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1.Категорії роду та відмінка в англійській мові. (Categories of gender and case in English).

The category of case. The evolution of theoretical interpretations of the category of case in English

Case indicates the relations of the noun ( or pronoun ) to the other words in the sentence. Nouns denoting living beings and some nouns denoting lifeless things have two cases:

the common case.

the genitive case.

The genitive case is formed by:

‘s – is used with the singu and plural nouns not ending in –s:

a man’s job, men’s job, a child’s voice, a children’s voice.

b) a simple apostrophe (‘)is used with plural nouns ending in –s:

the students’ hostel, the Smiths’ car.

other names ending I –s can take “ ’s ” or the “ ’ ” alone:

The problem of gender in English. Sex distinctions in the system of the noun.

In linguistics, the term gender refers to various forms of expressing biological or sociological gender by inflecting words. For example, in the words actor and actress the suffix -or denotes "male person" (masculine), and the suffix -ress denotes "female person" (feminine). This type of inflection, called lexical gender, is very rare in English, but quite common in other languages, including most languages in the Indo-European family. Normally, Modern English does not mark nouns for gender, but it expresses gender in the third person singular personal pronouns he (male person), she (female person), and it (object, abstraction, or animal), and their other inflected forms. When gender is expressed on other parts of speech, besides nouns and pronouns, the language is said to have grammatical gender. Grammatical gender may be partly assigned by convention, so it doesn't always coincide with natural gender. Furthermore, the gender assigned to animals, inanimate objects and abstractions is often arbitrary. Gender can refer to the (biological) condition of being male or female, or less commonly hermaphrodite or neuter, as applied to humans, animals, and plants. In this sense, the term is a synonym for sex, a word that has undergone a usage shift itself, having become a synonym for sexual intercourse.

2.Категорія числа в системі англійської мови. Абсолютна однина й абсолютна множина. (Number in the system of the English language. Singularia tantum and pluralia tantum).

Singularia tantum and pluralia tantum.

The singular number shows that one object is meant and the plural shows that more than one object is meant. But the category of number gives rise to several problems which claim special attention. In such cases as ‘waters’ and ‘snows’ we drift away from the original meaning of the plural number. No numeral could be used with nouns of this kind. We can’t say ‘three waters’ or ‘2 snows’, moreover we can’t say how many waters or snows we mean. The plural form of these words serves to denote a vast stretch of water (for example – waters of the ocean) or of snow (snows of the Canada). Pluralia tantum include nouns of 2 types:

1) Nouns which denote material objects, consisting of 2 parts – pajamas, trousers, scissors. 2) Nouns which denote a more or less indefinite plurality – environs (which means areas surrounding some place on all sides); dregs (which means various small things, remaining at the bottom of a vessel after the liquid has been poured out of it.)

Singularia tantum include;1) Nouns, denoting material substance (milk, butter, ink, silver)2) Names of abstract notions, such as peace, usefulness, friendship. With singularia tantum nouns the predicate verb is always singular.