The NounИмя существительное

Compiled by English teacher of secondary school №1Galina Igorevna Rudnik

Novomoskovsk2008

Contents

1. Formation of Nouns2. Classification of Nouns3. Proper Nouns4. Gender of Nouns5. The Category of Number6. The Category of Case7. Nouns as Attributes8. Noun Phrases

Classification of Nouns

Common (Нарицательные)Countable (Исчисляемые)

Concrete/Class (Конкретные )Collective (Собирательные)

Uncountable (Неисчисляемые) Materials (Вещественные)Abstract (Абстрактные )

Proper (Собственные)

1.Personal name (Личные имена, клички, прозвища, псевдонимы) Jack Brown, the Smiths, Mark Twain, Rex, Yankee;2.Astronomic names (астрономические названия) the Moon, the Milky Way, the Earth, The Sun, the Great Bear;3.Geographical names (Географические названия)London, Russia, the Atlantic Ocean, the United Kingdom;4.Names of streets, squares, buildings, bridges etc. (названия улиц, площадей зданий, мостов и т.д.) Red Square, Komsomolskaya Street, Hyde Park, Waterloo Bridge;5.Nationalities and languages (национальность и название национального языка) the Russians, Russian language;6.Names of ships, hotels, clubs etc. (названия кораблей, гостиниц, клубов и т.д.) “Titanic”, “Savoy” Hotel, “Manchester United”;7.Names of newspapers, journals, magazines (названия газет и журналов) the Daily News, Moscow News;8.Names of months and days of week (названия месяцев и дней недели) January, February, Sunday, Monday.

Gender of Nouns

Одушевленные Masculine (мужской) Feminine (женский)A friend A boy-friend A girl-friendA servant A man-servant A servant-girl/servant-maidA cat A tom-cat A tabby-catA wolf A he-wolf A she-wolfA sibling A brother A sisterA spouse A husband A wifeA cousin A he-cousin A she-cousinA parent A father A motherA hero A hero A heroineA heir A heir A heiressAn actor An actor An actressA poet A poet A poetessA host A host A hostessA lion A lion A lionessA tiger A tiger A tigress

Gender of Nouns

НеодушевленныеNeutral → it

Exceptions:The countries (when speaking about political and

economical issues) and means of transport → she:England is rich in coal. She exports it to

different countries. Titanic left the port. And she never came back.Some things may be personified in works of art and

may have a gender. The Moon, the Earth → she, the Sun → he.

Number 1

Plurals are formed with ending –s except some special occasions: the noun ends in –s, -ss, -x, -z, -sh, -ch, -tch, the noun ends in -o the noun ends in -f/-fe the noun ends in -y proceeded by a consonant

nouns form the plural by changing the root vowel

two nouns which form the plural in –en the plural form does not differ from the singular

the nouns are of Greek or Latin originThere are some peculiarities to remember

Number 2

Singular

Plural (ending –s) [s] [z] [ız]after voiceless after voiced after sibilants consonants consonants (-ce, -ge, -se, -ze) and vowels

A cat catsA dog dogsA day daysA rose roses

If the noun ends in –s, -ss, -x, -z, -sh, -ch, -tch, -o the plural is formed by adding –es [ız], after –o [z]

Buses, glasses, boxes, benches, matches, brushes, potatoes, cargoes.

Number 3 Remember!

The nouns ending in -o have a tricky spelling in the plural:as a rule it is –es: a tomato → tomatoes; a

Negro → Negroes;but it ends in -s if

there is a vowel before o:radio → radios,kangaroo → kangaroos;

the noun ends in o in abbreviated form:kilo (kilogram) → kilos;photo (photograph) → photos

the noun is a musical term of Italian origin:piano → pianos;concerto → concertos

Number 4 Remember!

Remember!If the noun ends in -f/-fe change it into -

ves:leaf → leaves; wolf → wolves;

wife → wives; knife → knives; life → livesBut the nouns roof, chief, handkerchief,

belief, safe do not change f for ve in plural: roofs, chiefs, handkerchiefs, beliefs, safes

But scarf → scarfs/scarves;wharf → wharfs/wharves

Number 5 Remember!

If the noun ends in y proceeded by a consonant, y is changed into i+es:a city → cities; an army → armies; a

lady → ladies; a fly → flies.But in proper names there is no change:

Mary → MarysIf the noun ends in y proceeded by a

vowel, y is not changed:boy ─boys

Number 6 (Some peculiarities)

Remember!There are seven nouns which form the plural by

changing the root vowel:Man/men; woman/women; foot/feet; tooth/teeth; goose/geese; mouse/mice; louse/lice.

