English Grammar: Nouns and Genitives Quiz

Nominal Categories in English

• The nominal categories in English include Number, Gender, and Case.
• English nouns are classified into various types, including proper nouns (not the same as proper names), count nouns (concrete/abstract), mass nouns (concrete/abstract), and collective nouns (specific/generic/unique).
• The category of number in nouns is a primary, twofold category, often marked morphologically in different ways like external, internal, combination, or zero marking.
• Countability is another significant aspect, where count nouns can have dual membership with mass nouns.
• Gradability in nouns is observed using partitive expressions like measures, typical, and general partitives.
• Examples of count nouns and those used with a partitive approach are provided to illustrate the concepts.
• Variable nouns can have a singular or plural form, with regular and irregular plural forms.
• Regular plurals follow specific allophonic and orthographic rules.
• Irregular plurals show various patterns of voicing, internal inflection (mutation plurals), '-en' plurals, Ø plurals, and etymological forms.
• Invariable nouns are nouns with only one form, singular
• Invariable nouns are classified into concrete mass nouns (e.g., milk, paint), abstract mass nouns (e.g., knowledge, information), and proper names.
• Invariable nouns ending in '-s' (e.g., news, phonetics) and other specific categories are detailed.
• Pluralia tantum nouns are nouns existing only in plural form (e.g., pants, scissors).
• Further categorizations of nouns, including implicit and uninflected genitives, are also described.
• The concepts are further developed by examples.

Gender

• Gender in English is categorized as natural (biological) versus grammatical (linguistic).
• Criteria for gender selection include distinctions between male and female, animate and inanimate, and personal and non-personal.
• The gender classes in English are masculine, feminine, dual, and neuter.
• A further breakdown of animate and personal/non-personal classes exists.
• The presentation explores the normative vs. intimate gender patterns.
• There are different ways of marking gender distinctions, including lexical suppletion and morphological marking with suffixes (e.g., -er, -ess).

Case

• The unmarked case, often the common case in a sentence, is contrasted with the marked case, such as the genitive.
• The genitive case, also called possessive case, is marked, often but not always, by an '-s'.
• The genitive case has various grammatical markers, categorized as synthetic and analytical.
• English uses possessive constructions in several forms.
• The choice of genitive markers depends on the noun's characteristics, including personal names, personal count nouns, animates, and inanimates.
• Examples showcase the difference between synthetic and analytical genitives.

Types of Genitive

• Different types of Genitive case, such as possessive, partitive, subjective, objective, origin, measure, attribute, and descriptive genitives, are detailed.
• Various examples of these different types of Genitive are given.

Other Categorizations

• Additional categorizations include the implicit genitive, the uninflected genitive, the genitive forms of material/composition, and the appositive genitive.
• Head Genitive vs. Phrasal Genitive concepts are shown with examples.
• Constructions with the genitive, including group and embedded genitives and elliptic forms, are displayed.
• The presentation also discusses more specific types of Genitive like the local genitive and the double genitive/post-genitive.

Test your understanding of English grammar with this quiz focused on nouns and genitive constructions. Explore various aspects such as nominal categories, plural formations, and the characteristics of the genitive marker. Challenge yourself and see how well you grasp these linguistic concepts.