C O N T E N T S

CONTENTS I. ARGUMENT ...pg. 2 MOTIVATION ....pg. 2

II. THE NOUN ....pg. 3 A. DEFINITION ... ...pg. 3 B. CLASSIFICATION .pg. 3 ...

C. THE GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES: ... pg. 28 # GENDER .. .. pg. 28 # NUMBER ... pg. 33 # CASE pg. 40 III. DIFFICULTIES OF THE NOUN . .. pg. 45 THE AGREEMENT . pg. 45 THE USE OF THE GENITIVE CASE . pg. 47 NOUNS WITH CHANGING MEANINGS WHEN IN THE PLURAL .. pg. 51 UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS TURNED INTO COUNTABLE .. pg. 52 NOUNS WITH OBLIGATORY PREPOSITIONS .. pg. 54 1

IV. THE STYLISTIC VALUE OF THE NOUN . pg. 55 V. LESSON PLAN ... pg. 56 VI. CONCLUSIONS .. pg. 58 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY . pg. 59

I. THE ARGUMENT

Motivation

I chosed this part of speech because is harder to understand than the other parts, it has many rubs and many exceptions. With this occasion I had the chance to learn more about the noun. The word noun derives from the Latin nomen meaning mane, and a traditional definition of nouns is that they are all and only those expressions that refer to a person, place, thing, event, quality or idea. Without nouns a phrase cannot be a phrase. It is the head of the phrase, along with the verb. This is the most important part of speech not only for the English language, but for all languages. I used many examples from different authors so that I can see all the exceptions and classification each one give. 2

Who has the opportunity to read this paper work could realize that I used many methods to understand and to learn all about the noun and its difficulties.

II. THE NOUN

A. Definition

A noun, or a noun substantive, is a part of speech (a word or a phrase) which can co-occur with (in)definite article and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. A shorter definition sounds like that: The noun is that part of speech which defines an object. Ex : Ann man lamb grass hill state beauty peace

B. Classification according to various criteria

Nouns can be either proper (England, Ion) or common, which can be countable(concrete: a book, or abstract: an idea) or uncountable(concrete: bread, or abstract: advice). University professor phd. Hortensia Prlog and professor phd. Pia Brnzeu give a brief classification of nouns: 1. According to word formation, nouns can be: a. Simple: pencil, dog, mountain ; b. Derived: driver, booklet, discontent; c. Compound: postcard, dining-room, editor-in-chief. 2. According to countability, nouns can be: a. Countable, when they have a plural form and can be used with the indefinite article, or with many, few, several: apple, lesson, son: Give me an apple. They eat many apples. b. Uncountable, when they cannot be used in the plural or with the indefinite article, but can be used with much, little : There was much noise in that hall. Note: Some nouns can be countable in one meaning and uncountable in another: Paper is expensive nowadays. I have an evening paper. A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet gives the same classification : A. - common nouns: man, table - proper nouns: France, Tom - abstract nouns: beauty, courage - collective nouns: crowd, team B. A noun can function as : The subject of a verb: Tom arrived The complement of the verbs(be, become, seen): Tom is an actor The object of a verb: I saw Tom The object of a preposition: I spoke to Tom A noun can also be in the possessive case: Toms books Collective nouns: crew, family, team etc., can take a singular or plural verb; singular if we consider the word to mean a single group or unit: Our team is the best; or plural if we take it to mean a number of individuals: our team are wearing their new-jerseys. Compound nouns: boy-friend, break-ins, travel agents, sister-in-law Uncountable nouns(also known as non-count nouns or mass nouns) 1. Names of substances considered generally : Bread cream gold paper tea Beer dust ice sand water Cloth gin jam soap wine Coffee glass oil stone wood 4

2. Abstract nouns : Advice experience horror pity Beauty fear information relief Courage help knowledge suspicion Death hope mercy work 3. Also considered uncountable in English: Baggagedamage luggage shopping Campingfurniture parking weather 4. Some abstract noun can be used in a particular sense with a/an: - a help: My children are a great help to me A good map would be a help. - a relief: It was a relief to sit down. -a knowledge+of: He had a good knowledge of mathematics. - a dislike/dread/hatred/horror/love+of is also possible: A love of music A hatred of violence - a mercy/pity/shame/wonder can be used with that - clauses introduced by it: Its a pity you werent here. Its a shame he wasnt paid. - it+be+a pity/shame+infinitive is also possible: It would be a pity to cut down these trees

Proper nouns1: - do not take the full range of determiners and lack article contrast. They have unique reference, being names of specific people, countries, months, days, holidays, magazines etc. They are written with capital letters. When proper nouns are modified restrictively they take the definitive article: Nilton vs. the young Nilton, during Christmas vs. during that Christmas. Proper nouns with no article. Personal names: Dr. Wallace, Lord Nelson, Mr. and Mrs. Graham. Family relations with unique reference also behave like proper nouns: Father, Daddy, Mum, Uncle and exceptions: The Emperor Napoleon, The Duke of Wellington, rev. John Brown. Temporal names: festivals: Easter(Sunday), Work day months and day of the week: February, Monday. Temporal names can be preceded by the next/following or the last when they refer to intervals related to time points different from the present moment: the next Sunday.
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Andriescu, I.; Cehan, A.; Vere, G. A Dictionary of English Grammar, Ed. Universitii Al. I. Cuza, Iai, 1998, pag 114

Geographical names: - of continents: South(America), exception. The Antarctica - of countries, counties, states: Poland, Arizona. Exceptions: The Argentine, the Ruhr, The Saar, The Sahara, The Ukraine, The Crimea, The Midwest and plural names. - names of cities and towns: Paris, Rome. Except: The Hague, The Bronx, The West England, The East England. - names of mountains: Mount Snowdon, Ben Novis, Mount Blanc. Exceptions: The Mount of Olives. - name of buildings, streets, bridges: Finchly Street, Buchingham Palace, Stansted Airport. Exceptions: The Albert Hall, The Mansion House, The Haymarket, The Strant, The Mall. Proper nouns with definitive article Many proper nouns which take a definite article are common nouns with a unique reference which has been institutionalised: The National Gallery, The (River) Thames. There are several classes of proper nouns which get the definitive article: Plural names: The Browns, the Alps. Except: Kensinsgton Gardens. Geographical names: rivers: The Thames, The Forth Seas: The Black Sea, The Baltic Canals: The Suez Canal, The Panama Canal Public institutions: Hotels and restaurants: The Hilton Theaters, cinemas, clubs: The Mermai Museums, libraries: The British Museum, the Tate Gallery. Newspapers: The Sun, The financial Times etc. Magazines and periodicals normally have the zero article: Life, Time.

Verbal noun Verbal nouns have the same form (the -ing form of the verb) as gerunds, but they are different from gerunds in that they have lost all force of the verb and can be regarded as pure nouns. Verbal nouns may be count(C) or mass nouns (N): Mr. Smith has given his son two warnings(C) which had been ignored; he reluctantly decided to give the boy a thrashing(C). My sister is very proud of her darning (N). I have four brothers: two work in industry: one is in Teaching (N), and the other is in Banking(N). Verbal nouns may be preceded by the definite article: The tourist admired the building. The possessive case of the noun or pronoun preceding a verbal noun is required: Have you seen Janes sewing? She says he left it on the table. 6

Have you seen Janes sewing? very clumsy.

She is left-handed and

Verbal nouns may be preceded by adjectives: Wrap the parcel in this old sacking I have to go to the dentist for two more fillings. Some verbal nouns have only a plural form, e.g.: savings, winnings, shavings. Our savings were all spent by the time my father left hospital. Verbal nouns are different from gerunds and can be considered pure nouns. Compare the following: Have you finished washing? Washing is a gerund meaning wash ones hand or face. Take the washing to the laundry. Here washing is a verbal noun meaning clothes to be washed.

Abstract nouns - are those nouns which denote ideas, concepts, feelings, something immaterial. Abstract nouns are mainly uncountable: honesty, music, information, news, help, homework, wisdom. Some abstract nouns are countable: example, process, day, idea, performance, call. There are abstract nouns which can be both countable and uncountable: We had much difficulty in revealing his plans. Didnt you expect to meet many difficulties in such a risky attempt? His researches have been fruitful. Research is indispensable to human progress. 7

Sometimes, the count and the uncount forms of abstract nouns have different meanings: business-businesses, work-works, interestinterests. My interests (hobbies) are the arts and music.

Collective nouns - is a useful label for a small group of common nouns: army, committee, which grammatically behave differently from other nouns. Collective nouns are a kind of count nouns referring mainly to groups of people. In their singular form, collective nouns can take singular or plural concord: The committee is/are very proud of its/their achievements, isnt/arent they? British English in particular uses collectives in a plural way when the group is thought of as consisting of separate individuals. Some grammar books use the term collective to cover words like people, cattle, probably for semantic reasons. But grammatically there are plural only. Collective nouns include such common count nouns as: air force, army, cost, class, committee, company, couple, crew, crowd, family, firm, gang, government, group, herd, hospital, jury, majority, minority, navy, pair, the press(journalists), public(rarely plural), school, staff, team, tribe, university. Proper nouns as collectives The Department of Education say/says they lit have/has no comment to make. Arsenal is/are playing well this season. The names of many companies, sport teams and the like can also function as collective nouns.

Note The word youth can be: Mass noun: I was happy in my youth(when I was young) Count noun: (young man/men): Some youths were standing outside a pub. Collective noun (young people of both sexes): Youth today has/have different problems from its/their predecessors.

