Nouns in English. Noun

A noun is a separate and independent part of speech, one of the fundamentally important English language. Has a spatial morphology. Used to name things, living beings, locations, materials, processes, states and qualities - in a word, anything. Nouns in English have their own classification

Noun in English.

The rules for forming nouns in English state that nouns can be simple, derived and compound. Let's figure out what the difference is between them.

If a noun has one root, we classify it as a simple noun.
Wall, dream, cat

Derived nouns are formed when prefixes or suffixes are added to the root
hatred, driver, wilderness

Compound nouns contain at least two roots
Batman, mother-in-law

Classification of nouns in English

As in any other language, in English nouns express proper names (assigned to a specific character, nationality, day of the week, etc.) and common nouns - that is, common ones.

Thus, proper names are assigned to an object that is either one of a kind or stands out from the general class.

• Place names, nationalities and languages ​​(Finnish, Deutch, American)
• personal names and nicknames of animals (Anna, George, Fluttershy)
• names of months and days of the week (Tuesday, October)
• titles celestial bodies(Venus, Uranus)
• names of ships, hotels, clubs (“Titanic”)
• names of holidays (Christmas, Halloween)
• names of buildings, streets, parks, bridges (Tower Bridge)
• institutions, organizations, printed publications (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Times)

Proper names in English are written with a capital letter.

Now let's move on to common nouns. They are general names for all items of the same category, of which there can be many.

Boy, chair, planet. Yes, boy – a common noun, and Jack – own. Planet is a common noun, Mars is a proper noun. A common noun helps to define the subject in general terms, while a proper noun helps to give some specificity and certainty.

Common nouns can be countable or uncountable. Countable Nouns (countable names) can be counted and put into plural form - three guns, eight cats, one hundred cookies. That is, they have numbers of nouns in English. Uncountable names have one single form - singular or plural. Let's take trousers for example. We don’t say “One pants” - that would be absurd. In the same way there are “two Communisms” (Two Communisms), since there is always one Communism. We also include the name of materials (Iron, Wood) as uncountable.

Collective common nouns always have the singular form, but at the same time imply a group of persons or things.

Flock, crowd, team

However, not everything is so simple. In some cases, the same words can be both countable and uncountable.

This chair is msde of wood - this chair is made of wood.
I’m lost somewhere in the woods - I’m lost somewhere in the woods.

A noun in English, as well as in Russian, denotes objects in a very broad sense. The English word "noun" comes from the Latin word nomen, meaning "name". The English noun is significantly different from its Russian counterpart. These differences are significant and you definitely need to know them.

The main differences between a noun in English and a noun in Russian

In English, nouns are NOT inflected according to gender. Those. in Russian, “table” is masculine, “cup” is feminine, “cloud” is neuter. Depending on this, their endings change in different cases.

In English, table (table), cup (cup), cloud (cloud) are not divided into masculine and feminine - they are just nouns. If you ask an Englishman what kind of word table is, he simply will not understand you.

English nouns have only 2 cases: nominative and possessive

Compare:
I have cup. – I have a cup.
I have no cups. – I don’t have a cup.
He filled cup. – He filled a cup.
He played cup. – He played with a cup.

As you can see, in Russian phrases we used 4 cases, but in English there is only one - the nominative. In English, everything is much simpler with nouns than in Russian.

Plural of nouns in English

As in Russian, English has singular and plural nouns. The singular number means one item, and the plural means 2 or more items.

As in Russian, the plural of English nouns is formed by changing their ending.

Compare: cup – cups | cup - cups

There are a number English words exceptions that form the plural in an irregular way. We will not consider them in this article.

Pluralizing nouns in English (regular way)

In most cases for education plural Simply adding an s to the end of the noun is sufficient.

S
dog - dogs
pen - pens
wallet - wallets

To nouns ending in s, ch, sh, x, z, add es.

s, ch, sh, x, z + es
watch – watches
bush – bushes
box – boxes

consonant+y = y ies

In words ending with a consonant + y, replace y with i and add es.

consonant+y = y ies
party – parties
try - tries
bunny - bunnies

vowel + y + s

In words ending with vowel + y, we simply add s without changing anything else.

vowel + y + s
play - plays
toy – toys
boy - boys

You can learn about the pronunciation of the endings of English plural nouns from

Classification of English nouns:

Abstract and concrete

Abstract nouns are ideas, events, qualities or emotions.

Abstract
love - love
time - time
excitement - excitement

Concrete nouns are names of something that we can perceive through our senses. Simplified: people, places, things

Specific
car - car
cat - cat
doctor - doctor

Animated and inanimate

Animate nouns refer to people, animals or other creatures

Animated
boy - boy
giraffe - giraffe
duck - duck

Inanimate nouns refer to materials and objects

Inanimate
glass – glass
brick – brick
house - house

Collective nouns

Collective nouns describe a group of people or things as one entity.

Collective
family - family
team - team
flock – flock (of birds)

Proper and common nouns

Proper nouns are names of things, places, names.

