Lesson 8 Nouns

8.1 Definition

A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, thing, or idea. In a sentence, nouns answer the questions who and what. Eg.

  • The cat ran after the mouse.
    ( cat and mouseare nouns).

8.2 Position

8.2.1 Nouns often come after a determiner (a determiner is a word like a, an, the, this, that, these, those, my, your, his, her, its, our, their, such, etc.), eg.

  • arelief
  • anafternoon
  • myhouse
  • suchstupidity

8.2.2 Nouns can also come after a quantifier (quantifiers are a lot of, many, much, a few, every, each, all, most, both, half, some, any, no, etc.), eg.

  • alot of money
  • twopeople
  • every student
  • no pain,nogain

8.2.3 Nouns often come after one or more adjectives:

  • agreatrelief
  • a peacefulafternoon
  • the tall, Britishdoctor
  • my brown and whitehouse

8.3 Noun phrases

A noun phrase is a noun or a pronoun + a determiner and/or a quantifier and/or adjective(s). Eg.

  • a great relief
    (a is the determiner, great the adjective, relief the noun)
  • a lot of her friends
    (a lot of is the quantifier, her the determiner, friends the noun)
  • each of the brown panels
    (each of is the quantifier, the the determiner, brown the adjective, panels the noun)

8.4 Functions of a noun in a sentence

A noun can be the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, the subject and object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Eg.

  • subject of a verb: Doctorswork hard.
  • object of a verb: He likescoffee.
  • subject and object of a verb: Teachersteachstudents.
  • object of a preposition: She went toschool.

But the subject or object of a sentence is not always a noun. It could be a noun, a pronoun or a noun phrase. In the sentence “My students work hard,” the noun is “students” but the subject is “My students.”

8.5 Classification

8.5.1 A noun can be concrete or abstract.

8.5.1.1 A concrete noun is something you can touch, see, etc. Eg.

  • I am holding my cat.
  • The cat is running after themouse.

The animals cat and mouse in the sentences above are concrete nouns.

8.5.1.2 An abstract noun refers to abstract objects, like ideas, concepts, etc. Eg.

  • She loves music.
  • He was searching for knowledge.

The abstract concepts of music and knowledge in the sentences above are both nouns.

8.5.2 A noun can be proper or common.

8.5.2.1 A proper noun represents a unique entity, and always begins with a
capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence; eg.

  • She visited New York every year.
  • Christmas is in December.

New York, Christmas, and December are all proper nouns.

8.5.2.2 A common noun describes a class of entities, eg.

  • She traveled to New York by plane.
  • George is the only boy in the class.

Plane, boyand class in the sentences above all refer to classes of entities.

8.5.3 A noun can be countable or uncountable.

8.5.3.1 A countable noun, also called count noun, has both a singular and a plural form. To form the plural, we usually add an “s” or “es.” Eg.

  • cat--cats
  • stewardess--stewardesses

8.5.3.2 An uncountable noun isalso called a non-count noun, or a mass noun.

8.5.3.2.1 An uncountable noun usually cannot be expressed in a plural form. These nouns are substances, concepts, etc. (see also 8.5.1.2 abstract noun) that cannot be divided into separate elements; we cannot “count” them. Eg.

  • milk, water, air, money, food, art, love, happiness, advice, information, news

8.5.3.2.2 We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb, and this, that and it to denote the noun. Eg.

  • This news is very important. I’ll read it right away.
  • Your luggage looks heavy.

8.5.3.2.3 We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say “an information” or “a music.” But we can say a something of, eg.

  • a piece of news
  • a bottle of water
  • a grain of rice

8.5.3.2.4 We can use some,any, a little, and much with uncountable nouns:

  • I've got some money.
  • Have you got any rice?
  • I've got a little money.
  • I haven't got much rice.

8.5.3.3 Nouns that can bebothcountable anduncountable

Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.

  • There are two hairs in my coffee! (countable)
  • I don't have much hair. (uncountable)
  • There are twolights in our bedroom. (countable)
  • Close the curtain. There's too much light! (uncountable)

8.5.4 Compound nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. A compound noun is usually [noun + noun] or [adjective + noun], but there are other combinations. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns. There are 3 forms of compound nouns:

8.5.4.1 Open or spaced - space between words, eg.

  • tennis shoe, bus stop, full moon, washing machine, school teacher, apple tree

8.5.4.2 Hyphenated - hyphen between words, eg.

  • mother-in-law, grown-up, good-for-nothing, house-builder, blue-green

8.5.4.3 Closed or solid - no space or hyphen between words, eg.

  • bedroom, football, blackboard, software, sunrise, toothbrush, passersby, highlight

8.5.5 Two or more nouns together –noun as adjective(see also 9.2.5 Noun as Adjective)

A noun is a person, place, thing or idea; and an adjective is a word that describes a noun. But sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun acts as an adjective (see also 8.5.4 Compound noun). Eg.

  • history teacher
  • bus driver
  • Hong Kong basketball team coach
    (we can have more than one “noun as adjective”; here Hong Kong, basketballand teamare all “nouns as adjective,” describing coach.)

8.5.6 Collective noun
A collective noun refers to a group of objects, where the objects can be people, animals, emotions, inanimate things, concepts, or other things. Eg.

  • committee, team, school, church, group, class, tribe, troop, colony, flock, congress

8.5.6.1 It is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verbform depending on the context. Eg.

  • The advisory committeewas established in 1998.
    (refer to the committee as an ensemble)
  • The committeewere not able to reach a consensus.
    (refer to individual committee members)

8.5.6.2 However, certain collective nounscustomarily use plural verb form, eg.

  • police, people, cattle, poultry, livestock

Examples of their use include:

  • The policearecaught lying again.
  • How manypeoplearein space right now?
  • Cattleare considered sacred in various world religions.
  • The poultryare fed with organic feed.
  • The livestockhave to be fed every day.

