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Sunday, November 30, 2008

NOUNS -2

Countable Nouns
A countable noun is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything or anyone that you can count. Countable noun can be made plural and we can attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of uncountable nouns and collective nouns.

Look at the following sentences.

We painted the table red and the chairs blue.
The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane.
Over the course of twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.

Uncountable Nouns
An uncountable noun or mass noun is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could or would not usually count. An uncountable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Uncountable nouns are similar to collective nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns.

Look at the following sentences. Can you identify the uncountable nouns? The explanations are given below the sentences.

Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen.
The word "oxygen" cannot normally be made plural.

Oxygen is essential to human life.
Since "oxygen" is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb "is" rather than the plural verb "are."

We decided to sell the furniture rather than take it with use when we moved.
You cannot make the noun "furniture" plural.

The furniture is heaped in the middle of the room.
Since "furniture" is an uncountable noun, it takes a singular verb, "is heaped."


Plural Noun
Most nouns change their form to indicate number by adding "-s" or "-es", as illustrated in the following pairs of sentences:

When Matthew was small, he rarely told the truth if he thought he was going to be punished.
Since we are moving, we will need many boxes.

There are other nouns which form the plural by changing the last letter before adding "s". Some words ending in "f" form the plural by deleting "f" and adding "ves," and words ending in "y" form the plural by deleting the "y" and adding "ies," as in the following pairs of sentences:

The harbour at Marble Mountain has one wharf.
There are several wharves in Halifax Harbour.
Warsaw is their favourite city because it reminds them of their courtship.
The vacation my grandparents won includes trips to twelve European cities.

Other nouns form the plural irregularly. If English is your first language, you probably know most of these already: when in doubt, consult a good dictionary.

Possessive Nouns
In the possessive case, a noun or pronoun changes its form to show that it owns or is closely related to something else. Usually, nouns become possessive by adding a combination of an apostrophe and the letter "s."

You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following sentences:

The red suitcase is Cassandra's.
The only luggage that was lost was the prime minister's.
The miner's face was covered in coal dust.

You can form the possessive case of a singular noun that ends in "s" by adding an apostrophe alone or by adding an apostrophe and "s," as in the following examples:

The bus's seats are very uncomfortable.
The bus' seats are very uncomfortable.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus's eggs.
The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus' eggs.

You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does not end in "s" by adding an apostrophe and a "s," as in the following examples:

The children's mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch.
Since we have a complex appeal process, a jury's verdict is not always final.


You can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in "s" by adding an apostrophe:

The concert was interrupted by the dogs' barking, the ducks' quacking, and the babies' squalling.
My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels' nest.



Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognise collective nouns in order to maintain subject-verb agreement. A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun.

Look at the examples below.

The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
The collective noun "geese" takes the singular verb "spends."

The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.
Here the collective noun "committee" takes a singular verb, "meets."

1 comment:

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