Раздел: Календарно-тематический план

ТЕМА 4

Grammar: The Noun. The Article.

Vocabulary: Sports. Keeping fit.

Содержание темы

1. Regular plurals

2. Irregular plurals.

2.1. Greek and Latin Nouns.

2.2. Group nouns.

2.3. Countable. Uncountable Nouns.

2.4. Compaund Nouns.

3. Possessive case.

4. Rules for Subject.

5. Use of a/an

6. Use of the.

7. Geographical names.

Рекомендуемая литература

1. English Grammat in Use, Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press, 1997 (pp 136-160)

2. Advanced Grammar in Use, Martin Hewings, Cambridge University Press, 2000 (рр 100-124)

3. Tests, Texts and Topics for your English Exams, Ю.Б. Кузьменкова, Издательство “Титул», 2002 (стр. 18-27)

4. The Heinemann English Grammar, Digby Beaumont and Colin Granger, Heintmann, 1992 (рр 154-182)

5. Revising, Reading and Reasoning for your English Exams, Ю.Б. Кузьменкова, А. Р. Жаворонкова, И. В. Извольская, Издательство “Титул», 2002 (стр. 7-13, 22-28)

6. Longman English Grammar Practice for intermediate students, L. G. Alexander, Longman, 1997 (pp 26-53)

Раздел: Учебно-методические материалы

Вспомогательные материалы

Grammar The Noun

1.

Regular plurals

singular noun

plural noun

1

2

3

4

Most nouns form their plural by adding -s to the singular noun.

We add -es if the singular noun ends in -ch, -sh, -s or -x.

Some nouns ending in -o add -es in the plural.

Other nouns ending in -o, add -s only.

Nouns ending in a consonant + -y, change the -y to i and add –es.

Book, sport, car

Church, dish, bus, box

tomato, potato, echo, hero, negro

piano, radio

baby, factory

Books, sports, cars

Churches, dishes, buses, boxes

tomatoes, potatoes, echoes, heroes, negroes

pianos, radios

babies, factories

2.

Irregular plurals

1

Some nouns ending in -f/-fe drop the –f/-fe and add -ves in the plural

half, thief, leaf, loaf, self, shelf, wolf, knife, wife

halves, thieves, leaves, loaves, selves, shelves, wolves, knives, wives

2

Some nouns form the plural by changing their vowel(s).

mouse, man, woman, foot, goose

mice, men, woman, feet, goose

3

A few nouns form the plural with -en.

child, ox

children, oxen

4

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

sheep, deer, salmon

species, series, means

sheep, deer, salmon,

species, series, means

5

• fish is the normal plural of fish; fishes is also possible, but less usual. We use fishes to talk about different kinds and species of fish

• The usual plural of person is people (not persons). We use peoples to talk about citizens of different countries.

6

Some nouns borrowed from Greek and Latin have Greek or Latin plural endings.

Origin	Singular	Plural	Singular (plural) examples
Greek	-is	-es	basis (bases), crisis (crises)
Greek	-on	-a	criterion (criteria), phenomenon (phenomena)
Latin	-us	-i	radius (radii), alumnus (alumni), terminus (termini), stimulus (stimuli)
Latin	-a	-ae	alga (algae), vita (vitae)
Latin	-um	-a	datum (data), medium (media)
Latin	-ix /-ex	-ices	index (indices), appendix (appendices)

The algae in the pool are hard to remove.

The radius of the circle is two inches.

7

Normally, we use singular nouns with singular verbs and pronouns, and plural nouns with plural verbs and pronouns.

'Where's the key?' 'It's on the table.'

'Where are the keys?' 'They're on the table.'

The house on the hill belongs to my friend.

These houses over there are very luxurious.

8

Group nouns are usually singular, but may be plural if the members are functioning independently. Watch the pronouns for clues to the singular or plural nature of the subject. Some of these words are:

Class, team, police, committee, group, company, government, crowd, audience, family, army, jury, country, headquarters, press, faculty…

The crew consists of 30 men.

Now all the crew are on the deck watching the wale in the sea.