Compound nouns When two nouns are used together they are called compound nouns. Many nouns are joined without a hyphen: lighthouse, milkman, toothache, headache, armchair, football, matchbox. Other nouns, which have come together more recently, still need a hyphen: machine-gun, passer-by etc. Care must be taken in writing these words, and if you are ever in doubt, it is safe to put in the hyphen. Many nouns that are usually count nouns are used in an unmarked form when used attributively or to form compound nouns. For example a bookshop or a book sale, are not offering only one book, but plurality is unimportant. All that matters is the kind of thing which is involved in the shop or sale. The unmarked form is even used when the attributive noun is countable unit of measurement preceded by a number: A three-hour exam. Some words which on their own have no singular form unit the s when used attributively, as on a pyjama jacket form pyjamas. However some words need the s in attributive position because the unmarked might be interpreted as singular with a different meaning: an arms/arm race or else an adjective: a means/mean test. Compound nouns often form their plural by inflecting the second element of the word: castaways, handfuls, spendthrifts, washer-women, poet-laureates. Sometimes both nouns in the compound are put in the plural: menservant, lords Justices. There is however, no clear rule on this entire matter. Consider for instance women teachers, lady teachers. Unit noun partitives - are count nouns used to indicate a particular quantity of something. A partitive structure consist of a particular noun linked by of to another noun. The verb always agrees with the positive noun. Two pieces of wood are rubbed together.

When the noun after the partitive in uncount, the most common partitives are: amount, bit, blob, clump, dash, drop, grain, heap, knob, lump, mass, morsel, mountain, piece, pile, pinch, pool, portion, scrap, sheet, shred, slice, spot, touch, trace. Some of these partitives are used both with uncount and plural nouns: amount, clump, heap, mass, mountain, pile, portion. Ive got piles of work to do today Theres a pile of newspapers on the floor. 9

A number of nouns which indicate the shape of an amount of something can also be used as partitives with uncount or plural nouns: ball, column, ring, shaft, square, stick, strip, thread, tuft, wall. A shaft of unlight pierced the darkness A few partitives indicate both shape and movement: dribble, gush, gust, jet, spurt, stream, torrent. The boiler gave off a spurt of stream. Many nouns referring to groups can be used as partitives linked to plural nouns which indicate whet the group consists of: audience, bunch, clump, company, family, flock, gang, group, herd, team, troupe. The carriage was drawn by a team of four horses. Measurement nouns are often used in partitive structures to refer to an amount of something which is a particular length, area, volume, or weight e.g.: yards of cloth, square miles of land, a pint of milk, two pounds of apricots etc. Partitives are also used when referring both to the contents of a container and the container itself: bag, barrel, basin, basket, bottle, bowl, box, bucket, can, carton, case, cask, cup, glass, jar, jug, mug, pack, packet, plate, pot, spoon, tablespoon, tank, teaspoon, tin, tube, tumbler. She eat the whole box of chocolate. Some of the partitives reffering to containers can be followed by a suffix ful (and make plural): bag, basket, box, bucket, cup, plate, spoon, tablespoon, tank, teaspoon. Add two teaspoonfuls of sugar to the mixture. The suffix ful can be added to other partitives as well: armful, handful, mouthful, houseful etc. Sometimes a mass noun is used instead of a partitive structure: Two black coffees and two milk teas, please. A partitive is used to indicate a part or a fraction of a particular thing: part, portion, section, segment. He spent a large part of his life in banking. A partitive used with an uncount noun referring to things of a certain type indicates one particular thing of that type: article, bit, item, piece. I bought a few pieces of antique furniture. The uncount nouns referring to things of a certain type commonly used with the partitives above are: advice, apparatus, baggage, clothing, equipment, furniture, homework, information, knowledge, luggage, machinery, news, research.

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Concrete nouns - are the nouns given to things which actually exist as distinct from thing which exist only in the mind. Count nouns include many so-called concrete nouns: Names for people and things which can be seen as individual, separate units: boy, chair ; Unit of measurement: day, dollar, meter ; Individual parts of a mass: bit, piece, portion.

Mass nouns - refer to entities which are regarded as continuous, without natural bounds. These entities are subject to division only by means of quantity expressions. - are often used to refer to quantities of a particular kind of food or drink, instead of a partitive structure: Two beers, please! A number of nouns can be uncount when they refer to a thing in general an count when they refer to a particular instance of it: She was savouring her first victory. Mass nouns referring to different types of a substance are frequently used as uncount in technical contents: adhesive, beer brandy, cake, cheese, claret, cloth, cool, coffee, cognac, coke, cotton, curry, lotion, meat, ribbon, wood, yoghurt. Mass nouns can be accompanied by three types of partitives to express quantities: measures, typical partitives and general partitives.

Count(countable) nouns2

Andriescu, I.; Cehan, A.; Vere, G. A Dictionary of English Grammar, Ed. Universitii Al. I. Cuza, Iai, 1998, pag 114

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Some, but not all, English nouns can take plural. Those that can are called count nouns: a light - lights. Nouns that cannot take plural are called mass nouns: laughter. - nouns with both mass and count usage: Mass nouns are used as both count and mass nouns, with various distinctions of usage. Many word - particularly for abstractions, substances and meals - are mass nouns in a general sense: cheese, dinner, time and count nouns when they mean an individual example or instance: a dinner for fifty, a nice time, or a particular type: fifty different cheese. Also: Breakfast (a good breakfast), business(a business), hair(a hair in my soup), noise(a loud noise), brick, cake, chicken, death, food, top, lamb, light, tea, worry. With some related mass and count nouns, the count noun has a limited meaning that may not be deductible, from the meaning af a mass noun: cloth-tablecloth, iron-irons, glass-a glass-glasses etc. Count nouns are often used without a/an or final s often certain prepositions as mass nouns in so-called idioms. The words are used as mass nouns to denote their essential primary purpose and number is irrelevant.

Types of Nouns There are many different types of nouns. In fact, grammarians have developed a whole series of noun types, including the proper noun, the common noun, the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun(also called the count noun), the non-countable noun(also called the mass noun) and the collective noun. If you are interested in the details of these different types, you can read about them in the following sections.

Proper Nouns You always write a proper noun with a capital letter, since the noun represents the name of a specific person, place or thing. The names of days of the week, month, historical documents, institutions, organisations, religions, their holy texts and their adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun.

In each of the following sentences, the proper nouns are highlighted: The Marrons were transported from Jamaica and forced to build the fortifications in Halifax. 12

Many people dread Monday mornings. Beltane is celebrated on the first of May. Abraham appears in the Talmud and in the Koran. Last year, I had a Baptist, a Buddhist and a Gardnerian Witch as roommates.

Common Nouns A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense -- usually, you should write it with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun. In each of the following sentences, the common nouns are highlighted: According to the sign, the nearest town is 60 miles away. All the gardens in the neighbourhood were invaded by beetles this summer. I dont understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards. The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road. Many child-care workers are underpaid. Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns, as in the following examples: The tenants in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their rent. The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants. Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times. The Diary of Anne Frank is often a childs first introduction to the history of the Holocaust. Concrete Nouns A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of an abstract noun. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all concrete nouns: The judge handed the files to the clerk. Whenever they take the dog to the beach, it spends hours chasing waves. A real estate agent urged the couple to buy the second house because it had new shingles. As the car drove past the park, the thump of a disco tune overwhelmed the string quartets rendition of a minuet.

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The book binder replaced the flimsy paper cover with a sturdy, cloth-covered board. Abstract Nouns An abstract noun is a noun which names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun. The highlighted words in the following sentences are all abstract nouns: Buying the fire extinguisher was an afterthought Tillie is amused by people who are nostalgic about childhood. Justice often seems to slip out of our grasp. Some scientists believe that schizophrenia is transmitted genetically. Countable Nouns A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything(or anyone) that you can not count. You can make a countable noun can be made plural and attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of noncountable nouns and collective nouns. In each of the following sentences, the highlighted words are countable nouns: We painted the table red and the chairs blue. Since he inherited his aunts library, Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books. Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock. The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane. Over the course of twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.

Non-Countable Nouns A non-countable 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. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Non-countable nouns are similar to collective nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns. The highlighted words in the following sentences are noncountable nouns: Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen. The word oxygen cannot normally be made plural. Oxygen is essential to human life.

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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 a non-countable noun, it takes a singular verb, is heaped. The crew spread the gravel over the roadbed. You cannot make the non-countable noun gravel plural. Gravel is more expensive than I thought. Since gravel is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb form is.

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. In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a collective noun: The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture. The collective noun geese takes the singular verb spends. The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight. In the example the collective noun jury is the subject of the singular compound verb is dining. The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon. Here the collective noun committee takes a singular verb meets. The class was startled by the bursting light bulb. In this sentence the word class is a collective noun and takes the singular compound verb was startled.

