I know the verbs

to be, to have

Part VIII. Grammar

W hat is a noun?

N ouns are all around us every day!

A noun can be a person, like boy or girl.

A noun can be a place, like home or academy.

A noun can be a thing, like book or cup.

A noun can be an idea, like love or fear.

Exercise 18: Circle the nouns below and cross out the words that are not nouns:

	chair	sing	car	shoe	store	chew
	write	television	classroom	run	happiness	pencil
	crayon	eat	dog	ball	cafeteria	sandwich
	learn	teacher	office	student	nurse	talk
	lunch	friend	table	backpack	sit	video

Noun Plurals

Most nouns form their plural by adding –s.

Nouns eding in –s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -o take –es in the plural.

Nouns ending in a vowel + y take –s in the plural

Nouns ending in a consonant + y, drop the y and take –ies in the plural.

Nouns ending in –f or –fe, drop the –f or – fe and take –ves in the plural

Some nouns are Irregular. For example:

man-men; woman-women; child – children; ox-oxen; foot-feet; tooth teeth; goose-geese; mouse - mice; sheep-sheep; trout-trout; deer-deer; swine-swine;

salmon-salmon

Latin nouns ending in –us alumnus – alumni

Latin nouns ending in –a formula – formulae/formulas

Latin nouns ending in –um maximum-maxima

Latin nouns ending in ex/ix appendix-appendices/appendixes

Greek nouns ending in –is analysis – analyses

Greek nouns ending in – on criterion – criteria

Exercise 19: Make the plural of the following nouns:

book box bush

rubber address radio

pen witch photo

pencil knife salmon

dish tooth deer

Exercise 19:

Match the singular noun with the plural form:

• box

• ball

• brush

• lion

• egg

• tomato

• address

• party

• way

• beach

• leaf

• leaves

• eggs

• addresses

• parties

• boxes

• ways

• lions

• beaches

• balls

• tomatoes

• brushes

The Article

Indefinite article (a/an) Definite article (the) Zero article

W e use the indefinite article when mention someone or something for the first time in our conversation or text: This is a great book.

"A" and "an" are also used to refer to a particular member of a group or class: John is an Englishman.

W e use "a" with nouns starting with a consonant; "an" before nouns starting with a vowel (a student; an actor).

The definite article is used when refers to something that is known by both the speaker or writer and the listener or reader: The book you are reading is really great.

• family names in the plural: The Smiths live in Chicago.

• public buildings, institutions, means of transport (definite): The school that Mandy goes to is old. The bus to Dresden leaves at 7.40. The round church in London is famous.

• names of countries in the plural; mountain ranges; regions: the United States of America, the Netherlands; the Highlands, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps; the Middle East, the west of Australia.

• groups of islands: the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries.

• name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers: the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London), the Isle of Wight; the Atlantic (Ocean); the Mediterranean (Sea); the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal.

• months, days of the week (definite): I always remember the Monday when I had an accident. The August of 2001 was hot and dry.