The Noun Phrase

Lesson 2
Partitive Constructions
Both countable and uncountable
nouns can enter partitive
constructions, i.e., constructions
denoting part of a whole. Such
constructions express both quality
partition (which is expressed by a
partitive count noun like kind, sort
or type followed by an of-phrase.)
and quantity partition (a piece of; a
bit of; an item of; etc.)
Partitives can be used a loaf of bread (Mass)
with mass or count
nouns: a box of matches (Count)
 
Partitive Constructions

They are particularly useful when we want to

refer to specific pieces of mass nouns chalk
(uncountable substance): a piece cloth
pieces info
of
a bit meat
bits plastic
paper
Partitive Constructions ● two bottles of water
● two scoops of ice cream
● six pounds of coffee
They also allow us to make noncount nouns
countable.
 a) Specific partitives:

a bar / a slab of chocolate a cake of soap

a verse of a poem
a cube of ice a cloud of / a speck of dust
a piece of stereo equipment
a lump of sugar a flash / bolt of lightning
a sheet of paper an item of news
a gust of wind
a slice of meat a roll / a piece / a sheet of paper
a flake of snow
a tube of toothpaste a rasher of bacon / ham
a pool of water
a block of wood a clap / a peal / a crash /a roll of thunder
a shower of rain
a roll of film a round / a thunder of applause
a handful of occasions
a slice of ham a piece / a lump of coal
a roomful of antiques / furniture
a bit / a blade of grass a piece / a stick of chalk
a pile of laundry / books
a page of a book a branch of tree
a ball of string
a section of a newspaper an item of clothing
a stick of dynamite
a stroke of good luck a word of information
a heap of earth
a piece of evidence a suite of furniture
a rasher of bacon
a piece of jewelry a piece of music
a piece (a bit) of news
b) “Containers” used as partitives:

a bag of flour a bottle of milk

a cup of coffee a can of beer
a jar of jam / honey a flask of tea
a glass of water a pot of yoghurt
a box of cereal a carton of milk / orange juice
a carton of eggs a can of tuna fish
 c) Small quantities:

a blade of glass a grain of rice

a crust of bread a lock of hair
a dash of soda a drop of water /blood
a pinch of salt a bit of chalk
a pat of butter a teaspoon of salt
 d) Measures:

a kilo of sugar a metre of/ a length of cloth

a gallon of petrol a pound of coffee
a pint of milk a litre of oil
a cup of rice a tablespoon of sugar
a sack of potatoes / coal
 e) “a game of”

a game of bridge / chess / tennis / football

 f) “abstract concepts”

a period of calm a bit / a piece / a word of advice

a branch of knowledge a fit of anger / passion
a piece of research a segment of society
an atom / a grain of truth an act of courage
g) Some measure words used to talk about the shape or
appearance of the food item:

an ear of corn
a clove of / a head of garlic
a head of lettuce

Proper nouns:
Some important categories of proper
nouns are:
Proper nouns are not used with determiners (except
for the definite article in some cases such as the
Pacific, the Eiffel Tower, the United States) and they
do not vary in number. Orthographically, they are
marked by an initial capital letter, e.g. Austria, Saint
Paul’s.
personal names: William; Ralph; Sandra; Paul; Mr. Thompson
●
● names of animals (pets): Fido (a dog’s name), Polly (a parrot’s
name); Felix (a cat’s name)
● geographical names: the Pacific; the Andes; London University
● public buildings and institutions: St. Paul’s Cathedral; The Eiffel
Tower; The Great Wall of China
● holidays; festivals of the year: Christmas; Independence Day;
Carnival; Easter
● months and days of the week: Tuesday; Saturday; July; October
● names of people in fiction: Aladdin; Robin Hood; Santa Claus;
Harry Potter
● titles of magazines, newspapers, books and movies: The New
Scientists; The Times; Over the Rainbow; The Buenos Aires Herald;
Sense and Sensibility
● languages: French; Japanese; Russian, German
● beliefs and their followers: Buddhism; Buddhists; Christianity,
Christians; Judaism; Jews
● business companies and other organisations: Learners
Publishing; Longman; Oxford University Press; Real Madrid (a
football team); the Red Cross

