4.1 Form and function of Nouns

Question 1

Nouns name

Answer 1

A noun is a word that names something: a person, a place, a thing, a quality, an act or an idea.

Question 2

Singular to plural general rule

Answer 2

Nouns can be either singular or plural For most nouns, the plural is formed by adding S or ES to the singular: book becomes books and boss becomes bosses.

Question 3

Plural for nouns ending with vowels

Answer 3

If there is a vowel before the Y at the end of a noun, simply add S. Example: alley / alleys.

Question 4

Plural for nouns ending with consonant before “y”

Answer 4

If there is a consonant before the Y at the end of a noun, replace the Y with an I and add ES. Example: ally / allies

Question 5

Irregular plurals

Answer 5

Some nouns have irregular plurals: child/children, mouse / mice. Other nouns have no singular: auspices, clothes, cattle. And then there are those nouns that have no plural: training, furniture, milk.

Question 6

Latin plurals

Answer 6

1-Often in English we’ll come across a noun that has kept its Latin-based plural, like criterion/criteria, phenomenon/phenomena. 2-And sometimes we’ll find nouns that have BOTH English and Latin plurals (so index in plural can become either indexes or indices). It’s always wise to check your context when deciding which to use. Some examples (singular, English plural, Latin plural) -formula, formulas, formulae -index, indexes, indices -matrix, matrixes, matrices -forum, forums, fora

Question 7

Plural form, singular meaning

Answer 7

You’ll discover that some nouns are plural in form, but singular in meaning and therefore take a singular verb. It would good to note that a word like ‘statistics’ can also be plural as in the statistics are convincing, but statistics is difficult to master. Again, we rely on context to convey meaning. Examples: athletics, physics, economics, ethics, mathematics, news, measles, politics.

Question 8

Measurements and figures

Answer 8

When it comes to measurements and figures Forty percent of eligible voters ARE expected to turn out. BUT Forty percent IS considered a good turnout.

Question 9

Count and noncount nouns

Answer 9

Some nouns are count nouns—nine items or fewer or seven little Australians. And just as there are count nouns, there are noncount nouns as well, that is, nouns that cannot be counted—wisdom, underwear, atmosphere. And then there are those tricky nouns that can be both count and noncount. Take the example of ‘room’—we may use it to say there is ‘no room at the table’ and also that there are ‘no rooms at the inn’.

Question 10

Collective nouns

Answer 10

Collective nouns are used for references to gatherings of entities (people, animals, plants and so on). They can be singular or plural, depending on your intended meaning, for example ‘the group were divided on that issue’ BUT ‘the group was unanimous on that issue’. The word ‘number’ is a collective noun that can be singular or plural—a number of students are already here (plural). The number of students who are here is impressive (singular).

Question 11

Concrete or abstract?

Answer 11

Nouns can be concrete or abstract. Concrete nouns can be seen, touched, smelt, or tasted because they refer to tangible items such as books, chairs, or food. Abstract nouns cannot be detected by the senses because they name ideas, concepts, generalities, qualities, notions and trends — eg. pleasure, beauty, wisdom, justice.

Question 12

Common or proper

Answer 12

Nouns can also be either common or proper. A common noun is a non-specific item such as house, book or violin, but a proper noun names a specific thing such as a person, a location, a building, an event, etcetera. Proper nouns always take a capital letter. ‘Captain Pugwash is a fearless captain’ shows ‘captain’ as both a common and proper noun.

Question 13

Case of nouns

Answer 13

Now let’s move on to noun cases. The case is the form of a noun (or pronoun) that shows the reader how the noun (or pronoun) functions in a sentence. Nouns can function as a subject, an object, a complement, and an appositive. The appositive is usually a noun that renames another noun nearby.

Question 14

Example of case of nouns

Answer 14

Take this example: Sherlock Holmes, the detective, tapped his pipe. He felt a sense of foreboding. In this instance, ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is the subject of our sentence (and is a proper noun). ‘The detective’ is in apposition as it is close by and renames ‘Sherlock Holmes’. ‘Pipe’ is the object. In the next sentence, ‘sense’ is the complement as it arrives after a linking verb, and ‘foreboding’ is the object after the preposition ‘of’.

Question 15

Case and possession

Answer 15

The cases of nouns only ever change when they are in the possessive: the book’s cover or the books’ authors.

Question 16

There are two common problems to watch out for in noun usage: noun strings and nominalisations (or heavy nouns). First noun strings…

Answer 16

A noun string occurs when too many nouns are bunched together, making it hard for the reader to discern their meaning in the sentence.
The best remedy is to un-string the nouns to make it easier for the reader to process them.
So, instead of saying ‘an uncertainty management system’, you would rephrase it to read ‘a system for managing uncertainty’.
Similarly, a ‘disaster victim identification specialist’ would be better phrased as ‘an identification specialist for disaster victims’.

Question 17

Nominalisation

Answer 17

A nominalisation is a noun derived from a verb or an adjective.
These ‘heavy nouns’ are sometimes called ‘shun’ words because they commonly end in ‘tion’. SHUN.
There are several other endings to be wary of such as ‘age’, ‘al’, ‘ance’, ‘ence’, and many more.
More often than not, the ‘heavy’ noun can be replaced by a verb.
Others require a bit more lexical dexterity to avoid awkward nominalisations.

Question 18

Nominalisation replacements

Answer 18

Do you remember the sentence that exemplified of-ness at the end of week 2? Our lack OF knowledge about local conditions precluded determination OF committee action effectiveness in fund allocation to those areas in greatest need OF assistance.
It is riddled with nominalisations. See whether you can replace some of the italicised words.
But, take note, not all words ending in ‘tion’ are nominalisations that you need to delete.
Here’s a sample of some nominalisations with suggested replacements.
Where you can, it is best to avoid using words in the ‘noun’ column, as it is usually more appropriate to use the verb. First avoid (nouns) suggested use (verbs):

acquisition, acquire

approval, approve

performance, perform

simplicity, simplify

signature, sign