Own
Peter – Peter
Broadway - Broadway
The Times - Times (newspaper name)

Common nouns - names of groups of similar things

Common nouns
table - table
book - book
cup – cup

Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable (or count) nouns can be counted and have a plural form.

Countable
spoon – spoons (spoon – spoons)
idea – ideas (idea – ideas)
knife – knives (knife – knives)

Uncountable (or non count) nouns cannot be counted and have only a singular form.

Uncountable
money - money
coffee - coffee
bread – bread

Division into countable and uncountable nouns in English does not always coincide with Russian. For example, the word “advice” is uncountable in English. Although in Russian we can say “I’ll give you 2 pieces of advice.” An Englishman here will say “I’ll give you some advice.”

Attention! Pronouns are not nouns.

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Nouns denote objects (animate and inanimate) and phenomena and answer the question What is this? or Who is this?- table, house, man, woman, cat, dog, love, beauty.

Semantically, all nouns can be divided into two groups - proper names ( John, London, the Thames) and common nouns ( chair, snow, peace). Common nouns, in turn, are divided into countable and uncountable. Countable nouns refer to things that can be counted. Such nouns are concrete ( book, student, box) or abstract ( idea, word, effort). Uncountable nouns are things that cannot be counted. They can also be specific ( water, grass, wood) or abstract ( information, amusement, time).

Noun number

Nouns have two numbers: singular and plural. The plural is formed by adding the ending -s -s pronounced [z] after voiced consonants and after vowels:
day - days job - jobs

boy - boys bag - bags

After voiceless consonants ending -s pronounce [s]:
student - students map - maps

clock - clocks plant - plants

Noun ending in x, ss, sh, ch, form the plural by adding the ending -es to the singular form. Ending -es pronounce :
box - boxes bush - bushes

class - classes branch - branches

Nouns ending in singular y with a preceding consonant, form the plural by adding the ending -es, and y changes to i:

city ​​- cities family - families

factory - factories party - parties

Nouns ending in f or fe, form the plural by changing the letter f on v and adding the ending -es or -s:
leaf - leaves life - lives

knife - knives wife - wives

Some nouns form their plural by changing the root vowel or adding an ending:
man - men child - children

tooth - teeth ox - oxen

Important! Nouns advice- advice, tips, information- information, messages, progress- success, success, knowledge- knowledge, knowledge, money- money, hair- hair is used only in the singular. Noun news- news, news is used with a singular meaning, although it has a plural form.

Noun case

The noun in English has two cases:

1. General case (the Common Case), without endings: a table, a boy

2. Possessive case (the Possessive Case), which is formed by adding the ending 's in the singular: boy's books, and adding one apostrophe in the plural: students' books.

The possessive case is used:

– With animate nouns: children's names, cat's tail, Paul's songs.

– With names of countries, cities: America's universities, London's newspapers.

- With words: sun, moon, earth, world, life, nature, country, ship, boat.

– With expressions and adverbs of time: a month’s holiday, five minutes’ break, yesterday’s newspapers, today’s news.

– With distance and cost expressions: a mile’s distance, sixty meters’ run, a dollar’s ​​worth, twenty cents’ newspaper.

Forming nouns using affixation

Affixation is a way of forming new nouns by adding suffixes or prefixes.

1. Suffixes:

-er, -or, -ist, -ian indicate activities: writer, actor, typist, librarian

-ism, -age denote the predominance of one property or characteristic in a noun: patriotism, dosage

-ship, -hood means the state: friendship, childhood

-ment, -ation, -ition, -ion indicate a result or action: development, hesitation, competition, confession

-ness denotes abstract nouns formed from adjectives: happiness, silliness, blindness

-ure denotes processes or specific functions: departure, closure, parliament

-ance, -ence denote an action or state: assistance, confidence

2. Prefixes:

un-, in-, im-, dis- carry a semantic load opposite to the meaning of the main root: unhappiness, inefficiency, imbalance, disagreement.

They denote objects in the broad sense of the word, that is, everything that can be asked about: who is this? who is it? What is this? what is it? For example: things, materials, people, living beings, substances, abstract concepts, states, etc.

Proper and common nouns in English

English nouns, like Russian ones, can be proper nouns and common nouns.

• Proper nouns– denote the names of one-of-a-kind items, for example:
  • place names (New Hampshire, Rodeo Drive),
  • titles of books, newspapers, films (How I Met Your Mother),
  • names of holidays (St. Valentine’s Day)
  • personal names (John Smith).
  • names (in English they are written with a capital letter: Monday, August)
• Common nouns– call non-unique objects, phenomena, abstract concepts, etc.: human (person), river (river), month (month), thought (thought). It is important to know that they are divided into countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable and uncountable nouns in English

Common nouns can be countable or uncountable. To put it briefly, countable things can be counted with a finger, but uncountable ones cannot.

• Countable– nouns denoting objects, phenomena, concepts that can be counted.

We have two cats.– We have two cats.

There are a few chairs in the hall – There are several chairs in the hall.

