Unit 

2: Word Classes_The Noun 10/18/2016

Content
• Morpholgical, syntactic and semantic properties of the
major word classes
1. Noun
• number
GRAMÀTICA DESCRIPTIVA 2016-2017 • Case
• gender
Unit 2: Word Classes: Noun • function

NOUN: Number NOUN: Number

NON-Prototypical nouns DO NOT
Prototypical nouns inflect for number
inflect for number

Only a singular form and

They have a singular form and a plural form Only a plural form
a plural form

car cars, table tables, grammar grammars

Only SINGULAR Only PLURAL: two-part nouns

• mass nouns: flour, silver, sugar, wine. • some words, morphologically marked, ending in -s:
• proper nouns: scissors, tweezers , glasses, clothes, trousers
John, Manchester, Sally, Poland.
• some nouns ending in -s:
news, phonetics, physics, ethics,
the United States, the United Nations,
• some other nouns:
(the) aristocracy, furniture.
Summantion Plural

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Unit 2: Word Classes_The Noun 10/18/2016

Only PLURAL: two-part nouns Only PLURAL:collective nouns

• glasses • scissors • Some collective nouns: people, cattle,

police.
• jeans • shorts
Some people believe the moon landings were a
• knickers • spectacles hoax.
• pincers • tights Why do the police wear mask like criminals do?

• pants • trainers
• pliers • trousers
• pyjamas • tweezers They need a plural verb

BUT
Collective nouns BUT
Collective nouns
• Some collective nouns have also a plural form: • with a plural verb,
each member of
Which is the most expensive football club in the world? • with a singular verb, a the collective is
Top 10 Richest Football Clubs in the World collective meaning is considered in
intended isolation.

• The singular form can appear with a singular verb

or with a plural verb:
Italian government breaks up after Berlusconi pulls out
ministers …
The government are always changing their minds
• Can you guess what the difference in meaning is?
Italian government breaks up after Berlusconi pulls out
ministers …
The government are always changing their minds
• Can you guess what the difference in meaning is?

Collective nouns that can appear with a Irregular plurals

singular verb or with a plural verb

• army • government the -en

•
•
audience
committee
•
•
group
herd
plural:
• company • media
• crew • (political) party
child-children,
• department • public ox-oxen,
• enemy • regiment
• family • staff brother-brethren
• flock • team
• gang

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Unit 2: Word Classes_The Noun 10/18/2016

Irregular plurals (i) Irregular plurals (ii)

stem
allomorph
zero alternation
knife-knives
wife-wives
morph: deer
calf-calves
sheep
loaf-loaves
cod
leaf-leaves
salmon
staff-staves /stɑ:f/ - /steɪvz/
The names of other animals can appear with Ø morph or with –s: sheath /ʃiːθ/-sheaths /ʃiːðz/
Difference in
I have never shot duck. meaning ??? wreath /ri:Ө/ - wreaths /riːðz;
John likes feeding the ducks in the park.

when they appear with Ø morph they are considered game animals

Irregular plurals (iii)
foreign plurals:
• alumnus /əs/- alumni /aɪ/: stimulus, campus,
cactus, syllabus
• alumna /ə/- alumnae /i:/: formula, antenna, alga
• curriculum /əm/ - curricula /ə/: addendum,
memorandum, millennium , symposium, datum
• thesis /ɪs/ - theses /i:z/: axis, diagnosis,
synopsis, analysis, crisis
• criterion /ən/ - criteria /ə/: phenomenon
• index - indices: appendix, matrix, codex
Exercise 1
Change the underlined Noun Phrases of the following sentences into the plural, making
the necessary adjustments. If it is not possible, explain why
1. Newcastle is one of the nicest towns Peter bought this
book for you.
2. You should drink green tea. It’s really healthy.
3. Where did you buy that fish? It smells really bad.
4. Mary always wears shorts in the summer.
5. She is very protective with her child.
6. There was so much noise that I finally called the police.
7. The English department is organizing a world-wide
conference.
8. The French Revolution was partly the result of the
excessive power of the aristocracy.
9. Gold is a very expensive metal.

Case Genitive meanings:

• Possession: the phrase (X’s Y) can be paraphrased as X
• What is (the meaning) of case? possesses, owns Y

her sister’s boyfriend

his teacher’s office
• Is there a case system in English?
John’s car.
• Characterisation or description: the phrase (X’s Y)
can be paraphrased as X for Y;
• Genitive case: ‘s attached to a noun
girls’ school
children’s clothes.

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Unit 2: Word Classes_The Noun 10/18/2016

Genitive meanings: Genitive meanings:

• Origin: the phrase (X’s Y) can be paraphrased as X verb Y;
Rodin’s sculptures • Subjective: the phrase (X’s Y) can be paraphrased as X Yed:
Orwell’s writings the student’s application
the headmaster’s letter the President’s departure
• Measure: the phrase (X’s Y) can be paraphrased as X lasted Y;
• Objective: the phrase (X’s Y) can be paraphrased as (…) X was Yed;
an hour’s time
a half an hour’s walk the car’s destruction
a week’s absence. the witness’s kidnapping.

Different forms to express the various genitive Different forms to express the various genitive
meanings: meanings:
• No genitive form: • of phrase with inanimate objects and lower animals:
library window the pages of the book / *the book’s pages
kitchen table
book cover. • collective nouns and institutions can take either
• Genitive ‘s for human beings and higher ‘s or of genitive forms:
animals. the government’s recent plans
Mary’s house / *the house of Mary
the cat’s whiskers / *?the whiskers of the cat
the recent plans of the government
the bird’s tail / ?the tail of the bird the country’s natural resources
?the fly’s wing / the wing of the fly the natural resources of the country
the president’s assassination / *the assassination of
the president

Exercise 5 Gender
Identify the meaning of the genitive in each of the following.
• Gender is a grammatical category in some
1. Kevin’s car
languages, such as German, Italian, Spanish or
2. women’s rights MEANINGS
Catalan.
3. two hours’ delay • Possessive
4. my sister’s wedding • Characterization • In English gender is NOT a grammatical category, but
or description there is natural gender: the gender of the noun
5. Shakespeare’s plays
• Origin
6. the back of the notebook • Measure depends on the gender of the entity in the real world:
7. the last decree of the mayor • Subjective The man arrived late. He apologized.
8. the hostage’s death • Objective
The woman had been waiting for two hours. She was angry.
9. the invasion of Rome
10. a friend of my parents’ The baby was crying because it was hungry

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Unit 2: Word Classes_The Noun 10/18/2016

Gender Gender – ways to express it

• Derivational suffixes:

a) Masculine: monk, king, Mr. prince-princess,

hero-heroine,
b) Feminine: nun, queen, Mrs/Ms. widower-widow.
• Compounds:
c) Common or dual: cousin, male flight attendant,
classmate, nurse, novelist, singer, boy friend,
girl scout,
speaker. male snake.

d) Neuter: child, baby, tiger. • Different forms : nephew-niece, boy-girl .

NOUNS CONSIDERED FEMININE:
ship, Christian Church, car, countries , fortune, nature.

Syntactic function or distribution Syntactic function or distribution

NOUN • NP (DP in more modern terms)
• Head of an NP: TALLERMAN
her wonderful French dress • Subject:
• Pre-modifier of another noun: The woman arrived late
office furniture • Object:
• Preceded by a determiner: those students They saw the woman
• Post-modified by a PP: the woman in red • Prepositional object:
It belongs to the woman