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Document No: QMS 076 Date of Reviewed: 10/07/2021 Revision No: 00 Tute No: BETE/100 Title: Course Materials School: English Course: B.Edu. Teaching English Batch No: BETE/2022-N Lecturer in charge: Nadun Weerasinghe Checked by: ...

Document No: QMS 076 Date of Reviewed: 10/07/2021 Revision No: 00 Tute No: BETE/100 Title: Course Materials School: English Course: B.Edu. Teaching English Batch No: BETE/2022-N Lecturer in charge: Nadun Weerasinghe Checked by:  Sample only Oxford University Press ANZ THE NOUN ’ Chapter 1 Chapter learning goals This chapter focuses on nouns: common nouns proper nouns abstract nouns collective nouns singular and plural nouns subject and object nouns. At the end of this chapter, you will be able to identify nouns and the ways in which they work in sentences. In doing this, you will be engaging functional as well as traditional grammar. Learning goals associated with this chapter include: ✓ identification of nouns as the names of things and the ways these function in sentences ✓ identification of concrete and abstract nouns ✓ identification of common and proper nouns ✓ rules and uses for singular and plural forms of nouns ✓ identification of collective nouns ✓ identification of subject and object in relation to nouns. 2 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 2 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only Chapter 1 The Noun 3 Oxford University Press ANZ THE NOUN A noun is the name of any person, place, action, quality, feeling, idea, or thing. It is where we start our language journey as we learn to name the things in our world. ‘ Try it 1.1 Give five examples of your own of each one of these. Person: Place: Action: Quality: Feeling: Idea: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,...... Thing: , , , ,. Below are some suggested answers: Person: teacher, Mrs Ballantyne, mother, neighbour, child, Polly Ryan. Place: town, school, shop, Australia, room. Action: murder, walking, writing, turn, ageing. Quality: honesty, evil, beauty, dishonesty, kindness. Feeling: hatred, love, fear, insecurity, confidence. Idea: communism, capitalism, Buddhism, Anglicanism, philosophy. ’ Thing: chair, dog, paper, floor, CD, bowl. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 3 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only 4 Part 1 Parts of Speech and Rules of Grammar Oxford University Press ANZ You probably had no problems with person or place, but you may have had to think twice about action. The children that you teach will probably have the same reaction. We have all been taught that verbs are the words that deal with action, but there are names of actions as well. You may do something, like murder someone, but the name of that action is a noun, murder: He was found guilty of her murder. It is a murder most foul. She cried blue murder. Similarly, you may see someone walking, and you might think that you will take up the activity, thinking, Walking is good for my health. The name of that activity or action is walking, and in this sentence it is a noun. You may be one who prefers to use a computer rather than pen and paper to communicate messages, for you may consider, My writing is terrible. Here, writing is a noun. You may see someone go around a corner, that is, they turn a corner. Here, turn is a verb. By contrast, you may find there is a time when it is your turn to speak. Here, turn is a noun. Over time, you will see that a person ages, but in the process, you may come to the conclusion that ageing is a natural process of life. Here again, ageing is a noun. If you establish that the word is naming someone or something, then you can identify it as a noun. Nouns naming qualities, feelings or ideas may cause children some problems as well, and you can explain these nouns to them in similar terms: if it is the name of something, it is a noun. One way to help children is to show them that if they can put a/an or the, or more usually, something like my or blue in front of it, the fact that it is a noun becomes clear. (My is useful as it simplifies the explanation as in My belief is solid. Rather than going through all the possessive pronouns, give the example of my. I use blue only because it is my favourite colour, but any adjective will do for the demonstration.) We may also take qualities, for example. If you are an honest person, the name of the quality that you possess is honesty; if you are not an honest person, the name of that quality is dishonesty. Then you will use a sentence like Your honesty ought to be rewarded to establish the word’s function as a noun. Concrete and abstract nouns As you proceed along these lines, you will be introducing children to concepts of concrete and abstract nouns. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 4 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only Chapter 1 The Noun 5 Oxford University Press ANZ Concrete nouns are the names of people, places, and things that you can see, hear, touch, quantify or measure in some way. This applies to the first five examples of the names of people given earlier—teacher, Mrs Ballantyne, neighbour, child, Polly Ryan— and those of places: town, school, shop, Australia, room. It is when we get into the names of qualities, feelings and ideas that we get into the area of abstract nouns, and sometimes these may be more difficult concepts for children to grasp. One way of explaining it is to suggest that a concrete noun is anything that you can trip over in the corridor, and that it is not possible to trip over an abstract noun. This idea helps them to understand that one may trip over a murderer, a walker, a writer, a turner, or an aged person, but not over murder, walking, writing, turn, ageing. By the same token, one may trip over a hated, loved, feared, insecure or confident person, but one cannot trip over hatred, love, fear, insecurity, or confidence. One may trip over a communist, a capitalist, a Buddhist, an Anglican or a philosopher in the corridor, but not (at least, not literally) over communism, capitalism, Buddhism, Anglicanism, or