There are two nouns which form the plural in –en: ox/oxen; child/children

In some nouns the plural form does not differ from the singular: deer, sheep, swine, fish, trout, dozen, score, aircraft, salmon, works, means

Number 7 (Some peculiarities)

Remember!Some words borrowed from Latin or Greek keep their origin plural forms:cactus/cacti; radius/radii; gladiolus/gladioli; focus/foci; stimulus/stimuli; apparatus/apparata; analysis/analyses; axis/axes; crisis/crises; thesis/theses;antenna/antennae; formula/formulae; media/media; aquarium/aquaria; millennium/millennia; spectrum/spectra; datum/data; memorandum/memorandacriterion/criteria; phenomenon/phenomenaindex/indeces

Compound Nouns Number 8

In compound nouns the plural is formed in different ways:

adding –s to the head-word (main word):editors-in-chief, brothers-in-law, passers-byadding –s to the final word (main word):lady-birds, hotel-keepers, housewives,

postmenIf the compound begins with the words

man/woman both words are plural:men-servants, women-doctorsIf there is no noun-stem in the compound –s is

added to the last element:forget-me-nots, merry-go-rounds

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Number 9 (Some peculiarities)

Remember!The nouns which are used only in the plural in

English whereas they are singular in Russian:Wages, contents, clothes, arms, stairs, riches, goods, potatoes (картофель), onions (лук), carrots (морковь), oats.

But: a potato (one), a carrot, an onion.These nouns are only singular in English while in

Russian they are plural:Money, hair, cream, ink, vacation (But: We have

four vacations a year.)

Number 10 (Some peculiarities)

Remember!These nouns are only singular in English

while in Russian they can be both in plural and in singular:

Advice, knowledge, progress, information, news

The names of some kinds of science end in –s but they are singular:

Physics, mathematics, politics, phonetics

Number 11 (Some peculiarities)

Remember! In English these nouns are used both in the singular and

in the plural (in Russian they are only plural):sledge/sledges, gate/gates, watch/watches,

clock/clocks The names of objects which consist of several parts are

used only in the plural (as in Russian): glasses, trousers, spectacles, scissors, scales,

pyjamas, tongs, shorts. The names of some games are used only in plural formbilliards, draughts

Nouns used only in the

singular

Nouns which are singular in form but plural in the

meaning “nouns of multitude” (the verb is

plural)

Nouns that can be both singular

and plural

Foliage Police Crowd-crowdsMachinery Cattle Fleet-fleetsCollective nouns are usually singular and are

used with singular verbs, when they denote a thing as a whole. But sometimes a plural verb is used, when it denotes a number op people or elements:

The team is the best this year.The team are coming tonight.

Collective Nouns Number 12

Abstract and Material Nouns NUMBER 13

Abstract noun are usually uncountable though some of them may be countable:

idea ─ideas, hour ─ hours Nouns of material are uncountable and are generally used

in singular. But they are used in plural to denote different sorts of a given material:

wine ─ wines; fruit ─ fruits; Some abstract nouns can change their meaning and

become concrete/class nouns. In this case they are used with the article and may be both plural and singular:

beauty ─ a beauty ─ beautiessight ─ a sight ─ sightsice-cream ─ an ice-cream ─ ice-creams

A Noun as an Attribute

Possessive noun is an attribute to the next noun: the manager’s signature

However the noun in common case can be an attribute to other noun. In this case it should be translated either as an adjective or as a noun in oblique case:

an iron bridge железный мостa cane sugar тростниковый

сахарsugar cane сахарный

тростникthe cotton marker рынок хлопкаtin trade торговля оловомa payment agreement соглашение о

платежах

A Noun as an Attribute

Во многих случаях существительному предшествует не одно, а два или более существительных в роли определения При переводе на русский язык одни определения могут переводиться прилагательными. А другие – существительными в одном из косвенных падежей:home market prices цены внутреннего рынкаmeat price decreaseуменьшение цены на мясоcotton yarn production цифры производства

хлопчатобумажной тканиСуществительное с предшествующим числительным, служащее

определением, обычно стоит в форме единственного числа:the five-year plan пятилетний планa ten-year girl десятилетняя девочкаa ten-pound note банкнота в десять фунтов

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Noun Phrases see also

Выражение падежных окончаний с помощью предлоговВ русском языке Предло

г В английском языке

И.п. (кто? что?) ─ This boy reads wellР.п. (кого? чего?) of

fromThe sight of the lake was wonderful.Take the book from the table.

Д.п. (кому? чему?) to He gave the pen to Mary.Go to school.

В.п. (кого? что?) ─ The teacher asked the boy.Т.п. (кем? чем?) by

withThis article is written by Alex GreenI’ve cut myself with a pen.

П.п. (о ком? о чем?) aboutof

She spoke of art and music.I like to read about nature