ENGLISH GRAMMAR

MODULE
Nouns

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 NOUN LESSON

AIMS
Identify nouns and describe them.

Identify different noun types and their

characteristics.

Identify the contexts where nouns

appear in the sentence.

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NOUNS
A. Read the sentence below, identify the nouns and classify them into common or
proper nouns.
The Super Bowl Halftime Show has seen performances from legendary musicians. Prince, Beyoncé,
Madonna, Michael Jackson, and are just some past performers who have expansive catalogs of
undeniable hits that can come together for a strong 13-minute medley. For years, Swift has
allegedly declined the slot due to having inked a “long-term partnership” with Coca-Cola, the rival
brand to the Super Bowl Halftime sponsor, Pepsi.
How many types of nouns can we find?

COMMON NOUNS PROPER NOUNS PROPER NAMES

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The Super Bowl Halftime Show has seen performances from legendary musicians.
Prince, Beyoncé, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and are just some past performers
who have expansive catalogs of undeniable hits that can come together for a strong
13-minute medley. For years, Swift has allegedly declined the slot due to having
inked a “long-term partnership” with Coca-Cola, the rival brand to the Super Bowl
Halftime sponsor, Pepsi.

COMMON NOUNS PROPER NOUNS PROPER NAMES

Super Bowl Halftime
performances Show Madonna

musicians Coca-Cola Swift

catalogs Pepsi

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NOUNS AND THEIR MORPHOLOGY
Can you identify any typical suffixes in the nouns in CAPITAL LETTERS? Are they
inflectional or derivational suffixes?
1. During these 1DAYS, we take 2ADVANTAGE of online 3SOLUTIONS that will ensure
4ENTERTAINMENT and 5KNOWLEDGE.

DAYS DAY
-S
SOLUTIONS SOLUTION
The Inflectional suffix -s adds grammatical information about plural number.
It is found in common, countable, plural nouns.

CHECK THIS OUT!

According to morphological criteria, DAYS is a noun because it has the
inflectional suffix –s that indicates plural number.
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ADVANTAGE → ADVANT + -AGE
• -age is a derivational suffix.
• This suffix is typical of nouns (average, courage,
beverage, etc).

ENTERTAINMENT → ENTERTAIN + -MENT

•-ment is a derivational suffix. The root becomes
a noun.
•This suffix is typical of nouns (amusement,
advertisement, employment, etc).
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reproduce at 8HOME.

site recipes home

• It’s a simple • -s is an • It’s a simple
word. inflectional word.
• There are no suffix. • There are no
affixes. • grammatical affixes.
information:
plural number.

MORPHOLOGICAL CRITERIA are not sufficient sometimes.

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NOUNS and NOUN CLASSES: COUNTABLE [C] OR UNCOUNTABLE [U] ?

NOUNS THAT CAN BE SEPARATED [C]

• days
• solutions
• site
• recipes
• home
• advantage
NOUNS THAT CAN BE DIVIDED [U]
• Knowledge sugar
• Entertainment butter
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MORPHOLOGICAL AND DISTRIBUTIONAL CRITERIA
C. In the nouns in CAPITAL LETTERS below, identify all the phrases they are part of.
Then, fully describe the nouns TECHNIQUES, BEGINNERS and MUSICIANS.

3. Many videos explain, in tutorials, several 9TECHNIQUES and tips for 10BEGINNERS
and the advanced 11MUSICIANS who play in an orchestra.

Guide to describe a word:

1. What word category is it?
2. What type of noun is it? (common / proper noun, countable / uncountable noun,
regular / irregular / invariable noun).
3. What about morphological criteria? (derivational / inflectional affix).
4. What about distributional criteria? (dependents: pre-modiers / post-modifiers).

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DISTRIBUTIONAL CRITERIA 2 NPs coordinated by
means of the
coordinating
conjunction and

QP[several NP[NP[ 9TECHNIQUES]

and The whole NP is the

complement of the
NP[ tips for BEGINNERS]]]
10 quantifier several

DP [the [NP AP[advanced] 11MUSICIANS

CLAUSE [who play in an orchestra]]] N head premodified
by an AP and
postmodified by a
The whole NP is the
clause.
complement of the
determiner the
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 TECHNIQUES
several techniques and tips for beginners

Morphological Criteria
-ique is a derivational
suffix.
NOUN -s is an inflectional suffix.
Grammatical Information:
plural number.
Distributional Criteria
QP [Q several NP [NP [N techniques]]
and [NP [N tips for beginners]]]

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 TECHNIQUES
•It is a common countable noun.
•It is in the plural number. The singular form is
technique.

