- •Introductory Grammar Course. Morphology. (Part I)
- •Introduction
- •Preface The Grammatical Structure of the English Language
- •Morphology. General Classification of the Parts of Speech
- •Chapter I. The Noun
- •§ 1. Definition
- •§ 2. Formation of Nouns Noun-forming suffixes
- •§ 3. Morphological composition of Nouns
- •§ 4. Classification of Nouns
- •§ 5. The Category of Number
- •§ 6. The Category of Case
- •The absolute genitive (or omission of the noun after ’s).
- •Chapter II. The Article
- •§ 1. General Notions
- •§ 2. The Article and The Pronoun
- •§ 3. The use of the Indefinite Article
- •The Indefinite article before common concrete nouns
- •The Indefinite article before common abstract nouns
- •The Indefinite article before proper concrete nouns
- •The Indefinite article in collocations and set expressions
- •§ 4. The use of the Definite Article
- •The Definite article before common nouns
- •The Definite article before proper nouns
- •The Definite article in collocations and set expressions
- •§ 5. The use of the Zero Article
- •The Zero Article before Proper Nouns
- •The Zero Article in collocations and set expressions
- •§ 6. Article determination of certain noun groups
- •Chapter III. The Adjective
- •§ 1. Semantic characteristics
- •§ 2. Morphological composition
- •§ 3. Morphological characteristics
- •§ 4. Adjectives of participial origin
- •§ 5. Adjectives and Adverbs
- •§ 6. Syntactic functions
- •§ 7. Substantivized Adjectives
- •Chapter IV. The Pronoun
- •§ 1. Definition
- •§ 2. Morphological composition and categorical characteristics
- •§ 3. Subclasses of Pronouns and their functions
- •§ 4. The Personal Pronoun It
- •§ 5. The Demonstrative Pronoun It
- •§ 6. The Impersonal Pronoun It
- •§ 7. Possessive Pronouns
- •§ 8. Reflexive Pronouns
- •§ 9. Reciprocal Pronouns
- •§ 10. Demonstrative Pronouns
- •§ 11. Indefinite and Negative Pronouns
- •§ 12. Detaching Pronouns
- •1) A different one -
- •2) One more, one in addition to the one or ones mentioned before.
- •§ 13. Universal Pronouns
- •§ 14. Interrogative Pronouns
- •§ 15. Conjunctive Pronouns
- •§ 16. Relative Pronouns
- •Chapter V. The Numeral
- •§ 1. The Definition
- •§ 2. The Cardinals
- •§ 3. The ordinals
- •§ 4. Morphological characteristics
- •§ 5. Patterns of combinability
- •§ 6. Syntactic function
- •§ 7. Substantivized numerals
- •Chapter VI.. The Adverb
- •§1. General Notion
- •§ 2. Morphological composition
- •§ 3. Morphological characteristics
- •§ 4. Semantic characteristics
- •§ 5. Syntactic functions and patterns of combinability
- •§ 6. Positional characteristics
- •Chapter VII. (Some Notional Parts of Speech)
- •§ 1. The Words of the Category of State
- •§ 2. The Modal Words
- •§ 3. The interjection
- •Chapter VIII. Some Structural Parts of Speech
- •§ 1. The Preposition
- •§ 2. Prepositions of place
- •§ 3. Prepositions of place At, In, On
- •§ 4. Prepositions of directions
- •Into, out of, towards, from, off (e.G. The knife fell off the table. Cut a bit off the rope, it’s too long).
- •§ 5. Some Prepositions confused
- •§ 6. Prepositions with the forms of transport
- •§ 7. Prepositions of time
- •§ 8. Prepositions since, from, in time/on time
- •§ 9. Prepositions expressing abstract relations
- •§ 10. Composite Prepositions
- •§ 11. Use of prepositions in set expressions
- •§ 12. The Conjunction
- •§ 13. The Particle
- •Literature
§ 5. The Category of Number
English countable nouns have two numbers: the singular and the plural.
THE RULES FOR FORMING THE PLURAL OF THE ENGLISH NOUNS
RULES |
EXAMPLES |
NOTES |
1. The general rule for forming the plural of English nouns is by adding –s to the singular |
Tables, books, ties, plans And also: baths, smooths, doths, and months. |
-s is pronounced: [z] after voiced consonants and vowels: Flowers, beds, boys [s] after voiceless consonants: Caps, books, hats [iz] after sibilants: Noses, horses, bridges, houses.
