Nouns

Topic 1

Formation of Nouns

I.  Noun Forms

    

A.  Some common suffixes to form nouns

         

          1.  age                   --       bondage,  carriage, footage,  marriage, package,

         

2.    an / ant / ian     --       artisan, partisan,  assistant, attendant,  musician, 

                                       physician

          3.  ance / ence        --       defiance, importance, perseverance, relevance,

                                                 resistance, insistence,  persistence

          4.  ar / er / or         --       beggar,  caterer,  catcher, singer, actor, dictator

         

5.    cy / ry / ty         --       democracy, meritocracy, mercy,  discovery, recovery, 

                                                ninety, 

          6.  dom                  --       freedom, kingdom, wisdom

          7.  ee                     --       employee, interviewee, payee, tutee, 

          8.  hood                 --       childhood, livelihood, manhood, neighbourhood,

          9.  ism / ist             --       capitalism, communism, socialism, artist, pianist,

          10.  ment               --       achievement, improvement, movement,

          11.  ness                --       foolishness, goodness, greediness, kindness

          12.  ship                --       friendship, relationship, sportsmanship

          13.  sion / tion        --       fashion, mansion, tension, lotion, tuition, ration

          14.  t / th               --       patient,  length, width

          15.  ure                  --       culture, creature, departure, puncture

B.    Some verbs and adjectives are nouns, too.

Verbs -----  Nouns

                   catch, deal, fight, laugh, quarrel

         

              Adjectives -----  Nouns

                   blind, cold, poor, rich

          C.  Some nouns are irregular.

               advise  -----  advice      practise  -----  practice      speak -----  speech

II.  Determiners before nouns

          Specific

1.  Definite articles                      --   the

          2.  cardinal number                     --  1,2,3,4,……………………

          3.  ordinal number                      --  first, second, third,……………………

4.  Demonstrative adjectives        --  this / these / that / those

          5.  Fractions                              --  half, one-third, two-thirds, a quarter ….

          6.  Multipliers                                      --  once, twice, thrice, 5 times, double, triple…

7.  Possessive adjective (P2)        --  my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their

Possessive noun                     --  Mary’s house,  my father’s friends     

                                      

          General

          1.  Indefinite article                    --  a / an

          2.  General ordinals                    --  another, other, further, last,  next, ………

          3.  Quantifiers                            --  many / much;  few / fewer /fewest / little /

                                                              less / least ;  a few / a little, several, a large

                                                              number of / a large amount of / quantity of

                                                              / a great deal of;  a lot of / plenty of; some/

                                                              any; no; none; enough;

                                                              all; both; each; every; one; either of /

                                                              neither of;

          4.  Wh-words                                      --  what / whatever, whose, which / whichever

          5.  Words expressing attitudes, etc    what, quite, rather, such, ……………..

III.  Nouns:  Functions

          A noun occupies either the subject position / the object position

        

          The nouns / other word classes served as nouns occupying the subject position

          -----  a noun / a noun phrase

          -----  Subject pronouns (P1) / possessive pronouns (P4)

-----  a finite clause

-----  non-finite clause

To- infinitive

 F2 / present participial phrase

          For a noun / a noun phrase occupying the subject position, it is important to identity whether the noun concerned is countable / uncountable; singular / plural as it affects the subject-verb agreement.