8.5.6.3 When people is used as a countable noun, as“a people” in the singular form, or “peoples” in the plural form, it refers to a race or races. The meaning is different from people used as a collective noun. Eg.

  • A people is in danger of extinction. = (A race is in danger of extinction.)
  • Indigenous peoples are divided into at least 5,000 peoples ranging from the forest peoples of the Amazon to the tribal peoples of India and from the Inuit of the Arctic to the Aborigines in Australia. (from International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs)

8.5.6.4 When poultry is used as an uncountable noun, it refers to “meat of domestic fowls”. Again, the meaning is different from poultry used as a collective noun. Eg.

  • Fresh poultry is rather expensive today. = (Fresh meat of poultry is rather expensive today.)

8.5.7 Verbs acted as nouns, such as gerunds and infinitives (see also Lesson 5 Verbs: Gerunds, Infinitives, and Participles).

8.5.7.1 Use of nouns vs use of gerunds

In a sentence, if there is a place for a noun, and a noun can be used, then the noun should be used instead of the gerund. Eg.

  • I am fond of study./ not: I am fond of studying.
  • Flush the toilet after use. / not: Flush the toilet after using.

8.6 The possessive form

8.6.1 When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add ‘s to a singular noun, whatever the final consonant, eg.

  • the boy’s ball
  • the boss's office
  • Charles’s friends
  • Burns’s poems
  • the witch’s malice

8.6.2 An exception to the above rule is when adding‘s to a singular nounis awkward to pronounce, then we add only an apostrophe ‘ to the singular noun. Eg.

  • Jesus’ teachings
  • Moses’ laws
  • Sophocles’ plays
  • Isis’ temple
  • for conscience’ sake
  • for righteousness’ sake

In the case of the first four examples, they are commonly replaced by:

  • the teachings of Jesus
  • the laws of Moses
  • the plays of Sophocles
  • the temple of Isis

8.6.3 For plural nouns that end in -s,the possessive form is to add an apostrophe‘. Eg.

  • the boys’ball
  • in two weeks’ time
  • the horses’ stables

8.6.4 For plural nouns that do not end in -s,the possessive form is to add ‘s. Eg.

  • the children’s father
  • the women’s clothing store

8.6.5 Possessive with names

8.6.5.1 We very often use possessive ‘s with names, eg.

  • This is Mary’s car.
  • Where is Ram’s telephone?

8.6.5.2 When a name ends in -s, we usually treat it like any other singular noun, and add ‘s:

  • This is Charles’s chair.
  • They are Thomas's brothers.

8.6.5.3 But it is possible (especially with older, classical names) to just add the apostrophe ‘:

  • Who was Jesus’father?
  • St Thomas’ Hospital
  • Connors' war

8.7 Noun ending

There are certain word endings (suffixes) that show that a word is a noun. In English, many abstract nouns are formed by adding suffixes to adjectives or verbs. Eg.

  • -ity > nationality
  • -ment > appointment
  • -ness > happiness
  • -tion > relation
  • -hood > childhood
  • -ful> spoonful

8.8 Plural or Singular noun after "No".

8.8.1 For uncountablenouns,use singular.

8.8.2 For smaller countable nouns, use plural; for bigger countable items, use singular.

8.8.3 For things that can only be singular, use singular; for things that can be plural, use plural.

Eg.

  • I have no paper. (uncountable noun)
  • I have no money. (uncountable noun)
  • I have no trust in politicians. (uncountable noun)
  • I have no books. (smaller countable noun)
  • I have no hamburgers left. (smaller countable noun)
  • I have no car. (bigger countable noun)
  • She has no house. (bigger countable noun)
  • He has no wife. (bigger countable noun)
  • He has no heart. (things that can only be singular)
  • He has no legs. (things that can be plural)

8.9 Common Confusions

8.9.1 Art vs Arts

8.9.1.1 Used as a noun, art(藝術-- the skill acquired by experience, study, or observation; orthe conscious use of skill and creative imagination in the production of aesthetic objects) are both uncountable and countable (when referred to different kinds of art). Eg.

  • It is difficult to master the art of cooking.
  • There has never been an exhibition of Indonesianart ever held in our small college.
  • Drawing, painting, and sculpture are arts.
  • Government funding for the arts(各種藝術) has been cut.
  • fine arts(各種藝術)

8.9.1.2 As a noun, arts in plural form refer to a branch of learning, as in liberal arts (文科). Eg.

  • She received a bachelor's degree in arts in 2011.
  • The school places equal emphasis on the arts and sciences.
  • Most universities have a college of liberal arts and sciences that offer a wide range of degrees, from English to engineering.

8.9.1.2 Art and arts can also be used as adjectives, when art refers to artistic藝術的, and arts refers to things about a branch of learning. Eg. (see 9.5.7)

  • She prefers art films to commercial films.
  • She studied architecture and art history at the university.
  • The mission of the Arts Faculty is to contribute to knowledge in different ways.
  • The Arts degree offers a sound foundation and skillset for many interesting careers.

8.9.2 “the” + singular countable noun to refer to those things or people in
general. Eg.

  • The customer can return defective goods within two weeks of purchase. = Customers can return defective goods within two weeks of purchase.

8.9.3 Sometimes, “a” + singular countable nouncan also refer to things or people in general. Eg.

  • A customer with a membership card will be given a10 percent discount. = Customers with membership cards will be given a10 percent discount.

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