The Collective Nouns

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A A A A A A A A A

cast of hawks charm of finches chattering of choughs class of students cloud of gnats clutch of chicks band of gorillas bevy of quail brace of grouse

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 Cassandras. The only luggage that was lost was the prime ministers. The exhausted recruits were woken before dawn by the drill sergeants screams. The miners 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 buss seats are very uncomfortable. The bus seats are very uncomfortable. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypuss eggs. The film crew accidentally crushed the platypus eggs. Felicia Hermans poetry was once more popular than Lord Byrons. Felicia Hermans poetry was once more popular than Lord Byrons. One 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 childrens mittens were scattered on the floor of the porch. The sheeps pen was muked out every day. Since we have a complex appeal process, a jurys verdict is not always final. The mens hokey team will be play as soon as the womens team is finished. The hunter followed the mooses trail all morning but lost it in the afternoon. One can form the possessive case of a plural noun that does end in s by adding an apostrophe: 16

The concert was interrupted by the dogs barking, the ducks quacking, and the babies squalling. The janitors room is downstairs and to the left. My uncle spent many hours trying to locate the squirrels nest. The archivist quickly finished repairing the diaries bindings. Religion is usually the subject of the roommates many late night debates.

Using Possessive Nouns3 The noun in the possessive case frequently functions adjective modifying another noun: The miners face was covered in coal dust. as an

Here the possessive noun miners is used to modify the noun face and together with the article the, they make up the noun phrase that is the sentences subject. The concert was interrupted by the dogs barking, the ducks quacking, and the babies squalling. A crowd of onlookers. A cry of hounds. A deceit of lapwings. A descent of woodpeckers. A down of hares. A drift of swine. A drove of cattle.

Glteanu+Frnoag, G. Sinteze de gramatic englez, Ed. Cruso, Bucureti, 1995, pag. 96

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Alice Bdescu gives a more understandable classification: A. Common and proper nouns: 1) Common nouns serve to indicate objects from the same kind Woman bird people water Dog tree family happiness They can be: a) Individuals, when in the singular they name just one object : Child cat town idea Wife lily rain joy b) Collective nouns, when in the singular name many identical objects, looking like a whole: Army audience council flock Battalion congress team swarm c) Names of matter, when they name the material or the substance from which an object is made: Wine cotton flour wood idea Gold maize milk salt meat 2) Proper nouns name an object making it to be distinguished from the other objects from the same kind. Proper nouns are written with initial: Guy Bucharest Monday Thomson England April Except: sun moon, east, west, north, south, spring, summer, autumn, winter, the tropics, the equator. B. Concrete and Abstract nouns: 1) Concrete nouns name material objects(persons, animals, plants, things, phenomena and events of the surrounding

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reality) of which existence we can figure out through our senses: John miner tree heat revolution Son lion pen rain victory 2) Abstract nouns name actions, feelings, sensations, relationships considered as motions: Fight laziness joy wisdom Labour health love friendship Rest case force likeness

Classification of nouns Proper nouns and common nouns Proper nouns (also called proper names) are the names of unique entities. For example, Janet, Jupiter and Germany are proper nouns. Proper nouns are capitalized in English and most other languages that use the Latin alphabet, and this is one easy way to recognise them. This fails, however, in German, in which nouns of all types are Capitalized. All other nouns are called common nouns. For example, girl, planet and country are common nouns. Sometimes the same word can function as both a common noun and a proper noun, where one such entity is special. For example: There can be many gods, but there is only one God. The common meaning of the word or words constituting a proper noun may be unrelated to the object to which the proper noun refers. For example, someone might be named Tiger Smith despite being neither a tiger nor a smith. For this reason, proper nouns are usually not translated between languages, although they may be transliterated. For example, the German surname Kndel becomes Knoedel in English(not the literal Dumpling). However, the translation of place names and the names of monarchs, popes and non-contemporary authors is common and sometimes mandatory. For instance, the Portuguese word Lisboa becomes Lisbon in English; the English London becomes Londres in French; and Aristotle was, in Greek, Aristotels.

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Count nouns and mass nouns In everyday terms, count nouns (or countable nouns) refer to discrete, countable objects. Count nouns can take a plural, can combine with numerals or quantifiers(e.g. one, two, several, every, most) and can take an indefinite article(a or an). Examples of count nouns are chair, nose, occasion. Mass nouns(or non-countable nouns) refer to objects that cannot be individually enumerated. Examples from English include laughter, cutlery, helium and furniture. For example, it is not possible to refer to a furniture or three furnitures. Some words function in the singular as count noun and, without a change in the spelling, as a mass noun in the plural: she caught a fish, we caught fish; he shot a deer, they shot some deer; the craft was dilapidated, the pier was chockablock with craft.

Collective nouns Collective nouns are subject-specific words used to define a grouping of people, animals, objects or concepts. For example, in the phrase a parliament of owls, parliament is a collective noun. Origin Most collective nouns encountered in everyday speech(such as team) are mundane and take no particular object. However, many of the oft-discussed examples are fanciful and are the only proper collective for a given noun. This stems from an English hunting tradition dating back to at least the 15th century of giving poetic names to prey. These were known as terms of venery(where venery means the hunting of animals). For this reason, there are many collective nouns that refer to animals and many of these original collective nouns are archaic: a harass of horses doesnt seem to have been used much since the 1400s. Some alternatives for collective nouns can be clearly traced to the evolution of pronunciation in different areas(hence a parcel of hogs and a passel of hogs). Interest in collective nouns has always reminded high, and the neologism of candidate collective nouns has been a pastime of many writers ever since. Some have achieved an entry in a respected dictionary, the vast majority have not, though many collective nouns have been circulated on websites such as this one and in popular discourse for humorous reasons or as trivia. In at least two cases(an 20

abomination of monks and a court of kangaroos) some authoritative resources allege them to be accurate, but research has proved these to be spurious as well. Most recently, one author of a computer book invented some obviously joking collective nouns which system developers could relate to, including a bleat of users, a retreat of consultants; and a trough of salespersons.

Application In British English, collective nouns can be treated as either singular or plural depending on the context. For example, the team is in the dressing room refers to the team as an ensemble, whilst the team are fighting amongst themselves refers to the team as individuals. In the English spoken in the United States and at least in other Indo-European languages, one says the team is (seen as a singular noun, unless it is actually teams). See Differences between American and British English-Singular and plural for nouns. Some common collective nouns are used to refer to multiple distinct groups. Herd is a legitimate collective noun for dozens of animal species and mythical fairy. Set and group are used broadly to refer to collections of concepts or objects. Sometimes a collective noun will only apply to a group in a certain context. Herd can properly refer to a group of wild horses, but not to a group of domestic horses. A paddling of ducks only refers to ducks on water.

Concrete nouns and abstract nouns Concrete nouns refer to definite objects-objects in which you use at least one of your senses. For instance, chair, apple or Janet. Abstract nouns on the other hand refer to ideas or concepts, such as justice or hate. While this distinction is sometimes useful, the boundary between the two of them is not always clear. In English, many abstract nouns are formed by adding noun-forming suffixes ( -ness, -ity, -tion) to adjective or verbs. Examples are happiness, circulation and serenity. TYPES OF NOUNS Proper nouns designate various sorts of names and titles; capital letters are used with: 21

Names and titles of people a. Winston Churchill b. Marilyn Monroe c. The Queen of England d. The President of the United States e. The Headmaster of Eton f. Doctor Mathews g. Professor Samuels Note: The personal pronoun I is always written with a capital letter. Titles of works, books etc. a. War and Peace b. The Merchant of Venice c. Crime and Punishment d. Tristan and Isolde Month of the year January February March April May June Days of the week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Seasons Spring Summer Autumn Winter Holidays Christmas Boxing Day Geographical names America China Africa Easter May Day England Peru Europe New Years Day Thanksgiving Day Scotland Albania Asia July August September October November December

Friday Saturday Sunday

Names of regions, states, districts etc. Sussex California Queensland Provence Tuscany Vaud Florida Costa Brava Tyrol 22

Names of cities, towns, villages etc. London Cape Town Florence Bath Vancouver Wellington

Rome Wagga Wagga Peking

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb. Examples: news The news is on at 6.30 p.m. athletics Athletics is good for young people linguistics Linguistics is the study of language. darts Darts is a popular game in England. billiards Billiards is played all over the world. Some nouns have a plural form and take a plural verb. Examples: trousers My trousers are too tight. jeans Her jeans are black. glasses Those glasses are his. Other include: Savings, thanks, steps, stair, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits.

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS Countable nouns are for things we can count. Example: dog, horse, man, shop, idea. They usually have a singular and plural form. Example: two dogs, ten horses, a man, six men, the shops, a few ideas. Uncountable nouns are for the things that we cannot count. Example: tea, sugar, water, air, rice. They are often the names for abstract ideas or qualities. Example: knowledge, beauty, anger, fear, love. They are used with singular verb. They usually do not have a plural form. We cannot say sugars, angers, knowledges. Examples of common uncountable nouns: money, furniture, hapiness, sadness, research, evidence, safety, beauty, knowledge. We cannot use a/an with those nouns. To express a quantity of one of these nouns, use a word or expression like: some, a lot of, a bit of, a great deal of Examples: There has been a lot of research into the causes of this desease. He gave me a great deal of advice before my interview. Theyve got a lot of furniture. Can you give me some information about uncountable nouns? Some nouns are countable in other languages but uncountable in English. Some of the most common of these are: 23

accommodation advice baggage behavior bread furniture information luggage

news progress traffic travel trouble weather work

BE CAREFUL with the noun hair which is normally uncountable in English: She has long blonde hair. It can also be countable when referring to individual hair: My fathers getting a few grey hairs now. COMPOUND NOUNS Formation Words can be combined to form compound nouns. These are very common and new combinations are invented almost daily. They normally have two parts. The second part identifies the object or person in question(man, friend, tank, table, room). The first part tells us what kind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is(police, boy, water, dining, bed):

