Section 1: Nouns Flashcards
Noun
A person, place, thing, or object
Singular noun
A noun that represents one thing
Plural noun
A noun that represent multiple things
Common noun
A non-specific noun (Lake, juice, teeth)
Proper noun
A specific noun (Seatle, Chocolate cake, Momo)
Proper nouns are always…
Capitalized. The first letter is always capitalized
Concrete nouns
Nouns that can interact with the five senses (Touch, taste, smell, sight & sound)
Abstract noun
A noun that is beyond the five senses (Freedom, permission, attention)
The difference between regular & irregular plurals
Regular: Adds on a letter (-s) to make a singular word plural.
Irregular: Takes away or replaces letters to make a singular word plural.
What do you add to a singular word to make it plural?
’s, -ves, -en, -r
*If a word ends with one -f, the plural version replaces the -f with an -ves
The seven mutant irregular plurals
Foot = Feet
Woman = Women
Man = Men
Tooth = Teeth
Goose = Geese
Mouse = Mice
Louse = Lice
Why is it called a mutant plural?
Because instead of adding an -s to the end of the word, we change the vowel groups into different vowel groups
Foreign plural
Words borrowed into English from Latin & Greek
Top changes to pluralize Latin originated words
Words that end in:
-a = -ae
-us = -i
-um = a
-ex = -ices
Top changes to pluralize Greek originated words
Words that end in:
-is = -es
-on = a
Linguistics: Vowel harmony
A phonological pattern in which vowels within some domain – typically the word – share one or more phonological features, like lip rounding or tongue position.
How does vowel harmony work?
If there are two vowels in a word, the first (set of) vowel(s) will melt into the second (set of) vowel(s)
Examples of vowel harmony in pluralization
If the word has:
-oo + -i (e) = ö (eau)
The dots on the top move depending on the letter. They are called umlaut or trema
Like -Ü (U-umlaut), Ä (A-trema), Ë (E-umlaut,) Ï (I-trema)