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2. If the noun ends in: -s, -ss, -x, -sh, -ch, -tch, -o, the plural is formed by adding –es [iz], [z] after –o |
Buses, glasses, boxes, brushes, benches, matches, cargoes, potatoes, echoes |
But: pianos, photos, cuckoos, videos, zoos, solos, cuckoos, portfolios. But: mosquito-mosquitos, mosquitoes. |
3. There are seven nouns which form the plural by changing the root vowel |
Man-men, woman-women, foot-feet, tooth-teeth, goose-geese, mouse-mice, louse, lice. |
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4. There are two nouns which form the plural in -en |
ox-oxen, child-children. |
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5. In some nouns the plural form does not differ from the singular |
Deer, sheep, swine, fish, trout, dozen, score, aircraft, salmon |
But: pack the books in dozens; scores of people. |
6. Some words borrowed from Latin or Greek plural forms |
In the technical languages of science: Phenomenon-phenomena; datum-data; crisis-crises; stimulus-stimuli; formula-formulae; index-indices; antenna-antennae. |
In fiction and colloquial English some of these nouns have acquired English plural forms: memorandums, formulas, indexes, terminuses. |
7. In compound nouns the plural is formed in different ways: a) adding –s to the head-word b) the final element takes the plural form c) if the compound begins with the words man/woman both words are plural d) if there is no noun-stem in the compound –s added to the last element |
a) editors-in-chief, brothers-in-law, lookers-on b) lady-birds, hotel-keepers, housewives, postmen c)men-servants, women-doctors
d) forget-me-nots, merry-go-rounds |
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SPELLING RULES
RULES |
EXAMPLES |
NOTES |
1. If the noun ends in –y preceded by a consonant, -y is changed into –i-before –es |
Fly-flies, army-armies, lady-ladies. |
In proper names there is no change: Mary-Marys |
2. If the final –y is preceded by a vowel there is no vowel change |
Day-days, boy-boys, play-plays, toy-toys, key-keys. |
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3. The nouns ending in –f, -fe, change it into –v (both into in spelling and pronunciation) |
Wife-wives, knife-knives, life-lives, leaf-leaves, thief-thieves, half-halves |
Scarf=scarfs, scarves Wharf=wharfs, wharves |
4. Nouns ending in –th [θ] after long vowels change into [∂] in pronunciation (which does not affect their spelling)
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Bath [ba:θ]-baths [ba:∂z] |
But [θ] is always retained after consonants (including r) and short vowels: Smith-smiths [smi θs] |
5. One noun ending in [s] changes it into [z] |
House [haus]-houses['hauziz] |
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There are however many peculiarities.
Nouns, consisting of two or more parts are used only in the plural (as in Russian). They are:
Trousers, spectacles, scissors, scales, tongs. (E.g. Your trousers are too long. Where are my spectacles?)
Remember the nouns, which are used in the plural in English, whereas they are singular in Russian: wages, contents. (E.g. His wages are high.)
There are nouns, which are used in the singular in Russian, but they are plural in English: clothes, arms, stairs, riches, goods, potatoes, onions, carrots, and oats. (E.g. The stairs are steep).
But: a potato, an onion, a carrot.
The noun vacation is used only in the singular in English (it is plural in Russian). (E.g. Our summer vacation lasts 2 months. But: We have two vacations a year).
In English the nouns gate, sledge, watch, clock are used both in the singular and in the plural. (E.g. The gate is open. All the gates were closed).
Plural in compound nouns
The second component takes the plural form as a rule (E.g. housewives, toothbrushes).
If the noun ends in –ful we add suffix –s to the end of the word (E.g. handfuls, spoonfuls).
If it is a prepositional noun phrase where the preposition is a linking element only the first noun takes the plural (E.g. editors-in-chief, commanders-in-chief, coats-of-mail (кольчуга), men-of-war.)
If it is a compound where conjunctions are used as linking elements the plural is taken by the second noun (E.g. gin-and-tonics).
If it is a combination of noun preposition\adverb\adjective, the first element takes the plural (E.g. passers-by, lookers-on, and courts-martial, attorneys-general).
When the compound is a substantivized phrase, which does not contain a noun, the last element takes the plural (E.g. forget-me-nots, breakdowns-поломка, stand-bys-запасной, grown-ups, close-ups-крупный план, pic—ups-случайное знакомство, drop-outs-дезертир, and g—betweens-посредник.)