That class has its final test on Friday.

The class are working on their individual projects today.

We use plural verbs and pronouns when we think of these groups as a number of people. My family are on holiday.

The government think they can solve the problem.

We use singular verbs and pronouns when we think of the group as an impersonal unit. The family is a very important part of society.

The government was elected a month ago.

The team was the best in the country. (= the team as a group)

The team were all given medals. (= each member separately as individuals)

9

Some nouns are always plural in form and always take plural verbs.

Clothes: trousers, pants, jeans, sunglasses, pyjamas, shorts, tights.

Tools & instruments: scissors, pliers, tweezers binoculars, compasses, spectacles

Abstract: riches, thanks, means, arms, ashes, barracks, cattle, congratulations, earnings, (good) looks, outskirts, people, police, premises, riches, stairs, surroundings, wages etc.

However, some of them are followed by a singular verb when used in expressions such as a pair of ..., a word of ...

I like these pants most of all.

That pair of pants is dirty.

Your thanks are enough for me.

A word of thanks is enough.

• Some nouns use the same form for both singular and plural meanings. The pronouns and modifiers with these words will indicate whether they are singular or plural in meaning.

always with s: species, series, etc. That species is rare.

Those species are common.

never with s: sheep, deer, etc. That deer is young.

Those deer are old.

10

Expressions stating one amount of time, money, weight, volume… are plural in form but take a singular verb.

Two weeks is enough lime for a nice vacation.

Five hundred dollars is required as a down payment.

Ten extra pounds is a lot to lose in a week.

Twenty gallons of gasoline costs a lot of money.

Two weeks isn't long to wait.

Ten miles is a long way to ride.

Ten thousand pounds is too much to spend on this house.

11

Countable • Uncountable Nouns

• Nouns can be countable (those that can be counted) 1 book, 2 books etc or uncountable (those that can't be counted) flour.

• Uncountable nouns take a singular verb. Information is available at the front desk.

• Uncountable nouns are not used with a/an. Some, any, no, much, the etc can be used with them.

I need some advice. The furniture is expensive.

But we say: a relief, a pity, a shame, a wonder, a knowledge (of sth), a help although they are uncountable.

What a pity! It's such a shame!

She has a deep knowledge of mathematics.

12

The most common uncountable nouns are:

Mass nouns:

Fluids: blood, coffee, milk, oil, tea, water, etc

Solids: bread, butter, china, coal, fish (meaning food), food, fruit, glass, ice, iron, meat, soap

Gases: air, oxygen, pollution, smoke, smog, steam

Particles: corn, dust, flour, hair, pepper, rice, salt, sand, sugar, wheat

Subjects of study: chemistry, economics, history, literature, mathematics, physics, psychology

Languages: Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Turkish

Games: baseball, billiards, chess, football, golf, poker, rugby, soccer, tennis

Diseases: cancer, flu, measles, mumps etc

Natural phenomena: darkness, fog, gravity, hail, heat, humidity, light, lightning, rain (but: the rains = season of continuous rain in tropical countries), snow, sunshine, thunder, weather, wind

Some abstract nouns: accommodation, advice, anger, applause, assistance, behaviour, business, chaos, countryside, courage, damage, dirt, education, evidence, housework, homework, information, intelligence, knowledge, luck, music, news, peace, progress, seaside, shopping, traffic, trouble, truth, wealth, work etc

Collective nouns: baggage, crockery, cutlery, furniture, jewellery, luggage, machinery, money, rubbish, stationery

13

• Many uncountable nouns can be made countable by adding a partitive:

a piece of paper/cake/information/advice/furniture;

a glass/bottle of water; a jar of jam; a box/sheet of paper;

a packet of tea; a slice/loaf of bread; a pot of yoghurt;

a pot/cup of tea; a kilo/pound of meat: a tube of toothpaste;

a bar of chocolate/soap; a bit/piece of chalk; an ice cube;

a bag of flour; a pair of trousers; a game of soccer;

a(n) item/piece of news; a drop/can of oil;

a can of Coke; a carton of milk; a block of wood;

a flash/bolt of lightning; a clap/peal of thunder etc

14

Some words are always plural in form but singular in meaning.