What type / what purpose Police Boy Water Dining Bed

What or who man friend tank table room

The two parts may be written in a number of ways: 1. as one word. Example: policeman, boyfriend 2. as two words joined with a hyphen. Example: dining-table 3. as two separate words. Example: fish tank. There are no clear rules about this so write the common compounds that you know well as one word and the others as two words. The two parts may be: Noun + noun Examples: Bedroom Water tank Motorcycle Printer cartridge 24

Noun + verb Noun + adverb Verb + noun Verb + adverb Adjective + noun Adjective + verb Adverb + noun Adverb + verb

Rainfall Haircut Train-spotting Hanger-on Passer-by Washing machine Driving licence Swimming pool Lookout Take-off drawback Greenhouse Software Redhead Dry-cleaning Public speaking Onlooker bystander Output Overthrow Upturn input

Compound nouns often have a meaning that is different from the two separate words. Stress is important in pronunciation, as it distinguishes between a compound noun(e.g. greenhouse) and an adjective with a noun(e.g. green house). In compound nouns, the stress usually falls on the first syllable: A greenhouse = place where we grow plants (compound noun) A green house = house painted green (adjective and noun) A bluebird = type of bird compound noun) A bluebird = any bird with blue feathers (adjective and noun) Many common compound nouns are formed from phrasal verbs verb+adverb or adverb+verb). Examples: breakdown, outbreak, outcome, cutback, drive-in, dropout, feedback, flyover, hold-up, hangover, outlay, outlet, inlet, makeup, output, set-back, stand-in, takeaway, walkover. USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS WITH NOUNS4 Capital letters are used with: Names and titles of people a. Winston Churchill
4

Dobrovici, V. Limba englez, Ed. Didactic i pedagogic, Bucureti, 1972, pag. 14

25

b. Marilyn Monroe c. The Queen of England d. The President of the United States e. The Headmaster of Eton f. Doctor Mathews g. Professor Samuels Note: The personal pronoun I is always written with a capital letter. Titles of works, books etc. a. War and Peace b. The Merchant of Venice c. Crime and Punishment d. Tristan and Isolde Months of the year January February March April May June Days of the week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday July August September October November December Friday Saturday Sunday

Seasons Spring Summer Autumn Winter Holidays Christmas Boxing Day Geographical names America China Africa Easter May Day England Peru Europe New Years Day Thanksgiving Day Scotland Albania Asia

Names of regions, states, districts etc. Sussex California Queensland Provence Tuscany Vaud Florida Costa Brava Tyrol Names of cities, towns, villages etc. 26

London Florence Vancouver

Cape Town Bath Wellington

Rome Wagga Wagga Peking

Names of rivers, oceans, seas, lakes etc. the Atlantic the Dead Sea the Pacific Lake Leman Lake Victoria Lake Michigan the Rhine the Thames the Nile Names of geographical formations the Himalayas the Alps Adjectives relating to nationality nouns France French music Australia Australian animals Germany German literature There are two varieties of collective noun listed here: An abandonment of orphans An absence of waiters An archive of programmers An army of frogs An assembly of toys An atlas of maps An audit of bookkeepers An observance of hermits An obscurity of poets An orchestra of crickets An orchestra of musicians An order of waiters An ostentation of peacocks A clutter of cats A congregation of plovers A congregation of worshipers A covey of quail A host of sparrows A hover of front A leash of foxes A litter of pigs A sedge of cranes A shrewdness of apes A siege of herons A spring of seals A stud of mares A team of ducks(while flying A trip of goats A watch of nightingales A wealth of information A wisp of snipe A wonder of stars 27 the Sahara

A yoke of oxen

GENDER5 3.1 Masculine actor author baron beau bridgegroom conductor patroness count priest duke emperor executor giant god heir hero host
5

Feminine Masculine Feminine actress marquis/marquess marchioness authoress master mistress baroness mayor mayoress belle murderer murderess bride negro negress conductress patron countess poet priestess czar/tsar duchess prince empress prosecutor executrix shepherd giantess sultan goddess testator heiress tiger heroine viscount hostess waitor poetess czarina/tsarina princess prosecutrix shepherdress sultana testatrix tigress viscountes waitress

Bdescu, A. Gramatica limbii engleze, Ed. tiinific, 1963, pag. 27

28

lion manager

lioness warder manageress widower

wardress widow

C. THE GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES + DEFINITION

Gender - Is one of the grammatical categories in which the nouns are divided to show the sex differences in case of the animates or the absence of this one in case of the inanimates. The English grammar has four types of gender: a) Masculine gender- names being of male sex(man, actor, cock, he-goat) b) Feminine gender names being of female sex(woman, actress, hen, she-goat) c) Common gender has one form for both sexes(cousin, child, sheep) d) Neuter gender names the unfeeling objects or beings whom sex is not said or is not interested: Book pride baby dog

Genders expression

29

I. Genders lexical expression 1) Masculine and Feminine in English language most of nouns have one form for both masculine and feminine (so they belong to common gender). Still, in case of a relatively small number of nouns, feminine are from the masculine through: a) A suffix b) Using two different words c) Composing with a word which indicates the sex a) Suffix ess Actor-actress mister-mistress Author-authoress negro-negress Count-countess lion-lioness Jew-Jewess Other suffixes Administrator-administratix Executor-executrix Prosecutor-prosecutrix Widower-widow Spinner-spinster Sultan-sultana Don-donna Hero-heroine Paul-Pauline b) Gender shown through different words: Masculine Boy Brother Husband King Lad Man Boar, hog sire Feminine Girl Sister Wife Queen Lass Woman Sow dam Common Baby, child, infant Spouse Sovereign Man Pig, swine Parent(of animal)

c) Gender shown through a word which indicates the sex: Masculine Bridgegroom Boy-friend Grandson Billy-goat Feminine Bride Girl-friend Grand-daughter Nanny-goat Common Spouse Friend Grandchild Goat

2) Nouns gender which indicates the nationality or the origin of the region. 30

Masculine An Englishman A Dutchman A Scotsman

Feminine An Englishwoman(or girl) a Dutch woman(or girl) a Scotswoman etc.

All the other nouns have one form for both genders, so they are common: African, American, Asiatic, Britain, Chinese, Greek etc. Sometimes, for express the idea of feminine, if it doesnt say in the context, it is added the word woman or girl to that adjective. A Romanian girl) A Japanese girl) A Turk 3) Common gender: E.g.: adult visitor artist president cousin pupil a Turk A Turkish(woman or girl) cook cyclist enemy novice singer typist a Japanese(woman or a Romanian(woman or

GENDER6 A. Masculine: men, boys and male animals(pronoun he/they) Feminine: women, girls and female animals(pronoun she/they) Neuter: inanimate things, animals whose sex we dont know(pronoun it/they) Exceptions: ships and sometimes cars and other vehicles when regarded with affection or respect are considered feminine. Countries when reffered to by name are also normally considered feminine. Common: child, baby, sheep, parent B. Masculine/Feminine nouns denoting people 1. Different forms: a) Boy, girl husband, wife
6

Thomson, A. J.; Martinet, A. V. Oxford University Press, Ediia a 4-a, 1986, pag. 41

31

Bachelor, spinster Bridegroom, bride Father, mother Gentleman, lady

man, woman nephew, niece son, daughter uncle, aunt

Main exceptions: baby, child, cousin, relation, relative, teenager, spuse. b) Duke, duchess Earl, countess King, queen Lord, lady Prince, princess 2. The majority of nouns indicating occupation have the same form: artist, assistant, cook, dancer, driver, doctor, guide. Main exceptions: Actor, actress Conductor, conductress Heir, heiress Hero, heroine Host, hostess Manager, manageress Steward, stewardess Waiter, waitress Also salesman, saleswoman etc., but sometimes person is used instead of man, -woman: salesperson, spokesperson.

C. Domestic animals different forms: Bull, cow Cock, hen Colt, filly Dog, bitch Duck, drake Hog, sow

and many of the larger wild animals have lion, lioness ram, ewe stag, doe stallion, mare tiger, tigress gander, goose

NOUN GENDER In general there is no distinction between masculine, feminine and neuter in English nouns. However, gender is sometimes shown by different forms or different words. Examples: Different words : Masculine Feminine Man Woman Father Mother 32

Uncle Boy Husband Different forms: Masculine Actor Prince Hero Waiter Widower

Aunt Girl Wife Feminine Actress Princess Heroine waitress Widow

Some nouns can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject. Examples: Cousin Teenager Teacher Doctor Cook Student Parent Friend Relation Colleague Partner Leader Mary is a doctor. She is a doctor. Peter is a doctor. He is a doctor. Arthur is my cousin. He is my cousin. Jane is my cousin. She is my cousin. It is possible to make the distinction by adding the words male or female. Example: a female student; a male cousin. For professions, we can add the word woman. Example: a woman doctor; a woman journalist. In some cases noun describing things are given gender. Examples: I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion. France is popular with her(Frances) neighbours at the moment. I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth, she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship. NATIONALITIES Country: I live in England. Adjective: He reads English literature. Noun: She is an Englishwoman. COUNTRY Africa America Argentina Austria Australia Bangladesh Belgium Brazil Britain Cambodia Chile ADJECTIVE African American Argentinean Austrian Australian Bangladesh(i) Belgian Brazilian British Cambodian Chilean 33 NOUN An African An American An Argentinean An Austrian An Australian A Bangladeshi A Belgian A Brazilian A Briton/British A Cambodian A Chilean

