The Classification of nouns.

Nouns fall under two classes:

(A) Proper nouns; (B) Common nouns.

A. Proper nouns are individual names given to separate persons or things. As regards their meaning proper nouns may be personal names, (Mary, Peter, Shakespeare), geographical names (Moscow, London, the Caucasus), the names of the months and of the days of the week (February, Monday), names of ships, hotels, clubs etc.

A large number of nouns now proper were originally common nouns (Brown, Smith, Mason).

Proper nouns may change their meaning and become common nouns:

George went over to the table and took asandwich and a glass of champagne. (Aldington)

B. Common nouns are names that can be applied to any indi­vidual of a class of persons or things (e.g. man, dog, book), collections of similar individuals or things regarded as a single unit (e. g. peasantry, family), materials (e. g. snow, iron, cotton) or abstract notions (e.g. kindness, development).

Thus there are different groups of common nouns:

       1) class nouns,

       2) collective nouns,

       3) nouns of material

       4) abstract nouns.

 Nouns may also be classified from another point of view: nouns denoting things (the word thing is used in a broad sense) that can be counted are calledcountable nouns; nouns denoting things that cannot be counted are calleduncountable nouns.

1. Class nouns denote persons or things belonging to a class. They are countable and have two numbers: singular and plural. They are generally used with an article.

"Well, sir," said Mrs. Parker, "I wasn't in theshop above a great deal." (Mansfield)

He goes to the part of the town where the shops are. (Lessing)

  2. Collective nouns denote a number or collection of similar individuals or things regarded as a single unit. Collective nouns fall under the following groups:

(a) Nouns used only in the singular and denoting a number of things collected together and regarded as a single object: foli­age, machinery.

It was not restful, that green foliage. (London)

Machinery new to the industry in Australia was introduced for preparing land. (Agricultural Gazette)

(b) Nouns, which are singular in form though plural in meaning: police, poultry, cattle, people, gentry etc. They are usually called nouns of multitude. When the subject of the sentence is a noun of multi­tude the verb used as predicate is in the plural:

I had no idea the police were so devilishly prudent… (Shaw)

Unless cattle are in good condition in calving, milk production will never reach a high level. (Agricultural Gazette)

The weather was warm and the people were sitting at their doors. (Dickens)

(c) Nouns that may be both singular and plural: family, crowd, fleet, nation etc. We can think of a number of crowds, fleets or differ­ent nations as well as of a single crowd, fleet, etc.

A small crowd is lined up to see the guests arrive. (Shaw)

Accordingly they were soon afoot, and walking in the direction of the scene of action, toward which crowds of people were already pouring from a variety of quarters. (Dickens)

3. Nouns of material denote material: iron, gold, paper, tea, water. They are uncountable and are generally used without any article.

There was a scentof honey from the lime-trees in flower. (Gals­worthy)

There wascoffee still in the urn. (Wells)

Nouns of material are used in the plural to denote different sorts of a given material.

... that his senior counted upon him in this enterprise, and had consigned a quantity of selectwines to him... (Thackeray)

Nouns of material may turn into class nouns (thus becoming countable) when they come to express an individual object of definite shape.

Compare:

To the left were clean panes of glass. (Ch. Bronte)

"He came in here," said the waiter looking at the light through the tumbler, "ordered a glass of this ale." (Dickens)

But the person in the glass made a face at her, and Miss Moss went out. (Mansfield)

4. Abstract nouns denote some quality, state, action or idea: kindness, sadness, fight etc. They are usually uncountable, though some of them may be countable (e. g. idea, hour).

Therefore when the youngsters saw that mother looked neither frightened nor offended, they gathered newcourage. (Dodge)

Accustomed to John Reed's abuse, I never had anidea of re­plying to it. (Ch. Bronte)

It's these people with fixedideas. (Galsworthy)

Abstract nouns may change their meaning and become class nouns. This change is marked by the use of the article and of the plural number:

                             beauty - a beauty - beauties

                             sight - a sight - sights

He was responsive tobeauty and here was cause to respond. (London)

She was a beauty. (Dickens)

... but she isn't one of those horrid regular beauties. (Aldington)

The category of number.

English countable nouns have two numbers: thesingular and theplural.The main types of the plural forms of English nouns are as follows:

1. The general rule for forming the plural of English nouns is by adding the ending -s(-es) to the singular: flowers, beds, doves, bees, boys etc.