philosophy. Again, using a sentence to show how the word functions as a noun will work. When you give examples of each of these, you will find that you are drawing on your semantic (meaning) and syntactic (structure) knowledge of the language to confirm what you suggest. If you use the word in a sentence, you will see whether it makes sense or not. That is a good guide to the way a word functions in a sentence to create the meaning that is intended. Try this with the activities given below. ‘ Try it 1.2 Write down the concrete nouns from which these abstract nouns have been formed (person, place, action, quality, feeling, idea, thing): priesthood: Prebyterianism: socialism: politics: belief: 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 5 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only 6 Part 1 Parts of Speech and Rules of Grammar Oxford University Press ANZ Answers priest Presbyterian socialist politician ’ believer Common and proper nouns Common nouns are general terms naming everyday, common-or-garden variety things and start with a lower case letter: teacher, school, student, town/city, friend, rat. Proper nouns are individual terms naming unique individuals and start with an upper case letter: teacher: Mr Kelly school: Wendouree Primary School student: Deborah Politis town/city: Ballarat friend: Pat Smith rat: Basil Whether children apply the concept of upper and lower case letters for proper and common nouns or not will have no real bearing on the function of the word, but it will make the meaning more precise in their writing. Starting proper nouns with a capital letter and common nouns with a lower case letter is really part of spelling conventions, not necessarily a grammatical consideration, but children ought to know it as part of producing their own polished pieces of writing. On this point, we do not usually call our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles by their names. We give our parents and grandparents respectfully affectionate names such as Mum, Mummy and Mama for our mothers; Dad, Daddy, and Papa for our fathers; Nanna, Gran, Grandma, Granny, Pop, Granddad and Grandpa for our grandparents. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 6 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only Chapter 1 The Noun 7 Oxford University Press ANZ Aunts and uncles are given the courtesy title of Auntie or Aunt and Uncle before their given names. This is correct. What is not correct is then using the names or titles we give our relatives when we address them as naming what they are: we have mothers and fathers, not mums and dads! We have grandmothers and grandfathers, not nans and pops! We have aunts, not aunties! It is incorrect to introduce or refer to your parents as my/ Hot Tip 1.1: It is the way that the word is used in the sentences that determines your mum or my/your dad. It is incorrect to refer to the mums whether it is a noun or not (murder, and dads of Australia! They are the mothers and fathers of writing, love, killing). This is so for almost all Australia! It is incorrect to introduce or refer to your aunt as parts of speech. Use a word in a sentence your auntie! We do hear people, including teachers, use such (semantic and syntactic knowledge) to check whether it is a noun or some other terms, and the Grammar Police judge them on their lack of part of speech. knowledge. Plural nouns a Most nouns take their plural forms by adding s: hat, parent, umbrella, day, TV, 1980 become hats, parents, umbrellas, days, TVs, 1980s. b Nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, sh add es: princess, box, waltz, watch, marsh become princesses, boxes, waltzes, watches, marshes. c Nouns ending in f or fe change the f into v and add es: wife, thief, dwarf become wives, thieves, dwarves (not dwarfs, as the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs suggests. Again there is a reason: dwarfs is a verb [as in a tall person who dwarfs another]). The plurals of hoof and roof used always to be given as hooves and rooves, but we do accept hoofs and roofs nowadays. (Can you think of any other exceptions? Belief becomes beliefs, chief becomes chiefs, handkerchief becomes handkerchiefs. There are reasons for these: believes is a verb, chief comes from the French chef. Foreign words often come with their foreign rules of grammar.) d Nouns ending in a consonant and a y immediately following a consonant change the y into i and add es: diary, story, baby, lady become diaries, stories, babies, ladies. e Nouns ending in a vowel and a y just add s (see first rule): valley, storey, Monday become valleys, storeys, Mondays. Note: none of this applies to surnames. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 7 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only 8 Part 1 Parts of Speech and Rules of Grammar Oxford University Press ANZ We always simply add s to surnames that end in y: Kennedy Kennedys Kelly Kellys Hendry Hendrys f For nouns ending in o there is really only a rule of thumb: if the word is English, add es; if it is foreign, add s: piano, tomato, negro, folio, memo become pianos, tomatoes, negroes, volcanoes, folios, memos. g Some nouns have irregular plurals: child, (wo)man, fungus, goose, deer have rather idiosyncratic plural forms, so that they become (wo)men, fungi, geese, deer. Note: there are no apostrophes in any of the plural nouns given here. Have you found yourself wanting to put an apostrophe to any of these words? For some people, a word ending in s forms an irresistible attraction to add an apostrophe. This is incorrect! There are rules for using apostrophes, as shown in Chapter 4. Remember that under no circumstances, with no exceptions to the rule, does a possessive noun have an apostrophe to show that it is a plural noun. This can be something that children find a new concept as well. After all, they have been bombarded with advertising that throws an apostrophe in willy-nilly. It is not beyond the comprehension of children that apostrophes are not to be used to indicate plural nouns, and it is certainly not beyond ours. Understanding this, there are those of us, members of the ever-lurking Grammar Police, who simply do not buy any grammatically incorrect chicken kiev’s! We can try this with a common expression, keeping up with the Joneses. This is correctly written. Think of the rules: 1 A noun is the name of something and a proper noun has a capital letter: Jones. 