 Language comes before grammar, which is only an

attempt to describe a language. Knowing the grammar

of a language does not mean you can speak or write it
fluently, but it helps. Knowing the names for the
various elements which make up language (the
terminology) and the functions they perform (the
parts of speech) also helps us talk about it so we
present these here.
 Part of speech  Function or purpose
 1 Nouns  To name or label things
 To name or label things,
 (a) Common places, people, animals,
ideas, concepts, groups of

things etc.

 To name or label a
specific item (usually one
 (b) Proper of a kind). Starts with a
capital letter no matter
where it occurs in a
 sentence.
 Example
 Dog, elephant, hospital,
cupboard, girl, sunlight,
idealism
 The dog buries the bone.
 Mary, John, Wednesday,
Birmingham, University
of Hull.
 Shall we go and visit
Carolyn in Scarborough
on Tuesday?
 Most singular nouns are made plural by simply putting
an -s at the end. There are many different rules
regarding pluralization depending on what letter a
noun ends in. Irregular nouns do not follow plural
noun rules, so they must be memorized or looked up
in the dictionary.
 To make regular nouns plural, add -s to the end.
 cat – cats
 house – houses
If the singular noun ends in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z,
add -es to the end to make it plural.
 bus – buses
 marsh – marshes
 lunch – lunches
 tax – taxes
If the noun ends with -f or -fe, the f is often changed
to -ve before adding the -s to form the plural version.
 wife – wives
 wolf – wolves
 knife – knives

Exceptions:
 roof – roofs
 belief – beliefs
 chef – chefs
 chief – chiefs
If a singular noun ends in -y and the letter before
the -y is a consonant, change the ending to -ies to
make the noun plural.
 city – cities
 puppy – puppies

If the singular noun ends in -y and the letter before

the -y is a vowel, simply add an -s to make it plural.
 ray – rays
 boy – boys
If the singular noun ends in -o, add -es to make it plural.
 potato – potatoes
 tomato – tomatoes
 Exceptions:
 photo – photos
 piano – pianos
 halo – halos
With the unique word volcano, you can apply the standard
pluralization for words that end in -o or not. It’s your choice!
Both of the following are correct:
 volcanoes
 volcanos
If the singular noun ends in -us, the plural ending is
frequently -i.
 cactus – cacti
 focus – foci
If the singular noun ends in -is, the plural ending is -es.
 analysis – analyses
 ellipsis – ellipses
If the singular noun ends in -on, the plural ending is -a.
 phenomenon – phenomena
 criterion – criteria
Some nouns don’t change at all when they’re
pluralized.
 sheep – sheep
 series – series
 species – species
 deer –deer
You need to see these nouns in context to identify them
as singular or plural.
Consider the following sentence:
Mark caught one fish , but I caught three fish .
Irregular nouns follow no specific rules, so it’s best to
memorize these or look up the proper pluralization in the
dictionary.
 child – children
 goose – geese
 man – men
 woman – women
 tooth – teeth
 foot – feet
 mouse – mice
 person – people
 Countable nouns can be both singular and plural and
are able to be shown with a number, like five cats or a
hundred miles. A singular countable noun must be
preceded by a determiner. This would be a word that
clarifies, like: a, an, the, that, this, one, our, my, or
which. Examples include: “The dolphin is gray.”, “My
car is red.” and “Which book is yours?”
 Uncountable nouns are only used in the singular tense
and you can not use “a” or “an” with them. Certain
quantifiers can be used such as: any, some, or much.

 Examples include: “coffee, oil, air, happiness, sugar,

water, money, and luggage. Sentences that show
uncountable nouns are: “There is too much furniture
here.” and “I need a lot of love.”
 Collective nouns represent a group of things. The
singular use of them would refer to one unit or group
and the plural would refer to more than one unit.

 Examples include: family, class, team, department,

faculty, jury, school, society, or troupe.
 Concrete nouns represent something physical that can
be experienced through the senses. They can be
common, proper, singular, plural, countable,
uncountable, or collective.

 Examples include: fish, song, house, computers, salt,

cheese, Mary Brown, Disneyland, and senate.
 Abstract nouns refer to things that are not concrete;
they can not be seen, felt, heard, smelled, or tasted.
They refer to emotions, ideas, concepts, traits,
experiences, or a state of being.

 Examples are: love, hatred, trust, deceit, culture,

curiosity, maturity, sympathy, democracy, patience,
and peace.
 Create a list of ten nouns from each category and then
create 7 sentences using them.