• Uncountable– nouns denoting objects, substances, concepts that cannot be counted: abstract concepts, liquids, substances, etc.

We need more fuel.– We need more fuel.

Lazyness is mine enemy- Laziness is my enemy.

Noun cases in English

Case is a grammatical category that expresses the relationship of a noun to other words in a sentence. In the Russian language, as we know, there are six cases. Old English also had several cases, but later the language changed so that there were only two cases left: general and possessive (luckily for us).

• Common case– has no case endings and special meanings. In other words, it's just a noun in general meaning, taken in initial form, as in a dictionary. Boy, brick, elephant (and thousands of other examples, just choose any noun from the dictionary) are all nouns in the common case. Nouns in the general case also express relationships with other words in a sentence, but not with the help of case endings, which they do not have, but with the help of word order in the sentence and prepositions. This is the huge difference between Russian and English grammar: if in Russian the words in a sentence are interconnected mainly through endings, then in English - through word order and .

• Possessive– denotes belonging to something when noun A belongs to or relates to noun B (“attracted”).

The possessive case is worth considering in more detail.

Possessive case of a noun

1. The possessive case is formed using the ending – 's(apostrophe + s).

Jim 's car – Jim's car

John 's house – John's house

Professor 's book - professor's book

2. If a noun singular ends with – s, -x, -ss, in the possessive case it ends simply with an apostrophe or 's.

Max ‘ jacket = Max 's jacket – Max's jacket

Actress 's notes = actress ‘ notes – notes of the actress

3. However, nouns in plural, ending with -s, form a shape possessive case using an apostrophe.

kids ’ toys - children's toys

students ‘ reports – student reports.

4. If a noun consists of several words (compound noun), the ending is 's added to the last one.

my father-in-law 's car – my father-in-law's car

the commander-in-chief 's order – order of the commander-in-chief

5. If two persons have the same object, the ending is added to the last noun:

Martin and Helen 's house is huge. – Martin and Helen’s house is huge.

English noun gender

In English there are no special endings by which one could determine the gender of a noun (as in Russian). Gender is determined by meaning only. In practice, gender is important only when using a pronoun she(she), he(he) or it(it).

Everything is very simple. Animate nouns are either feminine or masculine depending on who they refer to.

Female persons – feminine gender:

My sister is busy now. - My sister is busy now.

Male persons – masculine.

Where is your daddy? - Where is your dad?

There are many nouns that can name both female and male persons. The gender depends on the context.

This is mine colleague. He is from Alaska. - This is my colleague. He's from Alaska.

This is mine colleague. She is from Alaska. - This is my colleague. She's from Alaska.

Inanimate nouns are all neuter. In Russian, let me remind you, they can also be masculine or feminine.

I received a parcel. It is heavy. – I received the parcel, it is heavy.

Linguists conventionally divide nouns into proper nouns and common nouns. Conventionally, because words “walk” from one category to another. The simplest one: if you call your yacht the word faith/belief, then it instantly becomes a proper word from the group of common nouns.

Own

English proper names include:
- first and last names of people, for example, John Smith, Emma Watson;
- animal names – Belka, Gray, etc.
- names of geographical objects (countries, cities, seas, rivers, mountains, lakes, etc.), for example, Moscow, Hudson River, Ontario;
- names of hotels, shops, brands, ships, etc.

Surprising for a Russian person is that the English also classify the names of the days of the week and months as proper names. That's why Monday and February are written with a capital letter.

Common nouns

Common nouns in the language are presented in a huge variety. They, in turn, are divided into animate and inanimate.

Naturally, we include the names of animals, birds, insects, fish, etc. as animate. – animal, fish, bird etc...

The classification of inanimate nouns includes:
- names of objects and things, individual and collective – a clock, a table;
- name of materials – paper, wool, wood.

English nouns can be concrete or abstract. Words such as illness, friendship, childhood belong to the abstract group, and the words ticket, shirt, cup belong to the concrete group.

Nouns are divided into two groups according to the principle of countability and uncountability. Water, milk, cotton cannot be counted, therefore, these nouns belong to the second group, unlike nouns that can be listed and counted - pen, flag, lamp.

Signs of nouns

Nouns in have the sign of number. To correctly name a word in the plural, you need to add a plural ending: –s or –es if the word ends with a hissing or whistling sound. For example, watch – watches.

Unlike the Russian language, English nouns do not have a gender marker. As an example, consider the word table. In Russian, “stol” is masculine. In English there is no gender of the noun. However, when naming people of certain professions, we find signs of gender designation. For example, actor-actress.

The sign of a noun is the article, either the definite the, or the indefinite – a, an. We always use the indefinite article when talking about some object or living creature for the first time. For example, I saw a girl. The girl is my new classmate./I saw a certain girl. This girl is my new one. From the example it is clear that further the story is about the girl using the definite article.

The article is an integral part of the noun. If we suddenly forget to put an article in front of a noun, it can immediately turn into a verb. For example, help – we translate into Russian with the verb “help”, but the help – with the word “help”.