2 Nouns
Nouns are commonly thought of as "naming" words, and specifically as the names of "people, places, or things". Nouns such as John, London, and computer certainly fit this description, but the class of nouns is much broader than this. Nouns also denote abstract and intangible concepts such as birth, happiness, evolution, technology, management, imagination, revenge, politics, hope, cookery, sport, literacy....
Because of this enormous diversity of reference, it is not very useful to study nouns solely in terms of their meaning. It is much more fruitful to consider them from the point of view of their formal characteristics.
2.1 Characteristics of Nouns
Many nouns can be recognised by their endings. Typical noun endings include:
|
-er/-or |
actor, painter, plumber, writer |
|
-ism |
criticism, egotism, magnetism, vandalism |
|
-ist |
artist, capitalist, journalist, scientist |
|
-ment |
arrangement, development, establishment, government |
|
-tion |
foundation, organisation, recognition, supposition |
Most nouns have distinctive SINGULAR and PLURAL forms. The plural of regular nouns is formed by adding -s to the singular:
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
car |
cars |
|
dog |
dogs |
|
house |
houses |
However, there are many irregular nouns which do not form the plural in this way:
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
man |
men |
|
child |
children |
|
sheep |
sheep |
The distinction between singular and plural is known as NUMBER CONTRAST.
We can recognise many nouns because they often have the, a, or an in front of them:
the car
an artist
a surprise
the egg
a review
These words are called determiners, which is the next word class we will look at.
Nouns may take an -'s ("apostrophe s") or GENITIVE MARKER to indicate possession:
the boy's pen
a spider's web
my girlfriend's brother
John's house
If the noun already has an -s ending to mark the plural, then the genitive marker appears only as an apostrophe after the plural form:
the boys' pens
the spiders' webs
the Browns' house
The genitive marker should not be confused with the 's form of contracted verbs, as in John's a good boy (= John is a good boy).
Nouns often co-occur without a genitive marker between them:
rally car
table top
cheese grater
University entrance examination
We will look at these in more detail later, when we discuss noun phrases.