China Colombia Croatia The Czech Republic Denmark England Finland France Germany Greece Hooland Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Jamaica Japan Mexico Morocco norway Peru the Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Saudi Arabia NUMBER

Chinese Colombian Croatian Czech Danish English

A Chinese A Colombian A Croat A Czech A Dane An Englishman/Englishwoman Finnish A Finn French A Frenchman/Frenchwoman German A German Greek A Greek Dutch A Dutchman/Dutchwoman Hungarian A Hungarian Icelandic An Icelander Indian An Indian Indonesian An Indonesian Iranian An Iranian Iraqi An Iraqi Irish An Irishman/Irishwoman Israeli An Israeli Jamaican A Jamaican Japanese A Japanese Mexican A Mexican Moroccan A Moroccan Norwegian A Norwegian Peruvian A Peruvian Philippine A Filipino Polish A Pole Portuguese A Portuguese Romanian A Romanian Russian A Russian Saudi, Saudi A Saudi, a Saudi Arabian Arabian

There are two numbers in English: a) The singular to denote one(a man, a horse, a house); b) The plural to denote more than one (men, horses, houses). Only countable nouns can be used in the plural. 1. Countables and Uncountables Names of persons and things which can be used with determiners denoting number are called countables. Countables are also called classnouns. They may be singular or plural: one book two books, one family two families. Names of things that cannot be counted(but which may sometimes be measured), which cannot be used with determiners denoting number are called uncountables. These are always singular, but cannot be used with indefinite article. 34

Uncountables may be: - concrete, such as wool, iron, paper, chalk, meat, furniture; - abstract, such as happiness, beauty, law, music, weather. Notes: a) Many uncountables may become countables when they are used with the meaning a kind of .. different kinds or varieties of ...: Romania has some wonderful fruits ( i.e. some wonderful kinds of fruit). But: Have you put the fruit on the table? The meaning of fruits is figurative in the following sentences: It was a tragedy that he dies before he could enjoy the fruits of all his hard work. There are many different wines on this list. They produce high quality steels. So also with the countable fish: There are many fishes in the net. The river swarms with a great variety of fishes. The cruelties practiced during the Second World War were beyond description(i.e. the different types of cruelty that were practiced). b) Abstract nouns acquire both numbers(and thus become countables) when they have concretizing or individualizing force: The joys of childhood. The pleasures of winter sport. Your fears are ungrounded. Various noises came from the other room. This is a brilliant idea. This girl is a beauty. The youths were marching with red banners. c) With some uncountables the plural is used to intensify the meaning expressed by the singular or to suggest great quantity or extent: He swayed between hopes and fears. Good heavens! Thanks. The sands of the desert; the snows and frosts of the Antarctic; the waters of the lake; a walk through the woods. d) Many seemingly uncountable nouns have other meanings in which they are countable: Coffee: I like coffee very much(material noun, uncountable) Two coffees, please(i.e. two cups of coffee, countable) Glass: A glass(an article made of this substance, countable) is made of glass(material noun, uncountable). Ice: Ice is cold (material noun, uncountable). I bought two strawberry ices for the children(used as an abbreviation of ice-cream, countable). Iron: It is made of iron (material noun, uncountable). I have an electric iron (a tool used for making linen smooth, countable). Paper: There is paper on the wall (material noun, uncountable). I want to buy an evening paper (i.e. a newspaper; countable). 35

Time: The world exists in space and time (abstract noun, uncountable) I have told you a thousand times not to do that (a synonym of occasion, countable). Tin: The price of tin rose last year (material noun, uncountable). The food is packed in tins (i.e. metal boxes, countable). Wood: Put some more wood on the fire(material noun, uncountable). There are a lot of woods in this region(i.e. forests, countable). e) The word hairs is used only with the meaning of a few separate hairs: He has a few grey hairs. But: His hair is dark. f) Many countables may become uncountables: - when the name of an animal is used to denote its flesh used as food: We had fish for lunch. I prefer chicken to duck. - when the name of an object becomes the name of a material: Youve got some egg on your chin. Egg is on your coat, too. - when the names of trees are used to denote the corresponding kind of wood as material or as live plants: This table is made of oak. The path entered a belt of oak. - when the words bush, twig etc. indicate an indivisible whole: All around us was the great sea of pathless, silent bush. She leaned against one of the steams, under the lacey of twig and bud. g) The following nouns are uncountable: advice, bread business, furniture, homework, information, knowledge, luggage, money, news, progress, soap, work: Give me some good advice. Do you eat much bread? We do not do much business with them. I received much valuable information. He has little money. We have much work to do. Concrete instances: He gave me a valuable piece of information. I gave her a good piece of advice(or a piece of good advice ). It was a most interesting item of information. He has two pieces of luggage. She wants to buy a cake/piece/table of soap. 2. Use and Meaning of the Number Forms(Peculiarities) Generally speaking, the two number forms are used in a logical way(the singular form is used to denote one, the plural form to denote more than one), but form is often in conflict with meaning and function: a) some words have one form for both singular and plural: 1) A few names of fish and animals: fish, cod, mackerel, salmon, pike, plaice, trout; sheep, deer, swine: They have twenty sheep. The deer have left their usual pastures. The White Sea abounds with cod. To these could be added the names of other animals, especially when used in a hunting context. This applies to 36

game, birds, e.g. to hunt elephant, antelope; to shoot wild duck, grouse etc. 2) Some measurements and numerals: - The word hundred, thousand, million; dozen(=12), score(=20): hundred thousand + Ns But: (some) hundreds thousands of + N s dozens

two three

million dozen score

millions scores

Examples: Two hundred soldiers, five thousand pounds, ten million people, two dozen eggs, three score years; hundreds of soldiers, thousands of birds, millions of people, dozens of eggs, scores of times. Also: two or three millions unemployed, two dozen(of) shirts, five score of pencils. - The words brace, couple, yoke, gross(=12x12), head, stone(=14 pounds) and hundredweight remain invariable after numerals, and are always followed by of: brace couple yoke head stone hundredweight

two three

of+N/N--s

Examples: Three brace of birds, four couple of hounds, two yoke of oxen, six gross of pens, six head of cattle, two stone of potatoes, ten hundredweight of coal. Sometimes either form is possible: two pairs of scissors; he weights twelve stone(s); hundredweights of coal. - The words kind, sort and manner: these kind of tools, these sort of things; all manner of evil(s). - The words ounce, pound and ton can take s in the plural: I bought two pound(s) of sugar. He has tons of money. - When there is more than one foot we can use either foot or feet; feet is the more usual when measuring heights: He is six foot/feet tall. It is five foot/feet long. Foot is used when followed by a number indicating inches: It was six foot ten. So also: two pound ten; but: two pounds. 3) Names of inhabitants of countries, cities etc. that end in a hissing sound, such as Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Viennese, Swiss: Many Chinese live in this city. They met Japanese and two Chinese at the conference. They are Swiss. 37

4) The nouns series and species: a series/two series of experiments, a species of blackbird, many species of birds. b) Nouns such as people, folk, vermin(=harmful animals, beings); cavalry, clergy, gentry, infantry, laity, nobility, peasantry, police; cannon, foot(=infantry), horse(=cavalry), craft(=boats, ships); cattle, poultry; most substantivized adjectives and participles, such as the poor, the rich, the blind, the wounded, the accused, the deceased etc. are treated as plural nouns(N-+ARE the word ARE stands for a verb in the plural): Most people like it. Only the old folk were left. The clergy were opposed to the plan. The police have not made any arrests. The king had eight hundred horse and three hundred foot. Some cannon have been rolled down by the raiders. When were these aircraft built? The harbour was full of all kinds of craft. The cattle are grazing in the field. The poultry are in the yard. He hated the rich and loved the poor. All the wounded were evacuated. Notes: - The singular a people means a nation; the plural form peoples means nations: The English are a Germanic people. Defense of peace is the cause of all peoples of the world. - Names of peoples in ch, -sh are used with the definite article to denote the whole nation: the English, the Irish, the French, the Dutch, the Scotch: The English like tea with milk very much. The French are a Latin people. But: an Englishman, two Englishmen, three Englishwomen etc. - Cattle and poultry are used with the numerative head: Ten head of cattle, twenty head of poultry. - Poultry may be treated as singular or as plural word: His poultry is often killed by foxes. The poultry are in the yard. - Note also: the poor/the rich/the lame one; the two rich ones/men/persons etc. c) Many nouns denoting boards, committees, communities, institutions names of sports, teams and clubs, although being formally singular, are mainly construed as plural nouns( N+ARE): The Labour Party were proud of having built the Health Service. The tea trade are doing their best to keep the price as high as possible. The public are no fools. The jury retire to a separate room to consider their verdict. The Bank of England were making substantial advances. The crew were all asleep. Many family are early risers. Cambridge have won the Boat Race this year. Liverpool were beaten by one of our teams.