These words require singular verbs.

Academic subjects: mathematics, physics, economics, statistics, civics...

Diseases: measles, mumps, herpes...

Abstract nouns: news, ethics, politics, athletics, billiards, rabies....

Mathematics is a difficult subject. The news was very good.

15

Compound nouns

A compound noun is a noun that is made of two (or more) parts.

Compound nouns form their plural by adding -s/es:

• to the second noun if the compound consists of two nouns,

ball game - ball games

• to the noun if the compound consists of an adjective and a noun. frying pan - frying pans

• to the first noun if the compound consists of two nouns connected by a preposition or to the noun If the compound has only one noun. mother-in-law — mothers-in-law, passer-by — passers-by

• at the end of the compound if it does not include any nouns,

letdown – letdowns

16

We use plural nouns, verbs and pronouns with a number of and a group of.

A number of my friends are planning a holiday together. They hope to go to Greece and Turkey.

The expression a number of is plural, but the expression the number of is singular.

A number of students were missing from class. The number of students in class is increasing every year.

17

Possessive case

We usually form possessive case with:

1. Personal nouns (eg Sally, Andrew)

Andrew's bedroom. Sally’s car.

2. Personal indefinite pronouns (someone’s, nobody’s)

Someone’s passport nobody's problem

3. Names of animals

a dog's life the cat's milk

4. With a group of people or with a place where people live, work

the company's office the world's problems London's traffic

5. With periods of time and in some expressions of time

yesterday's newspaper last week's accident

a week's holiday, BUT a five-year trip

two days' work, BUT a two-day work

6. We can add the possessive 's to a whole phrase.

Sue and Frank's daughter. But with a longer phrase, we often use ...of... instead eg the daughter of the Australian couple who live next door.

• BUT Sue’s and Frank’s daughters were friends.

We can also use the possessive 's without a following noun:

She has just been to the hairdresser's. I went to the doctor's yesterday.

8. We can use ...of... and a possessive form in a 'double possessive'. ...of... + possessive:

Ann is a friend of Peter's. A cousin of mine is coming to visit me.

18

Rules for Subject – Verb Agreement

1 When the following words are used as subjects, they are always singular. Some of these words are plural in meaning, but they always require Singular verbs

Everyone Everybody Everything

Someone Somebody Something

Anyone Anybody Anything

No one Nobody Nothing

Each Either Neither

Everyone is here. Neither of these books is very new.

2. 2 When each or every comes before singular subjects joined

3. by AND, a singular verb is required.

Every man and woman is eligible to vote.

Each student and teacher has a locker.

2. 3 Introdactory it is singular and always followed by a singular verb.

It was the dogs, which awakened me.

It is his grades that worry him.

4 There, here, and where are never subjects (except in a sentence like this one). When a sentence begins with one of these words, the subject comes after the verb.

There are no dogs in this neighborhood.

There is little milk left in the fridge.

Here are the results of the experiments.

5 Subjects joined by and or both ... and ... take a plural verb.

My mom’s Honda and a blue Ford are parked outside.

Both tigers and whales are becoming extinct.

6 Pay attention to the following:

The man

together with in addition to along with as well as except

his ten children

is leaving soon.

7 Alternatives

When subjects are joined by the following structures, the verb must agree with the closer subject.

Neither the students nor the teacher is allowed to smoke.

Either the teacher or the students have your books.

Not only the nurses but also the doctor is coming soon

8 Many words may be singular or plural depending on what they refer to:

None, all, some, any, majority, most, half, etc.

When these words are followed by a prepositional phrase, the number of the object of the preposition will determine whether the words are singular or plural.

All of the book has been destroyed.

All of the books have been thrown away.

All of the money is in bank.

9 Several, many, both, few are plural words and always take a plural verb.

Both are going to attend the University of Texas.

Only a few have passed the exam.

10 Titles of books and movies, even if plural in form, take singular verbs.

The New York Times is a good newspaper.

Star Wars was a good movie.