2 If the noun ends in s, add es: Joneses. 3 Under no circumstances is an apostrophe used to indicate a plural noun; it is Joneses with no apostrophe. That is simple, isn’t it? If you try to do it any other way, you are complicating things unnecessarily and being incorrect as well. We can try it with other names of people that end in s: James; Zeegers; Rogers; Richards. What do we get, knowing our rule? We get Jameses; Zeegerses; Rogerses; Richardses. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 8 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only Chapter 1 The Noun 9 Oxford University Press ANZ You may use them in sentences like: We had drinks with the Jameses. The Zeegerses are getting together for a big family reunion. The Rogerses have written a book together. With the birth of another child, there are now eight Richardses altogether. We say plurals like these all the time; we tend not Hot Tip 1.2: An apostrophe is never to write them because they hardly ever come up in used to show the plural form of a noun. writing, except for the keeping up with the Joneses sort of There are no exceptions to this rule! statement. The rule about nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh does come up with things like boxes, princesses, actresses (and all those other —ess genderised forms of words, like actresses, that we do not use any more because we do not use sexist terms). Because of what they hear in the pronunciation of such words, and because of what they encounter in advertising, children may find this idea of no apostrophes to show plural nouns new, and, if they feel that magnetic pull of s on apostrophes, may simply try it that way in their writing. It is quite incorrect, and the Grammar Police are ever alert to this sort of thing. h Collective nouns are things grouped to help to give particular meaning—a herd of sheep, a school of fish, a class of children—or to add meaning in the choice of word to describe the group: a murder of crows; a gaggle of geese; a business of ferrets. Note: the group is a number of items, but the collective term for them is singular. You may have a range of issues, for example, which means that the verb you will use with this expression will also be singular: a range of issues is to be raised (not are); the next wave of athletes is coming (not are). i Uncountable nouns are always singular when taken as a grouping: hair (but strands of hair); furniture (but tables, chairs, beds); luggage (but bags, cases). Note: still no apostrophes! IN CONTEXT ‘ Programme and program: which do we use? In Australia, we favour program. In some other places, such as in the United States and United Kingdom, people favour programme (but use program for computer programs); we consider it an affectation to use the French spelling, a suggestion of a French education that we may or may not have. We consider program to be English, and so this is the one that we use. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 9 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only 10 Part 1 Parts of Speech and Rules of Grammar Oxford University Press ANZ FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR Now that you know what a noun is, you can take your knowledge a step further to consider its functions: A noun—the name of something or someone (the subject of a sentence)— does something (the verb, see Chapter 9) to or in or for or with or … another noun—also the name of something or someone [the object of the sentence])— in a sentence. It sets up the basic sentence structure of English: Subject–Verb–Object (S–V[–O]): Birds (noun: subject) fly in the air (noun: object). In this sentence, birds (a noun) fly (do something in) air (a noun). In relation to functional grammar, a noun (bird) is the subject of the sentence, and another noun (air) is the object of the sentence, the way a correct sentence is written. REVIEW You should now feel that you understand the noun well enough to teach it simply and clearly. Read the summary points below, then move on to the revision and practice exercises. Summary points There are three main things to remember about nouns: 1 They name all things, including things we cannot see, hear, touch, or smell. 2 There are rules for using them as singulars and plurals, and none of these rules includes the use of the apostrophe. 3 They are the subject and object of sentences. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 10 27/08/13 1:13 PM  Sample only Chapter 1 The Noun 11 Oxford University Press ANZ END OF CHAPTER REVISION 1 A noun is the name of any what? , , , , , ,. 2 a Suggest an appropriate noun for the following collective nouns: a pack of , a string of , a litter of , a gang of. b Mark which are singular (S) and which are plural (P) in 2a. 3 Give plurals for: table: , woman: , TV: , tooth: , CD: , penny: , sheep: , memo: , azalea: , viola: , pizza:. 4 Give abstract nouns for: integral: , capitalist: , warm: , real: , true: , beautiful: , young: , Hindu: , ethnic:. Answers appear on page 152. 01_ZEE_GRA_23096_TXT_SI.indd 11 27/08/13 1:13 PM  UNIT 1: NOUNS Lesson 1: Identifying nouns Nouns are commonly de¢ned as words that refer to a person, place, thing, or idea. How can you identify a noun? Quick tip 1.1 If you can put the word the in front of a word and it sounds like a unit, the word is a noun. For example, the boy sounds like a unit, so boy is a noun. The chair sounds like a unit, so chair is a noun. Compare these nouns to *the very, *the walked, *the because.Very, walked, and because are not nouns. While you can easily put the and very together (for example, the very tall boy), the very, by itself, does not work as a unit while the chair does. So, chair is a noun; very is not. (There is one kind of noun that cannot always have the in front of it; see Lesson 6 later in this unit.) Test yourself 1.1 Which of the following words are nouns? See if they sound like a unit when you put them here: the. Check the appropriate column. Noun Not a noun Sample: always............. Getting started (answers on p. 20) More practice (answers on the website) 1. tree...................................... 6. slowly...................................... 