The noun a word expressing substance in the

The noun a word expressing substance in the widest sense of the word

Nouns Proper Common (London, John, Monday, May) Class Nouns of Collective Abstract (dog, table) material (family) (idea) (snow, iron)

Genders of nouns Masculine Feminine Neutral he she it (men, boys, (women, girls, (things, babies, animals when animals when animals when we know their we know their we don’t know sex) sex, countries, their sex) ships, vehicles when regarded with affection)

Most nouns describing people have the same form whether they are male or female (teacher, student). Some nouns have different forms: actor – actress groom – bride waiter – waitress host – hostess widower – widow steward – stewardess prince – princess hero – heroine duke – duchess king – queen monk – nun heir - heiress

Noun-forming suffixes: -er, -or, -ar, -est, -ness, -ism, -ess, -(a)ion, -tion, -sion, -hood, -dom, -ship, -ment, -ance, -ence, -ty, -ity, -ure, -age, -y, -ee, -ian, -al, -sis, -cy The most common prefixes: re-, co-, dis-, mis-, over-, under-, sub-, inter- Compound nouns: one word (classroom), two words (CD player), hyphen (game-tester)

Nouns Countable Uncountable denote things that denote things we can be counted can’t count can take singular and always take singular plural verbs; verbs; go with –a,-an,-my/his/ don’t go with –a,-an, her/your/its/our/their, one/two…, these/ -this/these/that/those those

We use –a, -an, one/two… with such uncountables as tea, coffee, etc. when we order smth. in a restaurant, etc.

Some problems with uncountables Some nouns are uncountable in English but countable in Russian: advice (совет), news (новости), money (деньги), information (сведения), progress (успех), travel (путешествие), trouble (проблема), hair (волосы), success (успех), toast (гренки), applause (аплодисменты), knowledge (знания), evidence (признак, свидетельство),spaghetti (спагетти), failure (неудача), fruit (фрукты), etc.

Some problems with uncountables Some nouns can be used as countable or uncountable with a difference in meaning: a glass(стакан), glasses(очки), a paper(газета), papers(документы), a hair(волосина), an iron(утюг), a wood(лес), times(разы), experiences(события), works(произведения), a chicken ( the animal), a toast (тост), a help (помощник), a gossip (сплетник), cheeses/fruits and other words denoting different sorts of a given material or food, etc.

Some problems with uncountables Many uncountable nouns can be made countable by adding a partitive: a piece of, a bottle of, a sheet of, a box of, a slice of, a loaf of, a bit of, a kilo of, a tube of, a plate of, etc. Always look it up in the dictionary!

Nouns are made plural by adding: -s to the noun -es to nouns ending in –s, -ss, -x, -ch, -sh, -z -ies to nouns ending in consonant + y -es to nouns ending in consonant + o ( But –s if they are abbreviations (photos, kilos, autos, etc.), musical instruments (pianos), proper nouns (Eskimos). Some nouns ending in –o can take either –s or –es ( buffalo, mosquito, volcano, tornado, zero, etc.) -ves to some nouns ending in –f/-fe (calves, halves, knives, leaves, selves, thieves, wolves, wives, etc.) But: beliefs, chiefs, cliffs, handkerchiefs, scarfs/scarves, hoofs/hooves (копыто), roofs, safes) Greek or Latin suffixes ( basis- bases, crisis- crises, terminus- termini (конечная станция), criterion- criteria, phenomenon- phenomena, stimulus- stimuli, datum- data (данные, база), medium- media (средство) , formula- formulae, index- indices, antenna- antennae, etc.)

Compound nouns usually form their plural by adding –s/-es to the second noun. But to the first noun if it is followed by a preposition ( mothers-in-law, passers-by). At the end of the compound if it doesn’t include any nouns (letdowns). Irregular plurals: man- men (but: Walkmans), woman- women, foot- feet, tooth- teeth, mouse- mice, louse- lice, child- children, goose- geese, sheep- sheep, deer- deer, fish- fish, trout- trout (форель), cod- cod (треска), salmon- salmon (лосось), ox- oxen, spacecraft- spacecraft, aircraft- aircraft, hovercraft- hovercraft, means- means, species- species, swine- swine, dozen- dozen ( but: in dozens), score- score – счет, задолженность (but: scores of people - множество), series – series, rendezvous- rendezvous.

Some problems with verb forms We use singular verb forms with: nouns which refer to school subjects (maths, politics), sports (athletics), games (billiards, dominoes, darts, draughts [drɑːfts] (шашки)), illnesses (measles (корь), mumps (свинка)); when we talk about an amount of money, a time period, weight, distance, etc. ( Five thousand pounds was donated to build a new hospital wing. Two weeks isn’t long to wait. Ten miles is a long way to ride.); with group nouns when we mean the group as a unit ( jury, family, team, group, crew (команда, экипаж), crowd, class, audience, committee, council (совет), army, club, press, government, company, staff (штат), etc.)