Collective nouns:
They are words which refer to groups of
single entities (people, animals, objects).
They behave like ordinary countable
nouns; they vary in number and
definiteness.
committee, team, club, family, staff, forest, army
 
Quirk et al (1985) divide collective nouns into
three categories:
specific collective nouns like committee, crew,
family, etc.
generic collective nouns like the aristocracy, the
clergy, the public, etc.
unique collective nouns like the Arab League,
Parliament, the United Nations, the Vatican, etc.
 Of-collectives

a set of characteristics a herd of cows a pack of lies

a series of accidents a swarm of bees a group of people
a bunch of roses a crowd of fans a flock of sheep
a troupe of actors a pile of books a horde of tourists / savages
a pack of cards a party of cyclists a gang of art thieves
a board of directors a family of mice a team of researchers
a pride of lions a troop of monkeys a pack of wolves
a litter of kittens a school of dolphins a chain of events
a set of dishes a list of names a range of numbers
a bunch of keys a stack of chairs a clutch of eggs
a row of houses a pile of newspapers a suite of rooms
a nest of tables a cluster / a clump of trees a fleet of ships / boats / ambulances
a heap of stones a flight of steps
FORMATION OF THE
PLURAL
 chair chairs

Most nouns form their plural by adding “s” to the base.

chair chairs
table tables
cup cups
book books
room rooms
Nouns ending in –s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -z add “es”, forming
another syllable.
bus buses
class classes
wish wishes
church churches
box boxes
buzz buzzes

However, with nouns ending in ch pronounced / k /, we should add only “s”.

stomach stomachs
epoch epochs
Nouns ending in a vowel + -y take –s in the plural.

toy toys
key keys
boy boys
monkey monkeys
Nouns ending in a consonant + y drop the “y” and take –ies
in the plural.
baby babies
party parties
cherry cherries
allergy allergies
 
However, the plural of proper nouns is formed by adding “s”, not “es”.
 
Kennedy Kennedys
Gary Garys
 Nouns ending in o take –es to form the plural form.

 
tomato tomatoes
hero heroes
potato potatoes
echo echoes
Notice that some nouns ending in –o take
either –es or –s.
buffaloes / buffalos
mosquitoes / mosquitos
volcanoes / volcanos
zeroes / zeros
tornadoes / tornados
halos/ haloes
mangos/ mangoes.
However, some nouns – mostly abbreviations, musical terms of
Italian origin, and some words which were originally foreign – take
only –s to form the plural:

kilo kilos
memo memos
photo photos
piano pianos
concerto concertos (but also concerti)
soprano sopranos
virtuoso virtuosos (but also virtuosi)
libretto librettos (but also libretti)
tempo tempos
Nouns ending in f, ff or ffe add –s to form the
plural.
roof roofs
chief chiefs
cliff cliffs
giraffe giraffes
sheriff sheriffs
cuff cuffs
tariff tariffs
gaffe gaffes
 There is, however, a group of nouns ending in f that
change f into –ves to form the plural.
calf calves self selves
half halves shelf shelves
knife knives thief thieves
life lives wife wives
loaf loaves wolf wolves
leaf leaves elf elves
 
Notice that with some nouns ending in f both plural endings are possible:
 
scarf: scarfs / scarves
hoof: hoofs / hooves
dwarf: dwarfs / dwarves
 There are some nouns which are completely irregular.
These nouns form their plural by changing the middle
vowel(s).
 
man men ox oxen
woman women louse lice
child children goose geese
tooth teeth foot feet
mouse mice
Zero plurals: There are some nouns which do not change
in the plural.
series trout
species spacecraft
sheep aircraft
deer salmon
reindeer carp
aircraft hovercraft
offspring elk
There is a group of nouns that look singular but are in fact
plural.
cattle
people
police
clergy
Although some nouns look plural (they end in s), they
are in fact singular.
economics news
ethics mumps
phonetics darts
(the) bends measles
hives rabies
rickets shingles
hiccups AIDS
bowls athletics
 Pluralia Tantum