2. If the noun ends in -s, -ss, -x, -sh, -ch, or -tch, the plural is formed by adding -es to the singular:

bus — buses              box — boxes               bench — benches

glass—glasses           brush—brushes           match—matches

       3. If the noun ends in -y preceded by a consonant, -у is changed into -i before -es.

                                  fly —flies

                                  army — armies

                                  lady — ladies

In proper names, however, adding the ending -s to the singular forms the plural: Mary, Marys.

Note. If the final -y is preceded by a vowel, adding -s to the singular forms the plural.

                      day — days        monkey — monkeys

                      play—plays        toy —toys

                      key — keys        boy — boys

4. If the noun ends in -o preceded by a consonant, the plural is generally formed by adding -es. Only a few nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant form the plural in-s.

                     cargo — cargoes             hero — heroes

                     Potato — potatoes           echo — echoes

            But: piano -—pianos

                      solo —solos

                      photo — photos

All nouns ending in -o preceded by a vowel form the plural in -s and not in -es.

                               cuckoo — cuckoos

                               portfolio — portfolios

There are a few nouns ending in -o which form the plural both in -s and -es:

                        mosquito — mosquitos or mosquitoes

5. With certain nouns the final voiceless consonants are changed into the corresponding voiced consonants when the noun takes the plural form.

(a) The following nouns ending in -f (in some cases followed by a mute e) change it into v (both in spelling and pronunciation) in the plural:

                      wife — wives          thief — thieves

                              knife —knives         calf—calves

                      life —lives               half —halves

                      sheaf — sheaves      shelf — shelves

                      leaf — leaves           wolf — wolves

                      self - selves               loaf - loaves

There are some nouns ending in - f which have two forms in the plural:

                       scarf—scarfs or scarves   

                               wharf — wharfs or wharves

Other nouns ending in -f or -fe add -s in the plural in the ordinary way:

                       cliff – cliffs

                       handkerchief - handkerchiefs                        

II. The plural forms of some nouns are survivals of earlier formations.

1. There are seven nouns, which form the plural by changing the root vowel:

                               man — men         goose — geese

                       woman — women mouse — mice

                       foot —feet            louse—-lice

                       tooth — teeth

2. There are two nouns, which form the plural in -en:

                       ox — oxen

                       child—children

Note. The noun brother has, beside its usual plural form brothers, another plural form brethren, which is hardly ever used in colloquial language. It belongs to the elevated style and denotes people of the same creed and not relationship.

 The noun cow has, beside its usual plural form cows, has the plural kine, which sometimes occurs in poetry.

2. In some nouns the plural form does not differ from the sin­gular: deer, sheep, swine, trout etc.

III. Some words borrowed from Latin or Greek keep their Latin or Greek plural forms: e.g. phenomenon - phenomena, datum - data, crisis -crises, stimulus -stimuli, formula - formulae, index - indices etc. Some of these nouns have acquired English plural forms: memorandums, formulas, indexes, terminuses, etc.

The tendency to use the foreign plural is still strong in the technical language of science, but in fiction and colloquial English there is an evident inclination to give to certain words the regular English plural forms in -s. Thus in some cases two plural forms are preserved (formulae, formulas, antennae, antennas).

IV. In compound nouns the plural is formed in different ways.

 1. As a rule a compound noun forms the plural by adding -s to the headword:

                         editor-in-chief — editors-in-chief

                         brother-in-law — brothers-in-law

                         looker-on — lookers-on

 2. In some compound nouns the final element takes the plural form:

                         lady-bird — lady-birds

 3. If there is no noun-stem in the compound, -s is added to the last element:

                         forget-me-not —forget-me-nots  

                         merry-go-round—merry-go-rounds

4. When compound nouns are spelled as one word the last element is made plural

                       bookcase - bookcases

                       armchair – armchairs

5. If the first words of the compound nouns are nouns man or woman a double plural is used

                             woman-teacher - women-teachers   

                             man-servant - men-servants

V. Some nouns have only the plural form:

1. Thenamesofthingswhichconsistoftwosimilarhalvessuchas scissors, trousers, spectacles, scales, eye-glasses, tongs, breeches, fetters.

2. Nouns, which have collective meaning (concrete or abstract):

(a) Concrete: stairs, goods, eaves, slums, outskirts, tropics, memoirs, victuals (провизия), supplies, clothes, sweepings, slops (помои), preserves (консервы), parings (кожура), sweets, belongings.