38

Note that the verb is singular if the collective denoted by the noun is taken as a whole unit(N-+IS). Compare: My family is small. My family are early risers(the persons which form the collective are considered separately).

d)

Other examples(N-+IS): The B.B.C. lengthened its bulletins. The Liberal Party has declared that it sets freedom first. The cotton trade has been making great efforts to solve its own problems. Labour proposes to stop this kind of thing. British Petroleum Company Limited has a vacancy for a physicist. The following nouns are never used in the singular form: 1) N-s+ARE: - names of things consisting of two similar halves, such as bellows, breeches, drawers, knickers, knickerbockers, pants, pyjamas, shorts, slacks, trousers; compasses, glasses(eye-glasses, opera-glasses), pincers, pliers, scales, scissors, shears, spectacles, tongs: His trousers are very dirty. My pyjamas have been sent to the cleaners. My spectacles are broken. These scissors are blunt. Your opera-glasses are better. Note that number is expressed by means of pair: A pair of pyjamas, two pair(s) of scissors, three pair(s) of football shorts, four pair(s) of trousers etc. Bellows is also found with the indefinite article: a bellows. - Names of diseases or illnesses: measles, mumps. - Names of some games: billiards, bowls, cards; dominoes, draughts. - Many verbal nouns in ing: beginnings, doings, earnings, goings-on, lodgings(but always: board and lodging), parings, peelings, tidings, surroundings, sweepings, winnings, filings, savings, shavings(also: filing, saving, shaving): Our lodgings are in a quiet street. What are you looking for in the sweepings? These are happy tidings. - The following nouns: ashes(from the fire, but cigarette ash), clothes, contents(of a book etc.), credentials, dregs, eaves, goods, oats, outskirts, proceeds, remains, riches, slums, soap-suds, stairs, victuals, wages, whiskers(also: whisker) etc.: My clothes were wet. You will receive the goods in due time. There were slums in the outskirts of the city. They get good wages. Long icicles hung from the eaves. The stairs are made of marble. Riches do not always bring happiness. Oats are grown in Scotland. Note that the noun wage is often used in the singular in the following combinations: a fixed/living/minimum wage. 39

2) N-s+IS: - nouns ending in ics: acoustics, athletics, economics, gymnastics, mathematics, optics, phonetics, physics, politics, statistics, tactics etc.: Mathematics was her weakest point. Optics is a branch of physics. Phonetics is the science of sounds. Note that this usage is not fixed: Politics have/has always interested him.

Names of sciences are treated as plurals when practical application is meant(N-s+ARE): The acoustics of this hall are bad. Her phonetics are excellent. - United States, United Nations, Athens, Brussels. 3) N-s+IS/ARE: The nouns alms, barracks, gallows, general stores, golflinks, headquarters, means, mews, works(and the compounds like gas-works, iron-works) have only one form for both numbers: They lived in a barracks. He is the owner of large general stores. This glass-works was founded fifty years ago. The works have been manufacturing bottles for the perfume trade. It is only a means to an end. Does the end always justify the means?

40

GENDER In Present-Day English there is no grammatical gender. What is still traditionally called gender in English is a division of nouns into three classes according to their lexical meaning: - masculine(referred to as he): man, boy, brother; - feminine(referred to as she): woman, girl, sister; - neuter (referred to as it): book, noise, friendship, horse, pigeon. Notes: a) There are nouns which may be applied to both males and females: child, cousin, friend, parent, neighbour, servant, clerk, director, doctor, engineer, journalist, mechanic, novelist, stranger, student, teacher; bear, bird, eagle, elephant, sparrow, turkey, wolf etc. b) The nouns child and baby are sometimes referred to as it(but this for is not overfavoured): The child has broken its toy. The baby hurt its foot. c) Neuter nouns are frequently personified and, therefore, take another gender: Some become masculine: - the sun; - nouns suggesting such ideas as strength, fierceness: winter, the Fatherland, death, anger, war; - nouns denoting larger and bolder animals: elephant, horse, dog, eagle. Most nouns become feminine: - the earth, the moon; - the names of vessels(ship, boat, steamer etc.); - the names of vehicles(car, coach, carriage etc); - the names of countries, cities and towns; - nouns suggesting such ideas as gentleness, beauty: spring, peace, nature, luck, fortune, fame, victory, birth; - nouns denoting smaller and weaker animals: cat, hare, parrot; 41

- names of animals when their maternal instinct is referred to. Examples: It is pleasant to watch the sun in his chariot of gold, and the moon in her pearl(Wilde). The earth awoke from her winter sleep. She is a good ship. She is a fine car. d) Apart from personifications, there are three ways in which masculine and feminine gender are differentiated: - by the ending of the word: actor(masculine) actress(feminine), widower(masculine) widow(feminine); - by the use of a different word: king queen, sir madam; - by the use of a compound, one element of which denotes the gender: man-servant maid-servant, boy friend girl friend.

CASE Case is a special form of a noun to indicate its function in a sentence. In Old English there were four cases: nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. In Present-Day English there are only two cases: the common case(N- and N-s) and the genitive-possessive case(Ns and Ns). The noun in the common case may have various syntactical functions: Birds(nominative case subject) fly. He is my teacher(nominative case subject complement). Can you see the plane(accusative case direct object)? He gave the child(dative case indirect object) an apple(accusative case direct object). She lived in a village(preposition+accusative case adverbial modifier). Note that in place of the old case inflexions certain prepositions and the fixed word order of the English sentence are used in Present-Day English to render some of the meanings expressed in Romanian by case endings. Number Category based on the opposition singular/plural one/more than one. Nouns are classified according to their capacity of being counted or not into nouns affected by the more than one, distinction(countable), nouns not affected by the more than one, distinction(uncountable noun 42

or mass noun) and nouns partaking of the characteristics of both count and mass nouns(pluralia tantum). Number of nouns according to different authors 1. Variable nouns form the plural in the following way: a) The inflection s is added to the singular: Book-books, cat-cats, toy-toys b) es is added to the singular nouns ending in s, -z, -x, -ch, -sh: bus-buses, box-boxes, watch-watches, brush-brushes c) es is added to nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant(y changes into i): fly-flies, city-cities d) es is added to nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant: hero-heroes, potato-potatoes, (but photo-photos) e) (e)s is added to nouns ending in - f(e)(which changes into v): knife-knives, leaf-leaves, (but roof-roofs, belief-beliefs, chief-chiefs etc.) f) the root vowel changes: man-men, woman-women, foot-feet, tooth-teeth, goose-geese, louse-lice, mouse-mice g) en is added to the singular: child-children, ox-oxen

h) foreign plurals are preserved with some borrowed nouns(mainly Latin and Greek): stimulus-stimuli, larva-larvae, stratum-strata, basisbases, criterion-criteria, (but: cactus-cacti/cactuses, formula-formulae/formulas) i) s is added to the last element of a compound noun: washing machine-washing machines, forget-me-not forget-me-nots, to the first element: passer by-passers by, son-in-law sons-in-law, or both elements take the plural: woman driver-women drivers. Note: Some nouns have the same form in the singular and in the plural: deer, sheep, fish, fruit, Chinese, Swiss, dozen, series, species etc. A sheep is in the valley. Ten sheep are in the valley. A Chinese is looking at us. Two Chinese are looking at us. The plural forms fishes, fruits denote different species or varieties: We study the fishes of the Atlantic Ocean. 1. Invariable nouns have either the singular or the plural.

43

 a)

b)

c) d)

Singular invariable nouns, which take a verb in the singular, are: Concrete uncountable nouns: bread, meat, luggage, furniture, money, etc. My luggage is very heavy. (Bagajele mele sunt foarte grele.) The money is on the table. ( Banii sunt pe mas.) Abstract uncountable nouns: music, progress, nonsense, information, knowledge, advice, homework, etc. His advice is always good. ( Sfaturile lui sunt ntotdeauna bune.) His knowledge of French is poor. ( Cunotinele lui de francez sunt slabe.) Proper nouns: John, The United States, The Danube, etc. The United States lies in North America. Nouns ending in s : news, measles ( and other names of diseases), optics, mathematics (and other names of sciences), cards, ninepins (and other names of games): The news is very good. Mathematics is fun.

Note: To express quantity of uncountable nouns, we can use the words: piece, item, bar, slice, pound, etc. A piece of news / information / furniture / advice / cake/ bread. A bar of soap / chocolate. A slice of bacon / cake. A pound of sugar/ flour / rice/ coffee.

Plural invariable nouns, which take a verb in the plural, are: a) Articles of dress: trousers, pyjamas, tools and instruments: scales, scissors etc. His trousers are on the chair. What are the scissors? b) Proper nouns: The Alps, The Highlands: The Alps are high mountains. c) Other pluralia tantum: savings, surroundings, customs, contents, wages, stairs etc. The surroundings are very beautiful. His wages are decent. d) Substantivized adjectives: the rich, the poor, goods etc.: The poor are suffering. The goods were carried by train. e) Unmarked plurals: cattle, infantry, people, police etc. 44

The police are after the thief. Note: When we want to refer to one article of dress or instrument, we can use the word pair: a pair of trousers/scissors/scales. Some collective nouns like: family, team, crew, jury etc. take a verb in the plural when reference is made to the component elements, and a verb in the singular, when they are used generically: His family is large. His family are at home(Ai lui/membrii familiei lui sunt acas)

NOUN CASE English nouns have the following cases: Nominative, Genitive(Possessive), Dative and Accusative. There is no distinction in form between nouns that are in different cases, except in Genitive. 1) A noun is in the Nominative when it is the subject of a sentence; the predicative (the complement) of the verbs: to appear, to be, to look, to seem; the opposition of a noun; the subject of a non-finite verb, as part of the Absolute Nominative(e.g. Mother being very tired, I gave up asking her to help me). The Nominative of Address, also called the Vocative Nominative, designate a being or thing which we are addressing ourselves. 45

