Grammar 2 - Nouns Flashcards
Understand Nouns
What are nouns?
Nouns are traditionally a “person, place, thing, action, or idea”.
Identify the nouns:
“This is Raul. He is from Argentina, and he is a penguin. He has big dreams and he loves to play drums.”
Raul, Argentina, Penguin, Dreams, and Play.
Can nouns refer to abstract concepts? Such as thoughts?
Yes. An idea is a type of abstract noun.
What is the test for identifying nouns?
Whenever you are trying to figure out if something is a noun, just consider if it falls into the criteria of the four listed categories: person, place, thing, idea.
What are singular nouns?
Singular Nouns are nouns that refer to a single quantity of something.
Identify the singular nouns:
“There are so many animals that a human can handle. The most difficult would be horses and cows. A dog or cat wouldn’t be too difficult.”
Human, dog, cat.
What are plural nouns?
Plural nouns are nouns that refer to a multiple quantity of something.
Identify the plural nouns.
“In Argentina, there are so many towns. In those towns are many stores, venues, and a mass of big ideas. There is also at least one animal on every block.”
Towns, stores, venues, ideas.
What does pluralization refer to?
The conversion of a single noun to a plural noun, thus making its single quantity double or more.
What types of nouns are considered “regular” nouns?
Singular and Plural nouns.
What are irregular nouns?
Irregular nouns are nouns that you caanot just add or remove a tail-end letter from in order to change the quantity.
Which of these examples are improper and what are their proper irregular forms?
- Dogs
- Cats
- Leafs
- Funguses
- Humans
- Ideas
- Childs
Leafs -> Leaves
Funguses -> Fungi
Childs -> Children
What three irregular words are typically given the “ves” affixation to pluralize it.
Leaves, Loaves, Calves
What are the only four irregular nouns that are pluralized using “en”?
Children, Oxen, Brothern/Sistren
What does base plural refer to?
Base Plural refers to a word that has one form that can refer to a singular or multiple quantity thing. i.e Sheep can refer to one or multiple sheep.
What signifies the quantity of a base plural?
The verb that conjugates it.
i.e: “was” typically refers to one. “were” typically refers to multiple.
What are common nouns and some examples? What are proper nouns and some examples?
Common nouns are things with a general name, while proper nouns are the more specific versions of those things.
Common examples: city, river, frog.
Proper Examples: Chicago, Nile River, Kermit the frog.
How are common and proper nouns capitalized?
Proper nouns are always capitalized, period. Common nouns are only capitalized if they are found at the beginning of a sentence.
What is concrete and what is abstract? What do concrete and abstract nouns refer to based off the previous definitions?
Concrete refers to something solid or tanigable in a physical sense. Abstract refers to a subject or idea that is not physical but still can be thought on, manipulated, and discussed.
Concrete Nouns are nouns that refer to physical matter. Abstract Nouns are nouns that refer to things like thoughts, emotions, beliefs, ideas, etc.
Which nouns are concrete and which are abstract?
- Sadness
- Happiness
- Ball
- Freedom
- Dog
- Permission
- Cliff
- Ice
Sadness - Abstract
Happiness - Abstract
Ball - Concrete
Freedom - Abstract
Dog - Concrete
Permission - Abstract
Cliff - Concrete
Ice - Concrete
What are mutant irregular plurals? How many are there and what are the general guidelines surrounding them?
Mutant Irregular Plurals are words that can transform randomly and obnoxiously. There are only seven, and..
- they pluralize using s
- their pluralization changes the vowel sound.
- the consonance changes with the pluralization.
What are the given words that have mutant plurals? How are they pluralized?
Feet, Woman, Man, Tooth, Goose, Mouse, Louse
Feet, Women, Men, Teeth, Geese, Mice, Lice.
What are foreign plural nouns?
Foreign Plural nouns are another sort of irregular noun. They are words borrowed into the english language from another language. Typically latin or greece.
List some latin and greek pluralizations
a –> ae [Latin]: i.e Larva, Larvae. | accepted plural: larvas
us –> i [Latin]: i.e Fungus, Fungi.
um –> a [Latin]: datum, data
ex –> ices [Latin]: index, indices. | accepted plural: indexes
is —> es [Greek]: thesis, theses | accepted plural: thesises
on —> a [Greek]: criterion, criteria
If you don’t know the proper derivation of something, just ____
trust your instincts.