A number of nouns (in general, things that have two corresponding parts joined together, or things that consist
of a set of two usually identical items that are used together) only occur with a plural suffix and are known as
pluralia tantum. Such nouns are followed by plural verb form.

belongings proceeds condolences remembrances

pants shorts surroundings trousers
glasses stairs binoculars scales
riches goods lodgings premises
compasses valuables scissors pyjamas
clothes earnings congratulations looks
outskirts ashes barracks shears
oats customs archives minutes
wages annals munitions bellows
tights auspices bifocals tweezers
particulars aerobatics greens headphones
abdominals troops brains alms
 Pluralia Tantum

Examples
 
My new jeans are Italian.
We have to buy Peter new pyjamas, since his old ones are worn out.
In this experiment, headphones are to be used.
The ship's doctor made use of tweezers to remove the foreign object.
The minutes were kept by Sheila.
The goods have been exported to Germany.
All our valuables have been stolen.
The police searched all our belongings.
His wages are very low.
 Foreign plurals

Words of Latin origin:

alumna alumnae
alumnus alumni
axis axes
bacillus bacilli
bacterium bacteria
erratum errata
larva larvae
medium media
stratum strata
datum data
vertebra vertebrae
corpus corpora
nucleus nuclei
radius radii
 
 Foreign plurals

Words of Greek origin:

 
analysis analyses
basis bases
crisis crises
criterion criteria
hypothesis hypotheses
oasis oases
parenthesis parentheses
phenomenon phenomena
synopsis synopses
thesis theses
 Foreign words in English that have both the original
foreign plural form and an English one.
 
appendix appendixes appendices
aquarium aquaria aquariums
cactus cacti cactuses
fungus fungi funguses
syllabus syllabi syllabuses
curriculum curricula curriculums
focus foci focuses
formula formulae formulas
maximum maxima maximums
memorandum memoranda memorandums
minimum minima minimums
retina retinae retinas
symposium symposia symposiums
 
Many foreign words have become completely naturalised
and always take the English plural.  
album albums
arena arenas
asylum asylums
bonus bonuses
campus campuses
chorus choruses
circus circuses
demon demons
era eras
panacea panaceas
peninsula peninsulas
solo solos
sonata sonatas
stadium stadiums
villa villas
Nouns from French that end in eau in the singular and in eaux
in the French plural, usually have “s” endings in English:
bureau bureaus
plateau plateaus
tableau tableaus
Plural of Proper Nouns

When proper nouns are re-classified as common nouns, they may take the articles and form the plural.
 
They consider themselves Shakespeares. (= good writers)
There are two Martins in this class (= two students called “Martin”)
The Browns are not coming tonight. (= the Brown family)
 
Plural of Compound Nouns

1. Most compounds are written as one word, and their plural is formed in the regular way: 
When the compound noun is written as two words, or as words joined by a hyphen, you add –s to the second
word: 
information offices shopping centres fire engines
book clubs mobile phones word processors
walking sticks swimming pool-bus drivers
 
Notice that in the previous examples the last element is a count noun. If the last element is a mass noun, of
course the compound has no plural form: 
homework moonlight
 
2. If the first element is a verb, the plural suffix goes at the end: 
grown ups pullovers push-ups
breakdowns forget-me-nots sit-ins
 
Plural of Compound Nouns

 
3. Compounds consisting of a count noun + preposition or prepositional phrase, take the plural on the first
element (the noun): 
sisters-in-law lookers-on passers-by runners-up hangers-on
 
4. In compounds whose first element is “man” or “woman”, both elements become plural:
 
manservant menservants woman doctor women doctors
man student men students woman student women students
 
5. Compounds in “ful” tend to take the plural in the second element; however, they may also take it in the
first element. 
mouthful mouthfuls mouthsful
spoonful spoonfuls spoonsful