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  

 

 

Dejection: An Ode by S.T. Coleridge

 Critical Appreciation:

The poem, Dejection, written on April 4, 1802, is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s swan song lamenting the decline of creative imagination. It is a deeply personal and autobiographical poem and depicts his mental state at the time. In this sublime and heart-rending poem, Coleridge gives expression to an experience of double consciousness. He sees but cannot feel. The power of feeling has been paralyzed by chemically-induced excitement of his brain. The seeing power, less dependent upon bodily health, stands aloof, individual, critical and very mournful. By ‘seeing’ he means perceiving and judging; by ‘feeling’ he means that which impels action. He suffers, but the pain is dull, and he wishes it were keen, for so he should awake from lethargy and recover unity at least. But nothing from outside can restore him, as the sources of soul’s life are within.

External sights are illuminated by the light which can flow from the joy in our hearts, and external sounds can acquire a melody only from the joy that must flow from our hearts. The poet recalls the time when he also used to experience this joy, but now he has been crushed by the misfortunes of life. His joy is gone and the power of his creative imagination has greatly declined. It has been twisted and infected by philosophy and metaphysics. Dismissing the depressing thoughts, he turns his attention to the various shrieking, groaning, fearful sounds that the raging storm is producing. In the concluding lines, the poet expresses his good wishes for his wife Sara whom he has addressed several times in the course of the poem. He    would like her to enjoy sound    sleep and perfect happiness.

Thus, Coleridge felt that his inborn gift of imagination was decaying and that his interest was shifting to philosophy. His talent for poetry was drying up and he was becoming more and more of a philosopher. This thing greatly distressed him and he was dejected at the thought ‘that his interest in abstruse research was crushing his poetic talent’. The poet proceeds with an ever-deepening sadness, each stanza charged with heavy gloom. A remarkable thing about Dejection Ode is that here Coleridge contradicts his own previous view of Nature, thus challenging Wordsworth’s pantheism.  In this poem, Coleridge completely denies this belief. Here the poet Coleridge asserts that Nature does not have life of her own and ii is human beings who attribute life to her. Coleridge is no longer able to get from Nature the joy because he has no joy in his heart to meet her half-way. He has realized that Nature cannot provide any joy to those who do not already have joy in their hearts.

Negro Labourer in Liverpool by David Rubadiri

 Note on Author:

James David Rubadiri (19 July 1930 – 15 September 2018) was a  Malawian diplomat, academic and poet, playwright and novelist. Rubadiri is ranked as one of Africa's most widely anthologized and celebrated poets to emerge after independence. Rubadiri's poetry has been praised as being among "the richest of contemporary Africa". His work was published in the 1963 anthology Modern Poetry of Africa (East African Publishers, 1996), and appeared in international publications including Transition, Black Orpheus and Presence Africaine. His only novel,  No Bride Price was published in 1967. It criticized the Banda regime.

 Critical Analysis: 

David Rubadiri's "A Negro Labourer at Liverpool" exemplifies the pathetic situation of the average Negro. The poet asserts how his individuality is suppressed in a white-dominated society. He has turned out to be another "dark shadow amidst dark shadows". The words are very meaningful here.

 David Rubadiri’s “A Negro Labourer in Liverpool” strives to highlight the plight of a negro labourer in Liverpool. The indefinite article ‘a’ points to the lack of a specific identity. They are just one among a group, one of the communities, who does not necessarily possess any individual identity. They are labeled based on the work they do and the city or town from where they come. 

 David Rubadiri hints at the indifference of society as a whole to the plight of the labourer as he states that he ‘passes’ him. He slouches on dark backstreet pavements. His ‘marginalization’ is evident in his position ‘slouching’. Further, it is also emphasized in his being side-stepped on the pavements. Again the pavement is qualified by the phrase ‘dark backstreet’. The head is ‘bowed’ when it would have preferred to be straight. He is overcome with fatigue and totally exhausted. He is a dark shadow amongst other shadows. He has no unique identity, his life is not colourful.

 The poet asserts that he has lifted his face to the speaker, as in acknowledgement. Their eyes met but on his dark Negro face. The poet probably refers to the reflection of the speaker’s eyes in the eyes of the labourer. The eyes are foregrounded on his dark face. There is no sunny smile as he wears a forlorn expression. The sun is an important and recurrent motif in African poetry. A wise man once said that a man is poor if he does not have a penny; he is poor if he does not possess a dream. The labourer here neither has hope nor longing. Only the mechanical ‘cowed dart of eyes’ that is more mechanized than the impassive activity of the people. People in their ‘impassive’ fast-forward life fail to notice the labourer. He painfully searches for a face to comprehend his predicament, acknowledge his suffering. Above all, the eyes of the labourer  express his utter solitude and utter desperation.

 The poet shifts from the indefinite article ‘a’ to the definite article ‘the’ in addressing the Negro labourer in the second stanza. It is to assert and affirm the existence of the Negro labourer in society like others especially white-men who live in society enjoying all privileges of life. David Rubadiri goes on to describe him in terms of his motherland; and in terms of his emotions: ‘a heart heavy’. He bears a century’s oppression that had sought after an identity. He strives to attain the fire of manhood. But ironically, even in the Land of the free (England), he is unable to attain the same. Nevertheless, the free here are also dead in a state of decay and stagnation.  Thus, in this poem Rubadiri portrays the non-human condition of Africans in England where White people discriminate the Black for their racial differences.