2. when...................................... 7. factory...................................... 3. beds...................................... 8. ticket...................................... 4. glass...................................... 9. boxes...................................... 5. said...................................... 10. almost...................................... Test yourself 1.2 Underline the nouns in these phrases. Test each word to see if it sounds like a unit when you put it here: the. Sample: all my friends Getting started (answers on p. 20) 1. your red sweater 4. many digital photos 2. those boxes 5. his very interesting article 3. a few men 3  UNIT 1: NOUNS More practice (answers on the website) 6. their carpets 9. our psychology professor 7. a hand-painted plate 10. two interesting museums 8. the court stenographer 4  Lesson 2: Concrete and abstract nouns Here’s an unusual sentence: He smelled the marriage.What makes this sentence unusual is that we don’t generally think of the noun marriage as something that can be smelled. Some nouns are concrete: they can be perceived by our senses ^ they are things that we can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch.Those nouns that are not concrete are abstract. Marriage is some- thing abstract, so it’s odd to say it’s being perceived by one of our senses, our sense of smell. The nouns in Lesson 1 were all concrete nouns. Other nouns, such as marriage, are abstract; this means that they refer to things that you cannot perceive with your senses, things you cannot see, smell, feel, taste, or touch. Here are some more concrete and abstract nouns: Concrete Abstract newspaper love heel honesty glass culture jewelry mind Quick tip 2.1 Concrete nouns refer to things we can perceive with one of our senses. Abstract nouns cannot be perceived by our senses. Test yourself 2.1 Decide if each noun is concrete or abstract. Sample: discussion abstract Getting started (answers on p. 20) More practice (answers on the website) 1. mu⁄n.................................................... 6. friend...................................................... 2. violin.................................................... 7. friendliness...................................................... 3. freedom.................................................... 8. economics...................................................... 4. elegance.................................................... 9. dormitory...................................................... 5. train.................................................... 10. capitalism...................................................... Test yourself 2.2 Which of the following words are nouns? See if they sound like a unit when you put them here: the.The nouns will all be abstract nouns. Check the appropriate column. Noun Not a noun Sample: confusion................... 5  UNIT 1: NOUNS Getting started (answers on p. 20) More practice (answers on the website) 1. concept...................................... 6. ran...................................... 2. shockingly...................................... 7. secret...................................... 3. wrote...................................... 8. her...................................... 4. conversation...................................... 9. death...................................... 5. interview...................................... 10. job...................................... An abstract noun is sometimes easier to identify if you create a sentence with it. For example, the happiness is a unit, as can be seen in The happiness on her face delighted him.Thus, happi- ness is a noun. Here are some other abstract nouns in sentences; the nouns are underlined. 1. It was not the complaint which bothered him. 2. They were attempting to stop the abuse. 3. The joy which they felt was obvious. Another easy way to identify a noun, especially an abstract noun, is to put the word his (or other words like it ^ see Lesson 21) in front of it and see if it sounds like a unit. For exam- ple, his complaint, his happiness, his concern all are units; therefore, complaint, happiness, and concern are nouns. Quick tip 2.2 If you can put his in front of a word and it sounds like a unit, the word is a noun. Test yourself 2.3 Which of the following words are nouns? See if they sound like a unit when you put them here: his.The nouns will all be abstract nouns. Check the appropriate column. Noun Not a noun Sample: obligation................... Getting started (answers on p. 20) More practice (answers on the website) 1. jumped...................................... 6. closed...................................... 2. appropriate...................................... 7. celebration...................................... 3. popularity...................................... 8. their...................................... 4. emotions...................................... 9. news...................................... 5. real...................................... 10. spoken...................................... Test yourself 2.4 Which of the following words are nouns? These are a mix of concrete and abstract nouns. Check the appropriate column. Noun Not a noun Sample: while................... 6  Lesson 2: Concrete and abstract nouns Getting started (answers on p. 21) More practice (answers on the website) 1. repair...................................... 6. obstruction...................................... 2. intelligence...................................... 7. pounds...................................... 3. a...................................... 8. disgraceful...................................... 