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21)The Noun & its grammatical categories of number & case; ways of expressing gender distinctions.

The noun is a word expressing substances in the widest sense of the word. We distinguish names of living beings (boy, girl), and lifeless things (table), abstract names: qualities, states, actions. Category of number

English nouns have singular and plural forms. S. denotes one, plural denotes more than one. The plural form is marked by the inflexion - (e) s. Regular plurals:

1. N. ending in vowels and voiced consonants have the plural ending pronounced as [z]: bee - bees, dog - dogs.

2. N. ending in voiceless consonants have a voiceless ending: book - books.

3. N. ending in -s, -sh, -ss, -ch, -x, -z have the ending [iz]: actress -actresses, bush - bushes, watch - watches, box - boxes.

4. N. ending in -o have the ending [z]: hero -heroes, potato – potatoes. The regular plural inflexion of nouns in -o has two spellings; -os occurs in the following cases: a) after a vowel — bamboos, embryos, folios, kangaroos, radios, studios, zoos; b) in proper names - Romeos, Eskimos, Filipinos; c) in abbreviations, kilos, photos; In other cases the spelling is -oes: tomatoes, heroes, potatoes.

5. The letter -y after a consonant usually changes into -i: sky – skies But the letter -y remains unchanged -ys: a) after vowels: days. b) in proper names: the two Germanys.

6. 13 nouns ending-in -f (e) form their plural changing -f (e) into -v (e): the ending in this case is pronounced (z]:calf –calves, life - lives, thief - thieves, elf - elves, loaf-loaves, wife – wives, half – halves, self - selves, wolf - wolves, knife – knives, sheaf - sheaves (снопы), leaf –leaves, shelf – shelves. Other nouns ending in -f(e) have the plural inflexion -s in the regular way: proof -proofs, chief- chiefs, safe - safes, cliff- cliffs.

Irregular plurals. 1. Seven nouns distinguish plural from singular by vowel change: man-men, woman-women, louse-lice, tooth-teeth, foot-feet, goose-geese, mouse-mice.

2. two nouns have –en to mark the plural: ox-oxen, child-children.

3. with some nouns the plural is identical with the singular form: a) sheep-sheep, swine-swine, deer-deer. There are some animal names that have 2 plurals: fish-fish(es), carp-carp(s), salmon-salmon(s). b) identical singular and plural forms are also typical of nationality nouns in –ese, -ss: Chinese, Swiss, Japanese. c) names, indicating number: pair, couple, dozen, score, stone, head.

Category of case.

Case is a grammatical category which shows relation of the noun with other words in a sentence. English nouns have two cases: the common case and the genitive case. However, not all English nouns possess the category of case; there are certain nouns, mainly nouns denoting inanimate objects, which cannot be used in the genitive case. The common case is unmarked, it has no inflexion (zero) and its meaning is very general. The genitive case is marked by the apostrophe s ('s). In writing there are two forms of the genitive: for most nouns:‘s (mother's) and for nouns ending in -s and regular plural nouns only the apostrophe (mothers').

GENDER

English nouns are not masculine, feminine, or neuter in the way that nouns in some other languages are. For example, most names of jobs, such as teacher, doctor, and writer, are used for both men and women. Thus, to masculine gender belong nouns indicating men, boys and male animals (pronoun he/they), to feminine gender belong nouns indicating women, girls and female animals (pronoun she/they), to neutral gender – inanimate things, animals whose sex we don’t know and sometimes babies (pronoun it/they).

Exceptions: ships & smtimes cars and other vehicles when regarded with affection or respect and considered feminine. Countries when referred to by name are also feminine. The ship struck an iceberg, which tore a huge hole in her side.

Nouns having different masculine\femin. Distinctions expressed lexically: Boy-girl; gentleman-lady; man-woman…

The majority of nouns indicating occupation have the same form: artist, driver, cook, dancer…

EXCEPTIONS: actor-actress; host-hostess; hero- heroine; waiter-waitress.

Words that refer to woman often end in ‘woman’ (policewoman). The same with ‘man’. But ‘spokesperson’ can be either a man or a woman. Some people use ‘person’ instead of ‘man’ to avoid appearing to refer specifically to a man.

Most names of animals are used to refer to both male and female animals : cat elephant sheep.

In some cases there are different words that refer to male or female animals: male horse- ‘stallion’, female horse- ‘mare’.

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