Some problems with verb forms We use plural verb forms with: nouns which refer to objects that consist of two parts ( trousers, binoculars, shorts, pyjamas, tights, glasses, earrings, scissors['sɪzəz] (ножницы), compasses (циркуль), scales (весы), tongs (щипцы, клещи), jeans, spectacles, etc.); nouns such as: clothes, police, stairs, looks, surroundings (окрестности, окружение), outskirts (окраина), premises (недвижимость), earnings (заработок, прибыль), wages, cattle (скот), poultry (птица), congratulations, thanks, riches, goods (товары), contents (содержание), oats (овес), potatoes, carrots, onions ( but: a potato/a carrot/ an onion); group nouns when we mean the individuals. These nouns are plural in Russian but both singular and plural in English: watch- watches, clock- clocks, gate- gates, sledge- sledges, vacation- vacations ( Our summer vacation lasts 2 months. We have 2 vacations a year.)

The category of case We show possession in English with the genitive form of a noun. This means we normally use ‘s (апостроф + s) or ’ (апостроф без s) for people and some living creatures. ( Frank’s car; a boy’s cat; Doris’s address, an actress’s career, children’s games, my father-in-law’s house, the girls’ uniforms). We use ‘s and ‘ with some non-living things: time phrases ( a day’s work, two hours’ journey), the names of countries/ cities/ships ( Moscow’s theaters), nouns expressing space/ weight/organization ( the river’s edge, the company’s success), with the nouns world/ country/city/ship (world’s best museums) . The genitive is used in some set expressions and fixed phrases: for Heaven’s sake (ради Бога), for God’s sake, at one’s wit’s end (стать в тупик), to a hair’s breadth (точь-в-точь), by a hair’s breadth (на волоске от), at a stone’s through, the earth’s surface, journey’s end, etc.

Exercise 1. Write the plural form of the following. man-of-war, mouse, story, play, sheep, glass, flag, photo, name, fellow-worker, match, leave, ox, room-mate, bush, chief, page, radio, roof, prize, set, merry-go-round, key, factory, wolf, piano, class, commander-in-chief, cup, city, lily-of-the-valley, person, forget-me-not, safe, deer, swine, governor-general, brother-in-law. Exercise 2. Find the odd word in the chain of the nouns. 1) trousers - spectacles - scales - news 2) advice - knowledge - contents - progress 3) phonetics - watch - goods – information 4) police - work - weather - furniture 5) youth – clock – luggage – ink 6) geese – feet – money – billiards 7) clothes – funeral – information - machinery

Exercise 3. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate form of the verb to be. 1. Her clothes ___very fashionable. 2. Your advice___ always welcome. 3. The information he gave us___very useful. 4. A little money___better than nothing. 5. That species of spiders ___commonly seen in deserts of North Africa. 6. I think her hair___dyed. 7. No news___good news. 8. I don't want to work here. The equipment___too complicated. 9. There___a lot of sheep in the field. 10. I think this ___detailed research. 11. Where___my spectacles? 12. Mathematics___ difficult, but physics___more difficult to my mind. slow.

13. The cattle___up the hill. 14. Look out! The stairs___very old. 15. The police___ responsible for these actions. 16. The traffic___very heavy in this street. Be careful at the corner. When the traffic-lights___red, don't cross the street. 17. The working wages ___ up. 18. The knowledge she has got at college___very deep. 19. The funeral ___ usually a sad occasion. 20. The contents of the letter ___made public. 21. The opera-glasses___out of focus. 22. Her hair ___so nice. 23. Athletics ___ an important part of the Olympic Games. 24. I think these scales _____ broken. 25. My watch ____

Exercise 4. Paraphrase the following using the possessive case. the house of Mr. Smith; 2) a doll of the girls; 3) the works of Rembrandt; 4) a toy of the baby; 5) a meeting of the employees; 6) the bags of those women; 7) the orders of our boss; 8) the books of the children; 9) the cottage of my parents; 10) a garage of her cousin; 11) the mother of Kate and Mary; 12) a flat of my father-in-law; 13) the influence of the sun; 14) coal deposits of the world; 15) the arrival of the ship; 16) the children of my aunt Ann; 17) the times of Ivan the Terrible; 18) the gun of the commander-in-chief; 19) a telephone conversation which lasts three minutes; 20) a semester of eight weeks. Exercise 5. Choose the right variant. 1. His advice___always reasonable. I advise you to follow___. a) are, them c) is, it b) are, it d) is, them 2. Look, her clothes___brand new. Where did she get the money to buy___? a) is, it c) are, them b) are, it d) is, them 3. The information he gave us___convincing. I don't think we should check___. a) is, it c) are, them b) is, them d) are, it

4. Her pyjamas___made of silk. I like___very much. a) is, it c) are, it b) is, them d) are, them 5. These scissors___bad! I can't cut anything with a) are, them c) is, it b) is, them d) are, it 6) I think billiards___a dull game. I wonder why the youth nowadays___so fond of___? a) are, is, it c) are, are, them b) is, are, it d) is, are, them 7. Our family ___ good at playing draughts. Draughts___our favourite game. We play___every weekend. a) is, is, it c) are, are, them b) are, is, it d) is, are, it 8. We want to equip our factory with___and to install___ in the assembly shop. a) new machineries, them c) new machines, it b) a new machinery, it d) new machinery, it