4. skis...................................... 9. complicated...................................... 5. us...................................... 10. since...................................... Test yourself 2.5 Underline the nouns in the sentences below. In this exercise, the nouns will all have the or his in front of them. Some will be concrete and some will be abstract. Some sentences have more than one noun. Sample: His answer wasn’t helpful. Getting started (answers on p. 21) More practice (answers on the website) 1. She read the play over again. 6. The glitterati always like to follow the fashion of the day. 2. The actions became monotonous. 7. They will repair his stove. 3. He felt that his marriage, his relationship with her, was strong. 8. The arrangement was good for all of them. 4. The time had ¢nally come to confess the 9. The audience stared at the screen, truth. fascinated by the action they were seeing. 5. He’s the boy who delivers the paper. 10. The de¢nition was in his dictionary. The nouns are underlined in the following sentences: 4. This author lives with her husband. 5. Do most people proceed contentedly through life? 6. Your photograph of that child sleeping won you a prize. As you can see from these sentences, while the or his are ways to test a word to see if it’s a noun, a noun doesn’t necessarily have the or his in front of it in every sentence. Since we can say the author, the husband, the people, his life, the photograph, his child, and his prize, the underlined words in sentences 4^6 are each nouns. Test yourself 2.6 Underline the nouns in the sentences below. In this exercise, the nouns will not all have the or his in front of them. Just test each word to see if it can be a noun. Sample: The repair of my camera went smoothly. Getting started (answers on p. 21) More practice (answers on the website) 1. I wrote every word of the letter. 6. A group of three generals sent the troops away. 2. The house was near the city. 7. The £ag was near your desk. 3. Why did he get on an elevator? 8. My mother acted in a play. 4. She has my phone. 9. He called the house every day. 5. Your younger brother was busy. 10. You have to give her salary and bene¢ts. 7  UNIT 1: NOUNS It’s important to realize that the same word can often be used as more than one part of speech. For example, repair can be used as a noun (example: The repair was relatively inex- pensive), as an adjective (example: The repair manual was not very helpful), or as a verb (example: He needs to repair the washing machine).We’ll talk about verbs and adjectives in Units 2 and 4, respectively. 8  Lesson 3: Singular and plural nouns What’s the di¡erence between cat and cats? The noun cat is used when it refers to only one cat; its form is singular. The noun cats is used when it represents more than one cat; its form is plural. Thus, the singular and plural forms tell us about number. Below are some nouns in their singular and plural forms. Singular Plural box boxes bed beds kite kites day days country countries man men child children Test yourself 3.1 Underline each noun in the sentences below and indicate whether it is singular (SG) or plural (PL). There may be more than one noun in a sentence. Sample: They used her computer (SG) to download the ¢les (PL). Getting started (answers on p. 21) More practice (answers on the website) 1. He had a few good ideas. 6. Sharks live in water. 2. The boys spoke in a quiet whisper. 7. Yesterday, I caught a big trout. 3. The tourists greeted the queen with attitudes 8. There are many beautiful homes on this block. of respect. 9. Visitors to this country must obtain visas. 4. My neighbor is a neurologist. 10. His cousin fought in a brutal battle to free 5. The exterminator found bugs in the o⁄ce. ninety hostages. Regular and irregular plurals Usually, we pluralize a noun by adding an‘‘s’’ to it, as in books; these nouns are called regu- lar.There are a handful of nouns that are pluralized in other ways; these nouns are called irregular. Irregular nouns form their plural in di¡erent ways. Here are some common patterns: 1. changing a vowel: man/men, for example 2. adding ‘‘ren’’or ‘‘en’’: child/children, for example 3. adding nothing: ¢sh/¢sh, for example 4. changing ‘‘f ’’ to‘‘v’’and then adding ‘‘s’’: knife/knives, for example Test yourself 3.2 Underline each plural noun in the sentences below and indicate if it is regular (REG) or irregular (IRREG) in terms of how it is pluralized. Sample: The women (IRREG) received their education at some exclusive schools (REG). 9  UNIT 1: NOUNS Getting started (answers on p. 21) More practice (answers on the website) 1. The doctor treated most of the patients who 6. Those husbands and wives lead interesting were waiting. lives. 2. The geese crossed the road near my car. 7. Her feet have grown since last year. 3. She set a trap to catch the mice that had 8. The back window of my apartment invaded her kitchen. overlooks about a dozen roofs. 4. You will have to feed the oxen most 9. The salesmen surrounded me in the afternoons. showroom. 5. Whenever I travel to the countryside, 10. Kenneth had to buy two bottles of I see many sheep, ducks, deer, and disinfectant to get rid of the lice in his cows. bathroom. To enhance your understanding What is the plural of the ‘‘word’’ blun? Even though you’ve probably never seen this nonsense word, you’re likely to say its plural is bluns. That’s because we don’t have to memorize the ending of regular plurals; we simply use our plural formation rule: ‘‘add s.’’ But the forms for irregular plural words, like children and men, need to be memorized since they don’t follow a consistent pattern. To further enhance your understanding Earlier we said that we usually pluralize a noun in English by adding an ‘‘s’’ to it. There’s actually more to it than that, when one examines the pronunciation of regular nouns more closely. Here are some regular English nouns: A B cat dog lip bee myth car laugh deal Say each word in column A out loud, adding its plural ending. (Don’t whisper, or this won’t work.) You’ll notice that, as you expect, you’re adding an [s] sound to each word. (Symbols in square brackets [ ] indicate sounds rather than letters.) Now say each word in column B out loud, adding its plural ending. If you listen carefully, you’ll notice that you’re not adding an [s] sound to each word to make it plural. You’re actually adding a [z] sound! (If English is not your native language, you may not be doing this.) It turns out that we learned, when we were acquiring English as children, that it is the last sound, and not letter, of a regular noun that determines whether we add [s] or [z]. Some sounds (voiced sounds) are made with our vocal cords vibrating, like the strings of a guitar. Try this: hold your hand touching your throat, about where a man’s Adam’s apple is, while you say and hold a [v] sound ([v v v v v... ]). You’ll feel the vibration of your vocal cords. 10 Lesson 3: Singular and plural nouns Other sounds (voiceless sounds) are made with our vocal cords not vibrating. Now touch your hand to your throat again and this time say and hold an [f] sound ([f f f f f... ]); you will notice the lack of vibration. So how do we know whether to say the plural with an [s] or [z] sound? If the last sound of a word is a voiceless sound, we add an [s] sound to make it plural. If the last sound of a word is a voiced sound, we add a [z] sound to make it plural. This is not a rule that someone has ever taught us, but part of our unconscious knowledge of English. Notice that having an [s] sound after voiceless sounds makes sense: [s] itself is voiceless. By the same reasoning, having a [z] after voiced sounds also makes sense: [z] itself is voiced. So what you can see is that the last sound of the noun and the sound of the regular plural share the same voicing characteristic: either the vocal cords vibrate for both sounds, or they don’t. You may have noticed that there’s actually a third type of regular noun. Say the following words out loud, adding the plural ending to each: glass garage maze church wish judge These words all already end in sounds (again, not letters) that are either [s] or [z] or sounds very similar to them. They are all ‘‘noisy’’ sounds. For the plural forms of these words, we add a vowel sound (written with the letter e) followed by a [z] sound (but written with the letter s): glasses, mazes, wishes, garages, churches, judges. If you think about it, pronounc- ing a vowel between the noisy sound at the end of the noun and the noisy sound [z] of the plural makes sense: without that vowel, we would have two noisy sounds in a row, something that would be harder for the listener to hear clearly. Wow! You may want to just pause for a moment here and contemplate the complexity of what you know about your language. And you knew how to do this before you even went to kindergarten! You just haven’t known that you know it. 11  Lesson 4: Animate and inanimate nouns Take a look at the following sentence: 1. The postcard saw the mailman. What’s strange about this sentence? What’s strange is that we don’t expect a postcard, which is not alive, to be able to see something; only things that are alive have the ability to see. Nouns that refer to things that are alive are called animate, while nouns that refer to things that are not alive are called inanimate. Postcard is an inanimate noun and using it as an animate one makes for a very unusual sentence. Quick tip 4.1 Animate nouns refer to things that are alive; inanimate nouns refer to things that are not alive. Test yourself 4.1 Decide if each noun is animate or inanimate. Sample: apple inanimate Getting started (answers on p. 21) More practice (answers on the website) 1. word.................................................. 6. criminal...................................................... 2. lizard.................................................. 7. furniture...................................................... 3. glasses.................................................. 8. doctor...................................................... 4. calendar.................................................. 9. mouse...................................................... 5. baby.................................................. 10. truck...................................................... Now take a look at the following sentence: 2. The dog wrote a best-selling novel. Again, there’s something strange here.We know that dog is animate. However, only a special type of animate noun has the ability to write a best-selling novel: a human noun.The follow- ing sentence is ¢ne, since teacher is a human animate noun: My teacher wrote a best-selling novel. On the other hand, since dog is a nonhuman animate noun, sentence 2 does not sound right. To summarize: nouns may be human animate (teacher), nonhuman animate (dog), or inanimate (postcard). Test yourself 4.2 Decide if each noun is animate or inanimate. If a noun is animate, decide if it is human or nonhuman. Sample: chair inanimate 12  Lesson 4: Animate and inanimate nouns Getting started (answers on p. 21) More practice (answers on the website) 1. dinner.......................................................... 6. tablecloth.............................................................. 2. pet.......................................................... 7. recipes.............................................................. 3. friend.......................................................... 8. assassin.............................................................. 4. child.......................................................... 9. shark.............................................................. 5. spider.......................................................... 10. freedom.............................................................. 