Grammar Supplement

1. Study the following information.

NOUNS

• Nouns can be abstract (love, freedom, etc.), proper (John, Asia, etc.), or common (chair, table, dress, girl, etc.).

• Most nouns that refer to jobs, social status, etc. have the same form for men (masculine) and women (feminine) e.g. doctor, teacher, etc. When we refer to ships, vehicles (when regarded with affection and respect) and countries, we consider them feminine.

• Other have different forms:

  actor – actress	king - queen
  bachelor - spinster	lion - lioness
  barman – barmaid	monk - nun
  conductor – conductress	nephew – niece
  (bride)groom – bride	prince - princess
  dog – bitch	policeman – policewoman
  duke – duchess	ram – ewe [ju:]
  emperor –empress	stallion - mare
  heir – heiress	tiger - tigress
  gentleman – lady	uncle – aunt
  hero – heroine	waiter - waitress
  host – hostess	widower - widow

• Nouns can be countable (those that can be counted) e.g. 1 book – 2 books or uncountable (those that can’t be counted) e.g. bread, furniture.

• Countable nouns have singular and plural forms. Nouns are made plural by adding:

• -s to the nouns (cat - cats);

• -es to the nouns ending in –ch, -s, -sh, -ss, -x (torch – torches, bus –buses, bush – bushes, glass – glasses, box - boxes);

• -ies to the nouns ending in consonant + y (baby – babies, lady – ladies, etc), but –s to the nouns ending in vowel + y (day – days, boy – boys, etc.);

• -es to the nouns ending in –o (tomato - tomatoes), BUT: -s to the nouns ending in: vowel + o (video – videos); double o (zoo - zoos); abbreviations (photograph/photo -photos); musical instruments (piano -pianos) and proper nouns. Note that some nouns can end both in –s and –es: buffalos / buffaloes; mosquitos / mosquitoes; volcanos / volcanoes; zeros / zeroes; tornado / tornadoes, etc.

• -ves to some nouns ending in –f/fe (self – selves, wife - wives); BUT: chiefs, cliffs, roofs, safes.

• Composed nouns are nouns that are made of two or more parts and are formed as follows:

• noun + noun. The plural is formed by adding –s/-es to the second noun (schoolboy – schoolboys, ticket inspector – ticket inspectors);

• -ing form / adjective + noun. The plural is formed by adding –s / -es to the noun (swimming pool – swimming pools, greenhouse - greenhouses);

• noun + in-law. The plural is formed by adding –s / -es to the noun (sister-in-law – sisters-in-law);

• noun + adverb. The plural is formed by adding –s / -es to the noun (runner-up – runners-up);

• verb + adverb particle. The plural form is formed by adding –s / es to the word (breakthrough - breakthroughs).

• Irregular Plurals: man – men, woman – women, foot – feet, tooth –teeth, louse – lice, mouse – mice, child – children, goose – geese, person – people (But: peoples = ethnic groups), ox – oxen, sheep – sheep, deer – deer, fish – fish (also: fishes), trout – trout, salmon – salmon, spacecraft – spacecraft, aircraft – aircraft, species – species, hovercraft – hovercraft.

• Some nouns of Greek and Latin origin form their plural by adding Greek or Latin suffixes (basis – bases, crisis – crises, criterion – criteria, medium – media, terminus – termini, etc.).

• Plural Nouns are the nouns that can be used only in the plural form:

• objects consisting of two parts: garments (pajamas, trousers), instruments (binoculars), tools (pliers, scissors);

• arms, ashes, barracks, clothes, congratulations, earrings, (good) looks, outskirts, people, police, premises, riches, stairs, surroundings, wages (Where are my clothes?)

• Group nouns (army, audience, class, club, committee, company, council, crew, headquarter, family, jury, government, press, public, staff, team, etc.) can take either a singular or a plural verb depending on whether we see the group as a whole or as individuals. (The team was chosen as the most promising. The team were given bonuses for their performance.)