This post is the first in a series of studies of English grammar and writing. I would have loved to write a summary of the history of English before posting these notes, but because of time constrictions, I will only post my notes. These notes form the first of my study of the Principles of English Grammar, which will look at the English noun.
Principles of English Grammar
“This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” - Winston Churchill
The eight parts of speech are:
1. noun
2. pronoun
3. verb
4. adjective
5. adverb
6. preposition
7. conjunction
8. interjection
FIRST PART OF SPEECH: THE NOUN
1. noun = name; persons, creatures, animals, places, objects, activities, concepts (these are all named and so they are all nouns)
Examples: man, men, women, child, people, doctor, friend, Johnny, Sally, Bill, president = persons; ants, insect, snake, bear, eagle, bird, butterfly, dog, bacteria = creatures/animals; country, state, park, home, restaurant, street = places; tree, pencil, phone, light, wood = objects; run, ski, jump, helping, giving, speech, reading = activities; honesty, truth, good, bad, minute, year = concepts.
Nouns function in sentences as subject, object, adjective or adverb:
Subject: the lead actor of a sentence.
Direct object: the recipient of an action.
Indirect object: the object to or for which an action is performed, taking a preposition such as to or for.
Object of a preposition: shows the relationship that a noun or pronoun has with another word in the sentence by placing a preposition before it. (More info under Prepositions)
Adjective: modifies or clarifies another noun.
Adverb: modifies a verb. (More info under Adverbs)
Common nouns are non-specific: dog, cat, house, man, woman, child, etc.
Proper nouns are specific names, beginning with a capital letter: Adam, Park Avenue, Margarite, Kindle Fire, Hershey Chocolate Factory, etc.
Collective nouns refer to groups in a singular word, but they do not refer to individuals: family, company, collection, group, choir, session, assembly, troop, herd, flock, set, etc.
Collective nouns may be used as plural nouns when referring to the diversity of a collective group: The committee have different opinions regarding their plan.
Plural nouns refer to more than one. Most plural nouns end with s or es, although there are many exceptions: children, women, men, geese, mice, feet, teeth, alumni, media, data, crises are all plural nouns (child, woman, man, goose, mouse, foot, tooth, alumnus, medium, datum, crisis are their singular cases).
Other nouns do not change their form when plural: deer, hose, moose, sheep, species, coal.
Some nouns have more than one plural form: brothers/brethren, appendixes/appendices, focuses/foci.
The collective noun can also be plural in case and form when it refers to several collective groups: families, companies, collections, groups, choirs, sessions, assemblies, troops, herds, flocks, sets.
Possessive nouns denote possession or ownership and can be written with an apostrophe ‘s or with the preposition of: the man’s wife, the woman’s children, the wife of the man, the children of the woman, etc.
Plural possessive nouns can be written with an apostrophe after the s’ rather than in front: the boys’ toys, the girls’ dolls (the boy’s toys and the girl’s dolls are singular).
Nouns have gender? Yes they do, at least that’s how we sometimes describe them. Gender classifies nouns as either masculine, feminine or neuter. Neuter nouns do not distinguish between masculine and feminine, can include both or refer to neither: bird, family, parent, friend, rock, house, car. Noun gender rarely means that a noun is male or female, except when it actually refers to males or females: boy, girl, grandmother, father, ewe, ram, bull, cow, hen. Many of the world’s languages use different forms of the articles (like the, they) which change depending on the noun’s gender. Thankfully English no longer does that!
Gerund is a verb ending that denotes continuous action, but it can also get attached to nouns: running is good for you, googling usually helps when I want to find an answer, let’s go skiing, hiking, biking, or riding (these are mostly verbs that get used as nouns).
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