13  Lesson 5: Count and noncount nouns Let’s take a closer look at the noun hand. Notice that you can say the following: the hand a hand hands Here are some other nouns which demonstrate the same pattern: the store a store stores the idea an idea ideas the tissue a tissue tissues Let’s compare hand to the noun furniture. As with hand, we can say the furniture. But we can’t say *a furniture or *furnitures. Here are some other nouns which demonstrate the same pattern as furniture: the dust *a dust *dusts the energy *an energy *energies the biology *a biology *biologies Thus, there are some nouns that can be counted, and so we can use a or an with them and can also make them plural.These nouns are called, appropriately, count nouns. Hand is a count noun. So are store, idea, and tissue. There are other nouns that typically are not counted, and so we do not use a or an with them and do not typically make them plural. These nouns are called, also appropriately, noncount nouns. (Another name for a noncount noun is a mass noun.) Furniture is a non- count noun. So are dust, energy, and biology. You may well be saying to yourself,‘‘Wait a minute. I can count furniture. I can say some- thing like: three couches and three chairs make six pieces of furniture.’’ And of course, you’d be right. But notice that in this sentence, the words couch and chair can be made plu- ral, but not the word furniture. And the word piece can be made plural, but, again, not the word furniture. Quick tip 5.1 If you can pluralize a noun in a sentence, it is functioning as a count noun. Note that a noun is considered to be a count noun if it can be made plural, even if it’s not plural in a particular sentence. Thus, in the sentence I ate a cookie, cookie is a count noun because one could pluralize it to cookies without changing its basic meaning. Test yourself 5.1 For each underlined noun in the sentences below, indicate if it is count (C) or noncount (NC). Use the plural test to help you. 14  Lesson 5: Count and noncount nouns Sample: Her hairstyle (C) clearly revealed her face. Getting started (answers on p. 22) More practice (answers on the website) 1. The lights ( ) of the city ( ) 6. The police ( ) will be here in a moment. twinkled. 7. He leaned on the handle ( ) and cursed. 2. I love eating rice ( ). 8. I was so thirsty, I needed three glasses 3. His anger ( ) was barely under ( ) of water ( ). control. 9. How much money ( ) do you make in 4. Her job ( ) was rather demanding. an hour ( )? 5. Many types of information ( ) are 10. By 11P. M., the train-station ( ) was available at the library ( ). nearly empty. There is also another good way to decide if a noun is count or noncount. Take a look at the use of the words much and many in the following sentences. 1. He has many children. 2. That man has many interests. 3. That will take too much time. 4. They have many lights on in the house. 5. We have much furniture in our store. 6. I wonder how much wealth is in SiliconValley. As you may have noticed, many is used with count nouns, much is used with noncount nouns. Quick tip 5.2 If you can use many with a noun (when it is pluralized), it’s a count noun. If you can use much with a noun, it’s a noncount noun. And we have still another way to distinguish count from noncount nouns: 7. He has fewer children than I do. 8. That man has fewer interests than he used to. 9. That will take less time than I thought. 10. They have fewer lights on in the house. 11. We have less furniture in our store. 12. I don’t have less money in my purse than you have. As you’ve probably ¢gured out from these examples, we use fewer with count nouns and less with noncount nouns. Quick tip 5.3 If you can use fewer with a noun (when it is pluralized), it’s a count noun. If you can use less with a noun, it’s a noncount noun. 15  UNIT 1: NOUNS Test yourself 5.2 For each underlined noun in the sentences below, indicate if it is being used as a count (C) or noncount (NC) noun in that sentence. Use the plural, much/many, or fewer/less tests to help you. Sample: Their new album (C) was a huge hit. Getting started (answers on p. 22) More practice (answers on the website) 1. Algebra ( ) was one of my worst 6. People ( ) are funny sometimes. subjects ( ) in high school ( ). 7. The government ( ) of the United 2. I had no idea that there were various States has three branches ( ). theories ( ), such as Euclidean 8. Senators ( ) can spend money and fractal. ( ) unnecessarily. 3. The smoke ( ) rose through the 9. It takes e¡ort ( ) to get a good chimney ( ). grade ( ) in Mr. Goodman’s 4. Bread ( ) is a staple in many class ( ). societies ( ). 10. The reporters ( ) wrote the story 5. She decided to push the issue ( ) ( ). further. To enhance your understanding Many nouns can be used as either count nouns or as noncount nouns, depending on how they are being used in a specific sentence. Let’s look at the following sentence containing the word sugar: 13. The sugar is spilling onto the floor. In this sentence, is sugar being used as a count or noncount noun? Would you say: The sugars are spilling onto the floor? or Many sugars are spilling onto the floor? Probably not. So sugar, in sentence 13, is a noncount noun. Now take a look at another sentence with sugar: 14. This gourmet shop has sugars I’ve never even heard of. In this sentence, is sugar being used as a count or noncount noun? First, notice that sugar here is pluralized. Second, notice that you can say This gourmet shop has many sugars I’ve never even heard of. So sugar, in sentence 14, is a count noun. In terms of meaning, what is important here is that the sentence is talking about different types of sugars, say, brown sugar, white sugar, confectioners’ sugar, etc. And one more sentence type with sugar: 15. The sugar that works best in this recipe is brown sugar. Here, sugar, while not pluralized, could be pluralized and refers, in fact, to a kind of sugar. For example, you could say: The sugars that work best in this recipe are brown sugar and white sugar. For these reasons, sugar is being used here as a count noun. Here are some more examples of sentences with nouns which, like sugar, are typically used as noncount nouns but can also be used as count nouns. 