus	Termini (terminuses)
Axis	Axes
Crisis	Crises
Thesis	Theses
Analysis	Analyses
Phenomenon	Phenomena
Criterion	Criteria
Syllabus	Syllabi (syllabuses)

 

Based on number the noun can also be divided into countable nouns and uncountable nouns

Countable nouns: can be counted in number

Ex: boys, men, children,

Uncountable nouns: cannot be counted in number

Ex: milk, water, stars,

Noun: Case

The relation in which a noun stands to some other word is called the case

There are five cases in English

1.      Nominative case

2.      Vocative case

3.      Accusative case

4.      Dative case

5.      Genitive case

           1.      When a noun (or pronoun) is used as the subject to verb, it is in the nominative or subjective case

Ex: Wind blows

 

2.      When used for the sake of address, it is in the vocative case

Ex:  Are you coming, mother?

 

3.      When the noun is used as the object to verb, it is in the accusative case or objective case

Ex: The book is on the table

 

4.      When the noun indicates the indirect object then it is in the dative case

Ex: Kamala gave ten books to Vimala

5.      When the noun possesses something then it is in genitive or possessive case

Note: Possessive case can be indicated using the apostrophe (‘s) and also the use of the (‘of’ preposition)

Ex. Guru’s book is on the table

      The sting of bees

       The voice of students is powerful

       Jesus’ teachings