 

Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Eleanor Atwood is considered to be one of the most significant Canadian female writers of the twenty-first century.  She is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. In addition to this she is an active supporter of women’s rights and Native Rights and she is also involved in the struggle for better environment. All in all, Margaret Atwood is a very favourite person in Canadian society. She becomes aware of the real problems which have been faced by the Canadian people. Her most of the novels deal with the Canadian consciousness and the cultural conflicts between the Canadian people. It is very praiseworthy that she got various awards for her literary contributions. Her contributions to Canadian literature were most recently recognized in 2000 and she was awarded with Britain’s highest literary award namely the Booker Prize. She donated the Prize amount of $47, 000 to environmental and literary causes.

Surfacing:

Surfacing (1972) is the second novel by Atwood. It has been called a companion novel to Atwood’s collection of poems, Power Politics. The novel grappling with notions of national and gendered identity, anticipated rising concerns about conversation and preservation and the emergence of Canadian nationalism. The book tells the story of a woman who returns to her hometown in Canada to find her missing father. Accompanied by her lover and another married couple, the unnamed protagonist meets her past in her childhood house, recalling events and feelings, while trying to find clues for her father’s mysterious disappearance. Little by little, the past overtakes her and drives her into the realm of wildness and madness. It was adapted into a movie in 1981.

Surfacing is structured like a journey of the nameless protagonist in which through her association with the people and nature, she becomes aware of different victims and victimizers. The novel probes into the matter of artistic death of women and abortion. The novel has the theme of submersion or drowning and surfacing. Symbolically it is the inward journey of a woman to explore or understand herself. After submersion there occurs a process of surfacing. Her quest for identity and self-discovery is social as well as psychological. Besides, the novel explores the theme of woman as victim and her evasion of destruction. She leads a life with all its short-comings after her evasion of destruction. She accepts life with all its short-comings after her confrontation with civilization and wilderness and past and present. The novel is divided into three parts. Part one describes the physical background and introduces the characters. The protagonist’s father’s disappearance and her search for him is described in this part.

In the process of discovering the circumstances surrounding her father’s death, she regains touch with her past and her hidden emotional life. The narrator’s father is a pacifist and rationalist. A botanist and tree scientist by profession, he retires to the family cabin where he begins studying Indian rock paintings. He wants to preserve the myth of pristine wilderness but failed to protect the island against devastation. He cannot see truth but with his maps, drawings and pictograph he can show the way to the place of the gods. It was to protect his family from evil and the irrationalities of civilization that he had secluded them in the Canadian wilderness where he thought that World War II would be just a subject for the game of children. He does not wish to reason away evil alone but religion too. He thinks that one has to struggle in order to survive. The journey the protagonist undertakes to locate her father “is not only to her parents’ land but into her own past, into her own history, her origins” (Avtar Singh 77). The protagonist’s journey to the family cabin touches her with past and hidden emotional life. The narrator finds that Canada is now a victim of Americanism. She remembers all features of the city at the time of her childhood. The narrator then goes to the village musing to herself how she had an unhappy childhood at the time of war. She passes a dam that controls the lakes, and it triggers a memory from her childhood. She and her parents were canoeing out to their cabin in a thick fog when they realized they had lost direction and were nearing some rapids. What the narrator remembers most clearly is a feeling of total safety. She visits the house of Paul, her father’s friend, and is shocked to see the new technical modification there.

In the second part, the narrator offers bread crumbs to the birds and is reminded of her mother who showed love for the birds. She also thinks of an occasion when her mother drew away an attacking bear. Joe now suggests the narrator that they should get married soon. But as her first marriage culminated in divorce, the narrator does not want to repeat the same mistake. Joe expresses doubts whether his relationship with the narrator is profound and meaningful.        During the fishing trip, they see a dead heron kept hanging upside down from a tree branch to which it was fastened by a blue nylon rope. First the narrator suspects that the Americans have senselessly killed the bird. She considers them as a threat to the environment. Her paranoia about her father following or threatening them is now replaced by a fear of Americans. She suspects them to being spies. She finds the idea that they are still in the area very threatening. She remembers stories she heard as a child about Americans. The narrator later realizes that the killers are Canadians who are anxious to imitate the Americans. She is afraid that Canadians are turning into ‘Americans’. The narrator dislikes killing of any kind.

In the last part, the narrator wants to make amends for the past action by bearing a child for Joe. She surfaces now after realizing the truth about herself. She faces the truth about her situation. She was never married, therefore, the question of divorce did not arise; that she had not lost her husband in the court; that her pregnancy was terminated against her wishes as she was not married to the person who had impregnated her; and that she, too, was indirectly responsible for terminating her pregnancy. The narrator realizes that in the past she has avoided taking responsibility for her actions by pretending that she was powerless and could not hurt anyone. By accepting the truth about her past, especially about her abortion, she has also come to accept responsibility for herself and her actions. She is not a passive victim now. She refuses to be a victim. Running away and distorting the truth is no longer a way of dealing with herself and others. Thus, the novel ends on a note of optimism. The protagonist, at last, “has found what she needs to begin a new, complete, and free life”. One can say safely that the protagonist emerges as a newly integrated and realized self in harmony with the world by the end of her journey.