(b) Collective nouns such as cattle, poultry, police etc are always used as plurals (without s-inflexion).

(b) Abstract: holidays, tidings, goings-on (поступки), beginnings (also beginning), earnings, wages, contents, proceeds (выручка), riches (богатство) etc.

3. In some nouns the final -s loses the meaning of the plural inflexion and the noun is treated as a singular. This is the case with the names of sciences and occupations in -ics:

Mathematics, phonetics, optics, which are usually considered as singular:

              Phonetics is the science of sounds.

              Optics is a branch of physics; it treats of light.

     These nouns are treated as plurals when practical application is meant:

             His phonetics are excellent.

             The acoustics of this hall are good.

Politics, tactics, gymnastics, athletics are generally regarded as plurals.

          “The only politics I understand,” answered Magnus sternly,” are honest politics.” (Norris)

 VI. Some nouns have only the singular form:

1. Names of materials: water, milk, wine, snow, bread, air etc.

2. Collective nouns: foliage, leafage, shrubbery, brushwood, linen, machinery, furniture, money, youth.

      Note: The noun “people”in the meaning of люди is always plural.

                     In the evening some people came to supper; a writer and

                 two painters with their wives. (Galsworthy)

       The noun “people” in the meaning of народ has both numbers (a people - народ, peoples - народы)

                     Defending of peace is the cause of all peoples of the world.

                     The French are a Roman people.

3. Abstract nouns: friendship, joy, patriotism, love, kindness, weather, courage, information, progress, news, advice, knowledge etc.

When she goes to make little purchases, there is no news for her. (Thackeray)

 The information he gave them was to be read in the lamentations. Sabatini.)

 VII. A number of nouns in English may through a change or variation of meaning acquire the forms of both numbers, singular and plural (and thus become countable). This is found in the following cases:

(a) The noun “hair”is used in the singular (волосы);

(b)  The noun “hairs”is used only with the meaning of a few separate hairs (волосок, волоски).

… the girl’s hair was chestnut, almost auburn. (La Mure.)

She has a few gray hairs. She has more hair than wit, and more faults than hairs. (Shakespeare.)

(c) Nouns fruit and fish are used in the singular. Plural forms fruits and fishes denote different kinds of fruit and fish

            We have much fruit this year.

   But: The fruits were local, consisting of apples, pears, nuts, and other products of summer… (Hardy)

(d) The noun penny (пенс) has two plural forms:

        pence - if a sum of money is meant; and pennies - when we speak about coins.

                                It costs eighteen pence.

                                Pennies are made of bronze.

       VIII. Nouns works(завод, заводы) and means (средство, средства) are used both in the singular and in the plural.

A new metallurgical works was built in this town 2 years ago.

                There are four works in this town now.

The category of case.

Case is the form of the noun (or pronoun) built up by means of inflexion, which indicates the relations of the noun (or pronoun) to the other words in the sentence.

The noun in Modern English has two cases: the common case and the genitive case.

                          The Common Case

The common case in English is characterized by the zero-inflexion: a girl, a child, a garden, a tree etc.

The common case has a very general and indefinite meaning. The noun in the common case may have various functions in the sentence, which are defined syntactically by means of word order and prepositions.

The common case falls under: the nominative case and the objective case.

A noun in the nominative case can be used as a subject or a predicative of the sentence:

My brother (SUBJECT) is a student (PREDICATIVE).

The noun, which follows the predicate verb, is usually the direct object:

The old woman… lifted the child (DIRECT OBJECT)… (Galsworthy)

Placed between the transitive verb and its direct object the noun is the indirect object:

 I wish Jane (INDIRECT OBJECT) success with all my heart. (Austin)

Preceded by a preposition the noun may be a prepositional indirect object or an adverbial modifier of place or direction:

I hand the first book to my mother (INDIRECTPREPOSITIONALOBJECT).(Dickens)

Paul went… to the orchard (ADVERBIAL MODIFIER). (Lawrence)

                                The Genitive (Possessive) Case

   The possessive case represents in Modern English the Old English genitive case but it is much narrower in its meaning and function, it expresses possession with various shades of meaning depending on the lexical meaning of the words. In Modern English the use of the possessive case is restricted chiefly to nouns denoting living beings and its syntactical function is exclusively that of an attribute:

    The Blind Girl, greatly agitated, rose, and led the Carrier’s little wife           

  aside. (Dickens) Annette’s clear eyes opened…(Galsworthy)

   With nouns denoting inanimate things and abstract notions the possessive case relation is rendered in English by of-phrase (which then is an equivalent of the possessive case):

      …the first light of the winter dawn crept round the edges of the blinds. (Shaw) The door of his room was open… (Galsworthy)

   The of-phrase may also be used with nouns denoting living beings:

       The father of Keesh had been a very brave man…(London)

1. The possessive case is formed by adding -'s (the apostrophe s) to the noun in the singular and only ' (the apostrophe)-to plural forms ending in -s.

                    singular: a girl's book

                    plural: a girls' school

Note 1. Nouns forming the plural by changing the root vowel take the apostrophe both in the singular and in the plural:

                singular: a man's hat

                plural: men's hats

Note 2. Nouns ending in -s form the genitive case in two ways:

           Dickens' novels,

           Dickens's novels.

Note 3. Sometimes the apostrophe s may refer to a whole group of words (the group-genitive):

                             This is Jane and Mary's room.

The last word of the group need not even be a noun:

                             I shall be back in an hour or two's time.

 As to its use the genitive case falls under:

(A) The Dependent Genitive (Possessive)

(B)  The Absolute Genitive (Possessive)

The Dependent Genitive (Possessive) is used with the noun it modifies and comes before it.

The Absolute Genitive (Possessive) may be used without any noun or be separated from the noun it modifies.

A. The Dependent Genitive.

1. The chief meaning of the genitive (possessive) case is that of possession:

    … a young man and a girl came out of the solicitor's office.         

  (Braine)

    He stayed at Fanny's flat. (Aldington)

2. Very close to the meaning of possession is that of a part to a whole:

    A faint smile had come on Victorine's face - she was adding up    

   the money she might earn. (Galsworthy)

    His sister's eyes fixed on him with certain astonishment obliged

   him at last to look at Fleur. (Galsworthy)

3. The Dependent Genitive (Possessive) may express the doer of an action (the so-called subjective genitive) or show that some person is the object of the action (the so-called objective genitive):

It was Tom's step, then, that Maggie heard on the steps. (Eliot)

 Gwendolyn’s reception in the neighborhood fulfilled her uncle's expectations. (Eliot)

4. The noun in the genitive (possessive) case may denote qualitative rela­tions:

   He looked ever so much smarter in his newofficer's clothes with

  the little blue chevron... (Aldington)

The use of the genitive (possessive) case of nouns denoting inanimate things and abstract notions is rather limited.

The genitive (possessive) case of nouns denoting inanimate things may denote the relations between a part and the whole.

... the sudden shaking of an aspen's leaves in the puffs of breeze that rose along the river... (Galsworthy)

 He stepped on the truck's running board hanging on with his left arm. (Heym)

The genitive (possessive) case of nouns expressing time, distance and weight is widely used.

From the depot he was sent to the officers' training camp with two days' leave. (Aldington)

They both quite took to him again and during hismonth's leave gave him a good time. (Aldington)

There is a remnant still of the last year's golden clusters... (Eliot)

 The three of us had had dinner, and walked down past the theatre to the river's edge. (Snow)

The genitive (possessive) case is used in some set expressions: for heaven's (God's) sake; to one's heart's delight; at one's wit's end; a stone's throw); a hair's breadth etc.

When Saturday came round I was at my wit’s end. (Cronin)

The genitive (possessive) case is often used with the nouns town, city, country, river, water, ocean, wind, world etc.

And the wind’s rustle was so gentle…(Galsworthy)

B. The Absolute Genitive.

1. The Absolute Genitive may be used anaphorically. If the noun, which is modified by the possessive case, has already been mentioned and is clear from the context, it may be omitted.

Mrs. Moss's face bore a faded resemblance to her brother's. (Eliot).

The face Michael drew began by beingVictorine's and ended by being               

Fleur's. (Galsworthy.)

2. The Absolute Genitive may have local meaning: the station­er's, the baker's, the tobacconist's, my uncle's etc.

On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at thebaker's. (Mansfield)

My dear," said the lace collar she secured fromPartridge's,I fit you beautifully." (Dreiser).

The Absolute Genitive may be introduced by the preposition of.

   She is a relation of the Colonel's. (Austen)

                                           Chapter II

CLASS NOUNS