16a. I like to drink milk. (milk used as noncount noun) 16b. That store has milks with different kinds of flavoring: chocolate, vanilla, mocha, and strawberry. (milks used as count noun) 16 Lesson 5: Count and noncount nouns 16c. The milk that is the healthiest is nonfat milk. (milk used as count noun) 17a. A plentiful supply of water is important for a community’s survival. (water used as noncount noun) 17b. There are different kinds of gourmet waters on the market these days. (waters used as count noun) 17c. The water I usually order in restaurants is imported. (water used as count noun) 17  Lesson 6: Proper and common nouns Do the following sentences look a little strange? 1. Mrs. smith took the 10th grade class of lincoln high school to france for a trip. 2. The class visited paris and was thrilled to see the ei¡el tower. Normally, we capitalize the ¢rst letter of nouns that are actual names, no matter where they are in a sentence. Let’s look at the same sentences with the names capitalized: 3. Mrs. Smith took the 10th grade class of Lincoln High School to France for a trip. 4. The class visited Paris and was thrilled to see the Ei¡el Tower. Nouns that are actual names are called proper nouns; nouns that are not names are called common nouns. Notice that not only people have names: places (Rome), companies (IBM), and books (GoneWith theWind), among others, can have names, too. Quick tip 6.1 Nouns that are actual names, for example Mary, are called proper nouns. Nouns that are not names are called common nouns, e.g. girl. Quick tip 6.2 One way to identify a proper noun is to ask yourself: is this a noun I would capitalize, no matter where it is in a sentence? If so, it’s a proper noun. Test yourself 6.1 For each noun below, determine if it is a proper noun or common noun. For this exercise, the proper nouns are not capitalized. Sample: england proper Getting started (answers on p. 22) More practice (answers on the website) 1. seattle............................... 6. mediterranean sea............................... 2. crater lake national park............................... 7. disneyland............................... 3. tissues............................... 8. company............................... 4. sofa............................... 9. british broadcasting company............................... 5. pepsi cola............................... 10. television............................... 18 Lesson 6: Proper and common nouns To enhance your understanding In Lesson 1 we said that words that can have the in front of them and sound like a complete unit are nouns. That still works. The reverse, however, is not true: not all proper nouns can have the in front of them. Compare the following proper nouns. Those on the left use the; those on the right do not. 5. a. The United States Great Britain The Netherlands France b. The Holy See Holy Cross University c. The Jolly Green Giant Big Foot d. The Bronx Manhattan Most proper nouns don’t use the – just think of the names of people you know. Those few cases where a proper noun does use the are exceptions; we memorize those. 19  Answer keys: Test yourself, Getting started questions – Unit 1 Test yourself 1.1 Noun Not a noun 1. tree................... 2. when................... 3. beds................... 4. glass................... 5. said................... Test yourself 1.2 1. your red sweater 2. those boxes 3. a few men 4. many digital photos 5. his very interesting article Test yourself 2.1 1. mu⁄n concrete 2. violin concrete 3. freedom abstract 4. elegance abstract 5. train concrete Test yourself 2.2 Noun Not a noun 1. concept................... 2. shockingly................... 3. wrote................... 4. conversation................... 5. interview................... Test yourself 2.3 Noun Not a noun 1. jumped................... 2. appropriate................... 3. popularity................... 4. emotions................... 5. real................... 20  Answer keys: Unit 1 Test yourself 2.4 Noun Not a noun 1. repair................... 2. intelligence................... 3. a................... 4. skis................... 5. us................... Test yourself 2.5 1. She read the play over again. 2. The actions became monotonous. 3. He felt that his marriage, his relationship with her, was strong. 4. The time had ¢nally come to confess the truth. 5. He’s the boy who delivers the paper. Test yourself 2.6 1. I wrote every word of the letter. 2. The house was near the city. 3. Why did he get on an elevator? 4. She has my phone. 5. Your younger brother was busy. Test yourself 3.1 1. He had a few good ideas (PL). 2. The boys (PL) spoke in a quiet whisper (SG). 3. The tourists (PL) greeted the queen (SG) with attitudes (PL) of respect (SG). 4. My neighbor (SG) is a neurologist (SG). 5. The exterminator (SG) found bugs (PL) in the o⁄ce (SG). Test yourself 3.2 1. The doctor treated most of the patients (REG) who were waiting. 2. The geese (IRREG) crossed the road near my car. 3. She set a trap to catch the mice (IRREG) that had invaded her kitchen. 4. You will have to feed the oxen (IRREG) most afternoons (REG). 5. Whenever I travel to the countryside, I see many sheep (IRREG), ducks (REG), deer (IRREG), and cows (REG). Test yourself 4.1 1. word inanimate 2. lizard animate 3. glasses inanimate 4. calendar inanimate 5. baby animate Test yourself 4.2 1. dinner inanimate 2. pet nonhuman animate 21  UNIT 1: NOUNS 3. friend human animate 4. child human animate 5. spider nonhuman animate Test yourself 5.1 1. The lights (C) of the city (C) twinkled. 2. I love eating rice (NC). 3. His anger (NC) was barely under control. 4. Her job (C) was rather demanding. 5. Many types of information (NC) are available at the library (C). Test yourself 5.2 1. Algebra (NC) was one of my worst subjects (C) in high school (C). 2. I had no idea that there were various theories (C), such as Euclidean and fractal. 3. The smoke (NC) rose through the chimney (C). 4. Bread (NC) is a staple in many societies (C). 5. She decided to push the issue (C) further. Test yourself 6.1 1. seattle proper 2. crater lake national park proper 3. tissues common 4. sofa common 5. pepsi cola proper ☞ FOR A REVIEW EXERCISE OF THIS UNIT, SEE THE WEBSITE. 22  Word Formation Form nouns from these words Long Hot Conclude Destroy Explode Simple Provide Deter Divide Narrate  Real False Able Alter Engrave Persuade Pronounce Explain Inferior Broad