2) The Genitive expresses possession and origin, material, composition, measure. There are four Genitive forms in English: a) The Synthetical/Saxon/s Genitive is formed as follows: -singular noun + s; plural noun + ; irregular plurals + s; proper nouns + s/, the ending being pronounced/iz/ in both cases. This type of Genitive is used with proper names, names of persons, personifications, names of countries, towns, celestial bodies, vessels, boats, ships, chronological divisions or other types of measurements; idiomatic expressions; b) The Analytical/Prepositional/Periphrastic Genitive is made up with the help of the preposition of and is used when the possessor is a thing/a small animal, insect etc.; in some geographical names(The Isle of Man, the city of London), substantivized adjectives, when we want to underline the importance of a proper name, before proper names followed by an apposition; c) The Double Possessive consisits of a combination between yhe Analytical and the Synthetical Genitives, usually having a partitive meaning, e.g. A portrait of Turner(=one portraying him)/vs/A portrait of Turners(=one painted by him or belonging to him); d) The Implicit Genitive in which the Genitive relation is indicated only by word order, having no Genitive markers, e.g. Sun-rise, the United Nations Organization etc. 3) The Dative case indicates to whom the action of a verb is directed. It is the case of the indirect object and is marked either by the prepositions to/for or by word order. The Dative is used after such intransitive verbs as to happen, to occur, to propose, to submit, to surrender, to yield followed by the preposition TO; after such transitive verbs as to deny, to give, to hand, to lend, to offer, to pay, to read, to tell, to show, to write followed by a direct object and the preposition TO; after such transitive verbs as to buy, to choose, to do, to leave, to make, to order, to save, to span, followed by the preposition FOR; after such adjectives as adequate, corresponding, cruel, kind, superior etc. followed by the preposition TO. 4) The Accusative case denotes the object affected by the verb. A noun in the Accusative may be: a direct object, a prepositional object, an adverbial modifier of time, place or manner.

THE POSSESSIVE FORM OF NOUNS The possessive form is used with nouns referring to people, groups of people, countries and animals. Belonging to or ownership is one of the relationship it expresses: John owns a car. (John is the possessor or owner) It is Johns car. 46

America has some gold reserves. (America is the owner) They are Americas gold reserves. It can also express other relationships, for example: Where someone works or studies or spends time: John goes to this school. This is Johns school. John sleeps in the room. This is Johns room. A family relationship: Johns mother, the Queens daughter. Qualities: Johns patience. The politicians hypocrisy. Form To form the possessive, add s(apostrophe s) to the noun. If the noun is plural, or already ends in s, just add: (an apostrophe). For names ending in s: a In speaking we add the sound / z/ to the name, but in writing it is possible to use either s or just . The form is more common, e.g. Thomass book, Jamess shop. Examples: The car of John = Johns car. The room of the girls = The girls room. Clothes for men = Mens jobs. The sister of Charles = Charles sister. The boat of the sailors = The sailors boat.

III. DIFFICULTIES OF THE NOUN

THE AGREEMENT

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Agreement is a matching relation between subject and verb, a relation of partaking mutual features. The singular nouns ending with the plural inflection s(news, measles, billiards, physics) agree with a verb in the singular. Measles is a disease. Physics is my favorite subject. The plural nouns laking inflection and other irregular plural(e.g.: cattle, people, army, women, geese) take a plural verb. The cattle are grazing in the field. National: Subjects-verb agreement is achieved on the basis of the idea of number though the subject is not marked for the plural. The police were alerted ten minutes after the robery took place. Proximity: Usually, the head word of the NP marks the plural in the subject: Three representatives of the firm have resigned. Sometimes agreement of the verb with the closest preceding noun is preferred: One in ten present/have symptoms. Collective nouns are usually considered as being ane complete uni, and thus are followed by singular verbs: A huge crowd is gathering in the stadium. a) However, ocasionally the different part that combine to form a collective noun are considered individually and, in sucj cases, a plural verb is required: The jury are not unanimous in their verdicts. The collective nouns: people, police, clergy are always followed by a plural verb. b) Nouns that are plural in form but singular in meaning take a singular verb: news, tropics, mathematics, politics: The good news was brought to us by his friend.

In the following sentences, the subject, though plural in form, also takes a singular verb: A hundred years is called a century. Five pounds is cheap. Twelve days is too long. c) Two nouns which are joined by with are followed by a singular verb and because is a preposition, the noun following with is used to qualify the previous noun. 48

The man with the little boy is coming into the class. d) The words or, either...or and neither...nor are followed by a singular verb if the nouns are singular, an a plural verb if the nouns are plural: A pen or a pencil is required Neither the bus nor the trains are arriving today. e) Certain nouns joined by and are now regarded as being one unit and take a singular verb: Bread and butter was given to the travellers. f) After the formal subject there, the verb agrees with the real subject of the sentence: There is a big tree outside my window. There are many birds on the branches. g) Verbs have a strong tendency to be attracted to the nouns nearest to them. This is called attraction and is a common fault: Each of the men is(are) smoking a pipe. Several books, two pens and a red pencil were(was) in the bag. Adverbial nouns: Nobody hailed his return home The room downstairs Two days sooner Hes just a kid Nouns which are used in the singular as adjectives: A pijama aspect A spectacle case Some pluralia tantum adjectivals preserve their plural form An athletics competition Measles sports A news stand A clothes peg Goods train The sports page

THE USE OF THE GENITIVE CASE FORMATION OF THE GENITIVE 1) Genitive Singular This is formed by the addition of the inflexion [z/s/Iz], in spelling s: boys, cats, Georges, Jamess, Burnss, Dickenss. 49

Notes: a) Nouns ending in the syllable [Iz] in the singular do not take the genitive: the poems of Robert Bridges, the works of Sir Dubley Digges. b) Classical and foreign names ending in s add only the apostrophe: Archimedes Law, Socrates death. Such words may or may not be pronounced with a second sibilant. Similarly less usual Engllish names sometimes take the apostrophe only: Keats(but also Keats) poetry, Evans garden. c) Compounds and noun phrases are generally treated as one word: mother-in-laws, someone elses problem, the prince of Waless journey, George the Firsts reign, US president Fords speech, the man we saw yesterdays car etc. Compare the following: William and Marys reign(joint possession by two persons). Shelleys and Tennysons poems(separate possession of two persons). d) In the expressions in which the word sake is preceded by a sibilant no suffix is written or pronounced, but the word is written with a final apostrophe: for old acquaintance sake, for consciences sake. But: for Georges sake(proper name), for the countrys sake(noun not ending in a sibilant). e) Words like looker-on, passer-by are not often used in the genitive. 2) Genitive Plural A simple apostrophe is used with plural nouns ending in s: boys, girls, students, Henrys etc. Phonetically this is the same as the genitive singular. Notes: a) Words not ending in s in the plural adds: mens, womens, childrens. b) Compounds that do not take the plural suffix on their last component, such as mother-in-law, passer-by, are not used in the genitive plural. Generic Singular nouns with the definitive article can denote a whole class: The dolphin is in no danger of extinction. Do you think man exploits the dolphin? The viola is a subtle instrument. Do you like the theater? The + plural noun and the + mass noun are specific only.

Genitive 50

The possessive form of noun(show by the genitive case) is used chiefly with the names of human beings and a few animals, e.g.: Alans car, the strangers cat, the dogs ear. It has more limited use with nouns denoting things. An important meaning of genitive is possession(hence one more for it possessive), e.g.: my aunts spectacles, the Smiths horse, the citys famous bridge. But in fact it can express a great many other relationships: Subjective genitive Henrys treachery(Henry was treacherous) The plane arrival(the plane arrived) The Presidents death(the President died) Objective genitive Henrys admirers(people admire Henry) The Presidents murder(someone murdered the President) Classifying A girls school(a school for girls) A days pay(pay for a day) A stones throw(the distance a stone can de thrown) A lovers quarrel(the kind of argument) The possessive (genitive) case is formed by: Adding s to singular nouns, e.g.: the cats paw, Basils pen, Rosss canoes etc. Adding the apostrophe to plural nouns ending in s e.g.: the cats paws, the pupils books, the Siths house Adding s to plural nouns not ending in s e.g.: the mens weapon, the mices paws, the oxens tails. Note that when two or more nouns act as the possessor only the last noun is put into the possessive case, e.g.: Smith and Browns radios, the brother and sisters parents. Commonly, as in case of the subjective and objective genitive, the genitive word specifies either the owner or the subject or object of the second word. Any determiners or adjectives belong to the genitive and not the second word: (his new girl-friends) second-hand car (poor old Henrys ) new house But sometimes the genitive serves as classifier of the following noun: The pretty new(dolls house) A mere(strones throw) In this case, determiners and adjectives belong to the whole item, and it is not possible to insert another word between the genitive and the second noun: a dolls wooden house. There are not always clear distinctions between: Fixed expressions where a genitive expression is still felt: for goodness sake

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Near compounds: a birds nest or perhaps a bird nest Words that are firmely one word: a birdesmaid, a statesman

As a genitive form of a noun is almost always followed by another noun, and functions more like a determiner or an adjective then other nouns, some grammarians include it as a determiner. Genitive without a following noun The genitive is sometimes used alone without a following noun. Unless this is a case of ellipsis, the meaning is usually a place. Proper nouns for certain well-known buildings: Have you been to St. Pauls? (St. Pauls Cathedral) She is a purse at Guys(Guys Hospital) Words for shops denoted by the type of shopkeeper: at the bakers/butchers/grocers/greengrocers. Similarly some other promises: She went to the doctors/dentists. Shop names are frequentlyused with an s inflection although the original personal name had no s, e.g.: in Books/Mark and Spencer/Selfridges etc. It is not always easy to say whether this s is a plural or a genitive. Names and nouns denoting people are sometimes with genitive inflection to mean that persons home: I am having dinner at my cousins tonight. See you at Henrys tomorrow. Other uses of the inflected genitive It can be used with some other nouns(mainly places), e.g.: New Yorks night life, Londons East end, the third worlds problems, Indias neighbours etc. It can be used with common nouns(especially collectives), identified with people, e.g.: the companys profits, the teams victory.

