Noun (Gender/plurals/irregular plurals/compounds/only singular/Group nouns)

 Существительное. Виды существительных

A noun is the name of a person, thing, place, or idea.  

Nouns can be:

Proper (соб­ствен­ные) = specific names capitalized

Common (на­ри­ца­тель­ные) = names of things

cup, table, hand

Рис. 1. Пер­вые слова – су­ще­стви­тель­ные

 Род существительных

Formation of feminine gender

Formation of feminine gender (об­ра­зо­ва­ние жен­ско­го рода):

by using an entirely different word (e.g., man – woman, boy – girl, father – mother, horse – mare, husband – wife, cock – hen, gentleman – lady);

by adding a syllable -ess,-ine,-trix (e.g., actor – actress, hero – heroine, lion – lioness, prince – princess).

Gender of a noun

In English, most nouns do not have grammatical genders. So, they may refer to male or female people or animals.

Nouns Gender

masculine

муж­ской род

boy, lion, hero, man, brother, son

feminine

жен­ский род

girl, lioness, heroine, woman, sister,daughter 

neuter

сред­ний род

neither male nor female

book, pen, paper, stone, tree, star

common

общий род

either male or female

parent, student, teacher, child, friend,cousin, neighbor

 When you want to replace the noun in the sentence with the personal pronoun, you have to use he or shefor people (male or female) (рис. 2), it – for most other nouns.

При­мер:

This is the bravest  I have ever seen.  has saved my life!

This  goes in for sports.  goes for a run every morning!

This  is very comfortable.   is my favourite one.

Рис. 2. Жен­ский и муж­ской род

 Множественное число существительных. Исключения из правил

Plural nouns

car – cars, lamp – lamps, table – tables

box – boxes, dish – dishes, sandwich – sandwiches

calf – calves, knife – knives, loaf – loaves, shelf – shelves, wolf – wolves, wife – wives, leaf – leaves

chief – chiefs, handkerchief – handkerchiefs, roof – roofs, safe – safes

a sheep – twosheep, adeer – twodeer, aswine – severalswine, abison – fivebison, afish – twofish, ameans – severalmeans, aspecies – differentspecies, aseries – twoseries

Use these nouns with the singular verb (if they are used in singular) or with the plural verb (if they are used in plural).

При­мер:

A deeris a graceful animal.

There are three deer in the Zoo.

This is a big fish. My father has caught it.

Tropical fishare small and brightly colored.

Рис. 3. Мно­же­ствен­ное и един­ствен­ное число

Irregular nouns

Man – men Woman – women Mouse – mice Foot – feet Goose – geese Tooth – teeth	Person – people Child – children	Ox – oxen

 Существительные, используемые только в единственном числе

Nouns only in singular in English

music, water, friendship, childhood, love, iron

advice (совет/со­ве­ты)

information (ин­фор­ма­ция/све­де­ния)

knowledge (зна­ние/зна­ния)

progress (успех/успе­хи)

news (но­вость/но­во­сти)

При­мер:

She gave me some good advice. – Она дала мне несколь­кохо­ро­шихсо­ве­тов.

We have little information about it. – У нас малоин­фор­ма­ции об этом.

I am happy to know some good news from him. – Я очень рад узнать хо­ро­шие но­во­сти от него.  

mathematics, physics, phonetics, linguistics

При­мер:

Linguisticsis fascinating.

 Существительные, используемые только во множественном числе

Nouns Plural Form

Spelling:

nouns ending in consonant and -y → -ies (e.g., baby – babies, gallery– galleries, city – cities,army – armies); 

nouns ending in -o + -es (e.g., potato – potatoes, hero – heroes).
BUT: piano – pianos, photo – photos, kilo – kilos, zero – zeros.

 Сложные существительные

Nouns only in plural

scissors, trousers, scales, glasses, gloves

При­мер:

These scissors are very sharp.

Where are my glasses?

Your trousersare too long.

Use these nouns with the expression “” if you want to count them (with singular/plural verbs)

a pair of jeans, a pair of shoes, a pair of slippers, a pair of gloves, a pair of earrings

При­мер:

This pair of earringssuits you.

These four pairs of jeansneed washing.  

 (одеж­да),  (товар/то­ва­ры),  (со­дер­жа­ние),  (лест­ни­ца/лест­ни­цы),  (ору­жие),  (окра­и­на/окра­и­ны),  (зар­пла­та)

При­мер:

Your clothesare dirty.

Thesegoodsare very important to us.

Theseoutskirtsare very picturesque.

Рис. 4. Мно­же­ствен­ное и един­ствен­ное число

Stress in compound nouns

Compound nouns are very common in English. So, you need to stress them correctly. In compound nouns both words are stressed. And primary stress is on the first word.

При­мер:football, armchair, mailbox, writingdesk, highschool, swimming pool.

Compound nouns

Compound nouns consist of two or more words. They may be written separately (e.g., night club, full moon), written with a hyphen (e.g., check-in, forget-me-not), or written as one word (e.g., flashlight, toothpaste).

Plural for compound nouns

 

father-in-law – fathers-in-law, couch potato – couch potatoes 

  

photocopy – photocopies, toothbrush – toothbrushes

! 

workman – workmen

 Собирательные существительные

Collective nouns

Collective nouns refer to a group of something as a whole unit (рис. 5).

При­мер:

army, class, company, group, team

Рис. 5. Со­би­ра­тель­ные су­ще­стви­тель­ные

These nouns are unique because they can function as plural or singular nouns without changing forms. So, they can go with singular or plural verbs. The choice depends on the following:

noun used as a singular one – if it is described as a single unit

noun used as a plural one – if it is made up of individuals

При­мер:

Every summer the football teamgoes on holiday. All members of the team are satisfied with the game.

Nouns people and police are always plural.

При­мер:

People say that the police are investigating the case.

! 

I

При­мер:The Russian peopleis hospitable. – Рус­ский народ го­сте­при­им­ный.

The peoples of this area have been living there for ages. – На­ро­ды в этой мест­но­сти жили на про­тя­же­нии веков.

Рис. 6.

 Упражнение

Чтобы лучше по­нять и усво­ить осо­бен­но­сти упо­треб­ле­ния су­ще­стви­тель­ных, необ­хо­ди­мо вы­пол­нить сле­ду­ю­щее упраж­не­ние.

Open the brackets and put the word in the correct form

They ate some (tomato).

Why do you need two (piano)?

You can put some (sugar) in your tea.

I need to wash my (hair).

They have a lot of (money).

How many (people to be) at the cinema with you?

Could you give me some (information) on your project?

Those (woman) seem to be very tired.

Why are these (child) crying?

I saw many beautiful (fish) in the Red Sea.

The police in our town (work) well.

These deer (to be) so graceful.

All members of our class (like) this teacher.

От­ве­ты к упраж­не­нию:

They ate some tomatoes.

Why do you need two pianos?

You can put some sugar in your tea.

I need to wash my hair.

They have a lot of money.

How many people are at the cinema with you?

Could you give me some information on your project?

Those women seem to be very tired.

Why are these children crying?

I saw many beautiful fish in the Red Sea.

The police in our town work well.

These deer are so graceful.

All members of our class like this teacher.

Вопросы к конспектам