use of nouns

8/8/2019 Use of Nouns

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USE OF NOUNS-Mrs. Moumita Pal-Sharma



A noun is a name of person, place or thing.

Types of noun-

Proper noun- It is the name of some particular

person or place.Eg: Ashoka was a wise king.

Common noun- It·s the name given in commonto every person or thing of the same class or kind.

Eg: Ashoka was a wise king.

Collective noun- it·s the name of a number( orcollection of things) of persons or things takentogether and spoken of as one whole like mob,nation, parliament, herd.



Eg: The jury found the prisoner guilty.

Abstract Noun- its usually the name of a

quality , Action or state.

Quality- darkness, kindness, honesty. Action- theft, hatred, judgement.

State- youth, childhood, poverty.



THE NOUN: GENDER

The living things are of the male or female sex.

Male- Masculine gender

Female- Feminine gender.

A noun denoting either male or female is calledCommon gender.

Eg: parent, child, neighbour, enemy.

A noun denoting a thing that is neither male nor

female is said to be of Neuter gender. Inanimate objects are often personified, i.e

spoken of as living beings, regarded as males or

females.



Masculine gender for objects remarkable for

strength and violence- the sun, winter, death etc.

Eg: The sun sheds his beams on rich and poor

alike.Feminine gender is applied to objects remarkable

for beauty, gentleness and gracefulness-the

moon, spring, nature etc

Eg: The moon has hidden her face behind a cloud.



W AYS OF FORMING FEMININE NOUNS:

3 Ways-

1. By using an entirely different word-

Bachelor - Maid, Spinster, girl

Brother - Sister

Cock - Hen

Bull - Cow

Gentleman - Lady

Horse - Mare



2. By adding a syllable (- ess, -ine, -trix, -a etc)

Author ² authoress

Heir- heiress

Lion ² lioness

Poet ² poetess

Steward ² steward

A fter dropping the vowel and adding ²ess

Actor ² actress

Hunter ² huntressMaster ² mistress

Tiger ² tigress

Prince - princess



Commonest suffix is ²ess, but exceptions are,

Hero ² heroine

Executor ² executrix

Signor ² signora

Sultan ² sultana

3. By placing a word before or after

He-goat ² she-goat

Man-servant ² maid-servant

Peacock ² peahenWasherman ² washerwoman

Grandfather ² grandmother

Landlord - landlady



THE NOUN : NUMBER

Singular- noun that denotes one person or thing.

Eg: Girl, book, tree

Plural - noun that denotes more than one person.

Eg: girls, books, trees.

How are plural formed?

1.Generally formed by adding ²s to singular

Eg: boy ² boys

book ² books

desk - desks



2.By adding ²es to nouns ending in ²s, -sh, -ch

(soft), -x

Eg: Class ² classes

Dish - dishesMatch ² matches

Box ² boxes

3. Most nouns ending in ²o also form plural by

adding ²esPotato ² potaoes volcano ² volacanoes

Negro ² negroes hero - heroes

Echo - echoes



4.Few nouns ending in ²o generally which areused less and abbreviations, merely add ²s

Eg: Piano ² pianos

Stereo- stereos

Ratio ² ratios

Photo ² photos

5.Nouns ending in ²y, preceded by aconsonant, form plurals by changing ²y to ²I

and adding ²esEg: baby ² babies

Story ² stories

City- cities



6.Several nouns ending in ²f or ²fe form their

plural by changing ²f or ²fe into v and

adding ²es

Eg: thief ² thievesLife ² lives

Knife ² knives

Leaf ² leaves

( exceptions- chief- chiefs, safe- safes, belief- beliefs,Hoof- hoofs etc)



7. By changibg the inside vowel of the

singular

Eg: Man ² men

Mouse ² miceFoot ² feet

Tooth - teeth

8. By adding ²en to singular

Eg: ox ² oxen

Child ² children

9. Some nouns have singular and plural alike.

Sheep, deer, pair, dozen etc.



10.Some nouns are used only in plural-

Eg: scissors, tongs, spectacles, drawers, measles,

billiards, thanks , proceeds, assets etc.

11. Some nouns have different meaning insingular and plural

Respect: regard - respects: compliments

Force : strength - forces: troops

Good: well being ² goods: merchandise.Pain: suffering ² pains: care

Ground: earth ² grounds: reasons



12.Abstract nouns don·t have plural

Eg: hope, charity, love etc.

13.Material nouns also don·t have plurals.

Eg: copper, tin, wood.



THE NOUN : CASE

John threw a stone.

subject verb object(noun)

Who threw a stone

What did John throw?

The horse kicked the boy.

subject verb object(noun)

Who kicked the boy? What did the horse kick?

When noun ( or pronoun) is used as subject of the

verb, its said to be in Nominative case.

To find it put Who? Or What? Before the verb.

Who threw the stone? Who kicked the boy?



When noun ( or pronoun) is used as object of the

verb, it is said to be in Objective( or Accusative)

case.

To find it out put Whom? Or What? Before theverb and its subject.

What did John throw?

Whom did the horse kick?



POSSESSIVE CASE

This is Ram·s umbrella.

Ram·s umbrella= umbrella belonging to Ram.

The form of the noun ram is changed to Ram·s to

show ownership or possession. Hence noun Ram·s

is said to be in possessive case.

It answers the question Whose?

The possessive case does not always denote

possession. It is used to denote authorship,

origin, kind etc.

Eg: Shakespeare·s plays= plays written byShakespeare·s.

Shiva·s temple= temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.



FORMATION OF POSSESSIVE CASE.

1.When noun is singular, P.C. formed by adding ·s

to the noun

Eg: The boy·s book, the King·s crown

Where too many hissing sounds, the letter s isommitted

Eg: for goodness· sake

For justice· sake.

2.When noun is in plural and ends in s, P.C. formedby adding only an apostrophe

Eg: girls· school, horses· tails.



3.When the noun is plural but does not end in s,

the P.C. is formed by adding ·s

Eg: children·s books, men·s club

4.When the noun or a title consists of several

words, the P.C. sign is attached only to the last

word

Eg: The Nawab of Pataudi·s palace.



5. When two nouns are in apposition, the P.C. Sign

is put to the latter only.

Eg: This is Tagore the poet·s house.

6. When two nouns are closely connected, the

possessive is put to the later.

Eg: William and Mary·s reign.

. 7.Each of two or more connected nouns implying

separate possession must take possessive sign

Eg: Shakespeare's and Tagore's plays.



USE OF POSSESSIVE CASE

Its used chiefly with the names of living things

Eg: The governor·s body guard

The prime minister's house.

Also used with names of personified objects

Eg: India·s heroes, at death·s door, Nature·s laws

P.C. also used with nouns denoting time, space

and weight.

Eg: a week·s holiday, a stone·s throw, a pound·s

weight.

use of nouns

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