Of + noun It is preffered for: Things(possession), e.g.: the end of the road, the top of the cupboard, the excitement of Christmas. Objective genitive(people and things): the sale of the house. Subjective genitive when the noun phrase is the + adjective: the needs of the sick, and not the sicks needs. Nouns with changing meanings when in the plural. Some nouns have specific forms for plural(formed by vowel mutation) E.G.: man-men, woman-women, penny-pance, child-children. 52

Some foreign nouns that entered the English language, kept their initial plural in the language they come from. E.G.: alga algae Stimulus stimuli Datum data Basis bases Phenomenon phenomena Cherub cherubim Bandito banditi Bureau bureaux Etc. A number of words ending in ics, acoustics, athletics, ethics, mathematics, physics, politics etc., which are plural in form normally take a plural verb: His mathematics are weak. But names of science can sometimes be considered singular: Mathematics is an exact science. Words plural in form but singular in meaning includes news: The news is good - certain diseases: mumps, rickets - certain games: billiards, darts, draughts, bowls, dominoes Sometimes there are two plural forms with different meanings: Indices(a mathematical term) Index Indexes(lists of contents of books) Genii(supernatural beings) Genius Geniuses(extraordinarly intelligent persons) Formulas(forms of words) Formula Formulae(mathematical terms) Mediums(pepople claiming communication with spirits) Medium Media(me ans, agencies) Cherubim(angels) Cherub Cherubus(chubby children)

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PLURALS WITH DIFFERENT MEANINGS (1) hues Colours: (2) flag(of a ship), regimental flag (1) instruments with a needle that points north compasses: (2) instrument for drawing circles (1) habits customs: (2) import duties; department of government (the Customs) that collects such duties (1) (2) (3) (4) currents of air a game depth of ship, below the waters surface quantities of liquid drunk in one continuous action

draughts:

(1) kinds of masks dominoes: (2) a game) (1) results effects: (2) goods, personal property (1) powers(the forces of nature) forces: (2) organized bodies of men(armed forces, police forces) (1) vessels for drinking from glasses: (2) spectacles, binoculars (1) land, gardens, round a building, often enclosed with walls or
fences

grounds:

(2) reasons for doing, saying or believing something (3) dregs(coffee grounds) (1) (2) (3) (4) signs of the alphabet communications by post literature learning(a man of letters)

letters:

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(1) habits and customs manners: (2) social behaviour(good/bad manners) (1) spaces of time minutes: (2) summary, records (1) sufferings pains: (2) care, trouble, effort(to take pains with something) premises: first part of a legal agreement (1) fourth parts quarters: (2) lodgings (1) statements on which reasoning is based (2) house of building with its outbuildings, land etc. (3) details of property, names of persons etc., in the

UNCOUNTABLE NOUN TURNED INTO COUNTABLE

While uncountable nouns do not generally take a plural form, sometimes they may be pluralized when used in a countable sense. The difference between the uncountable and countable meanings of nouns that are used in either sense can be seen in the following chart: Uncountable Sense Art is often called an imitation of life. Life is precious. He likes to eat pizza. Religion has been a powerful force in history. She has beautiful skin. Dr. Moulton is an expert in ancient Greek sculpture. 55 Countable Sense I read a book about the folk arts of Sweden. A cat has nine lives. How many pizzas should we order? Many religions are practiced in the United States. The hull of a kayak is made of animal skins. We have several sculptures in our home.

We use only recycled paper in our office.

Where are those important papers?

Using Articles with Countable and Uncountable Nouns A countable noun always takes either the indefinite(a, an) or definite(the) article when it is singular. When plural, it takes the definite article if it refers to a definite, specific group and no article if it is used in a general sense. The guest of honor arrived late. You are welcome as a guest in our home. The guests at your party yesterday made a lot of noise. Guests are welcome here anytime. Uncountable nouns never take the indefinite article(a or an), but they do take singular verbs. The is sometimes used with uncountable nouns in the same way it is used with plural countable nouns, that is, to refer to a specific object, group or idea. Information is a precious commodity in our computerized world. The information in your files is correct. Sugar has become more expensive recently. Please pass me the sugar. They offered little help for my problem(meaning only a small amount). They offered quite a little help for my problem(meaning a large amount). Few and quite a few modify only countable nouns. A few doctors from the hospital play on the softball team. Few restaurants in this town offer vegetarian dishes(meaning only a small number). Quite a few restaurants in this town offer vegetarian dishes(meaning a large number). A little bit of, Quite a bit of. These informal phrases usually precede uncountable nouns. Quite a bit of has the same meaning as quite a little and I used more commonly. Theres a little bit of pepper in the soup(meaning a small amount). Theres quite a bit of pepper in the soup(meaning a large amount). Enough. This word modifies both countable and uncountable nouns. I dont have enough potatoes to make the soup. We have enough money to buy a car. 56

Plenty of. This term modifies both countable and uncountable nouns. There are plenty of mountains in Switzerland. She has plenty of money in thae bank.

No. This word modifies both countable and uncountable nouns. There were no squirrels in the park today. We have no time left to finish the project.

NOUNS WITH OBLIGATORY PREPOSITIONS7 According to is a preposition which means as stated by and introduces a quotation from a spoken or written source. Acoording to the weather broadcast this will be a sunny day. His health condition, according to the family is very good. Accustomed to smth. occurs as complementation to the verbs to be or to grow. After years of search I am accustomed to both success and failure. The old woman hardly grew accustomed to her new living place. - as well as - in addition to - accompanied by - together with along with

Vere, G. A Students Companion to English Grammar, Ed. Universitii Al. I. Cuza, Iai, 1998, pag. 140

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IV. THE STYLISTIC VALUE OF THE NOUN

1. Comparison is a figure of style in which consist of the similarity between two objects, persons or actions. 2. Metaphor is a figure of style which consists in giving to a word a new signification. 3. Personification is a figure of style through which is assigning to things, animals and nature phenomena, human behavior. 4. Epithet represents a word which determined in an expressive manner a noun or a verb. Not more than a minute had elapsed after her withdrawal when Tess woke, and then Clare. Both had a sense that something had disturbed them, though they could not say what; and the uneasy feeling which it engendered grew stronger. As soon as he was dressed he narrowly scanned the lawn through the two or three inches shutter-chink. I think we will leave at once says he. It is a fine day. And I cannot help fancying somebody is about the house. At any rate, the woman will be sure to come today. She passively assented, and, putting the room in order, they took up the few articles that belonged to them, and departed noiselessly (From Tess of The DUbervilles(1891) by Thomas Hardy(1840 1928) chapter 58) This paragraph is important because it introduces some important patterns: an easiness, a sense of impending danger whose source is unknown(though they could not say what, an uneasy feeling, something has disturbed them); the plot unfolds in accordance with the rubs of the detective story: caution, a desire to avoid attracting notice, suspense are its elements(notice such details as he narrowly scanned the lawn in this paragraph). The author used figure of style to express his feelings and his thoughts in a special manner, so as to make the novel more exciting for the reader.

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V.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper is, in my opinion, very interesting because I used many examples from different authors. This is what makes it more efficient. Thanks to these multiple points of view anyone who reads this paper can bring many arguments or criticize it. The detailed organization of the thesis brings some contribution to the description of the noun. Due to the bibliography I used, the noun has revealed some of its difficulties, so its not just some part of speech, it is a part of speech which necessitates all the readers attention. The oral communication is based on a correct grammar at all its levels. Its concrete realizations in the use of conversation takes multiple functions, conotative functions in oral communication. Therefore, the noun is very important in communication. It has so many difficulties without which we cant express ourselves. In particular, the writing has its own characteristics and its distinguished rigours; the particularities which remind it are articulate in the texts with the help of the apparent scripting essence of the message. The expressive value of the methods which are used in this work, its given by the interdependence of the fond processes and the ones of intensity. In short, grammar is very important for the language, so the noun is a very important part of grammar. If something is not like it should be, Im expecting some pieces of advice and critics.

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VII.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bdescu A. Gramatica limbii engleze Editura tiinific, Bucureti, 1963 Dobrovici V. Limba Englez Ed. Didactic i Pedagogic, Bucureti, 1972 E. S. C. Weiner The Oxford Guide to correct English Ed. Teora, 1997 GlteanuFrnoag G. Sinteze de gramatic englez Ed. Cruso, Bucureti, 1995 Hardy T. Tess of the DUbervilles, Penguin Books, 1994 Prof. univ. dr. Prlog H.; prof. dr. Brnzeu P. Lb. i lit. Engl. Editura Anarcord, Timioara, 1997 Thomson A. J., Martinet A. V. Oxford University Press 1986, Ediia IV Vere G. A students Companion to ENGLISH GRAMMAR Ed. Univ. Al. I. Cuza, Iai, 1998 Vere G.; Andriescu I.; Cehan A. A dictionary of English Grammar Ed. Univ. Al. I. Cuza, 1998

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