•According to morphological criteria, it has the

inflectional suffix -s that carries grammatical
information about plural number.

•According to distributional criteria, it is the head of the

NP, which is coordinated with the NP [tips for beginners].
•They are complement of the Q several in the QP [Q
several NP [NP [N techniques]] and [NP [N tips for
beginners]]]

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 BEGINNERS
several techniques and tips for beginners

Morphological Criteria
-er is a derivational suffix.
NOUN It changes the word category from the
verb begin to the noun beginner.
-s is an inflectional suffix.
Grammatical Information: plural
number.

Distributional Criteria
NP [N tips PP[P for [DP[DØ NP[N
beginners]]]]]

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•It is a common countable noun. BEGINNERS
•It is in the plural number. The singular form is beginner.

•According to morphological criteria, it has the

derivational suffix –er that changes the word category
form the verb begin to the noun beginner . It also
contains the inflectional suffix -s that carries
grammatical information about plural number.

•According to distributional criteria, it is the head of the

NP [beginners], which is the complement of the zero
determiner in the DP [D Ø NP[N beginners]].
•The DP is the complement of the preposition for in the PP
[P for [DP[DØ NP[N beginners]]]]]
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 MUSICIANS
the advanced musicians who play in an orchestra

Morphological Criteria
-ian is a derivational suffix
NOUN It adds meaning.
-s is an inflectional suffix
Grammatical Information:
plural number.

Distributional Criteria
DP [D the NP [AP [advanced] N musicians
Clause [who play in an orchestra]]]

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• It is a common countable noun. MUSICIANS
• It is in the plural number. The singular form is musician.

• According to morphological criteria, the noun musicians

has the derivational suffix -ian that changes the meaning
of the noun music and the inflectional suffix -s that carries
grammatical information about plural number.

According to morphological criteria, the noun musicians is

X a common countable noun in the plural form. The singular
form is musician.

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 MUSICIANS
• It is a common countable noun.
• It is in the plural number. The singular form is musician.

• According to distributional criteria, the noun musicians is

the head of the NP which is complement of the determiner
the in the DP. This noun head is pre-modified by an AP and
post-modified by a clause:
• DP [D the NP [AP [advanced] N musicians Clause [who play
in an orchestra]]]

X According to distributional criteria, the noun musicians is a

common noun and it is in the plural form. It has the
derivational suffix –ian and the inflectional suffix –s.
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 MUSICIANS
• It is a common countable noun.
• It is in the plural number. The singular form is musician.

• According to morphological Criteria, the noun musicians

has the derivational suffix -ian that changes the meaning
of the noun music and the inflectional suffix -s that carries
grammatical information about plural number.

• According to distributional Criteria, the noun musicians is

the head of the NP which is complement of the determiner
the in the DP. This noun head is pre-modified by an AP and
post-modified by a clause:
• DP [D the NP [AP [advanced] N musicians Clause [who play
in an orchestra]]]]
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 IDENTIFY MODIFIERS OF THE NOUN HEAD
What is the noun head in each noun phrase?

The glass plates are the true star treasures from this wreck.
NP N head NP N head

- Is the noun plates the only word in the NP? ❖The noun treasures is premodified
→ The noun head has a dependent. by the NP [true star].
- What is the category and function of glass? ❖It is post-modified by the PP [from
→ glass is a noun, head of the NP [glass] that this wreck].
pre-modifies the noun plates: ❖NP [ NP [true N star] N treasures
NP [NP [N glass] N plates] PP [from this wreck]]
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 The most important element Name and properties

HEAD PROJECTS PHRASE

NOUN
NOUN PROJECTS
PHRASE

Assigns reference to the

DP [D + NP ]
noun head

ADVANCED MUSICIANS WHO PLAY IN AN ORCHESTRA

THE
AP Noun head Clause
Determiner head Premodifier Post modifier
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