English Grammar 2 - The Noun

128 Pages·2016·1.47 MB·English

THE NOUN
PROBLEMATIC AREAS:

 NUMBER: -Countable vs. Uncountable nouns
-plural forms
-nouns having only sg./pl.
forms
 CASE: expression of possession
 GENDER: natural vs. grammatical gender
PC in the use of gender
COUNTABLE vs. UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

COUNTABLE NOUNS
nouns referring to people or things that can be
counted as separate, individual items.
a manager, a job, an idea, a few ideas, two
computers
UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
things that cannot be divided or counted.
accommodation*, advertising, advice, cash,
documentation, employment, equipment, evidence,
feedback, furniture, guidance, hardware, health,
help, information, literature, luggage, machinery,
marketing, money, paperwork, permission, progress,
publicity, research, software, traffic, training,
transport, travel, weather, work
(Source: Cambridge Business Corpus)
UNCOUNTABLE COUNTABLE
Do not have plural forms Can be singular or plural
 
 Can you arrange (some)  This new job is a great
opportunity for me. I have lots of
accommodation for ten
opportunities to travel.
visitors?
Can be used with indefinite

Cannot be used with

articles a/an
indefinite articles a/an
 We had a meeting and we solved
 We made (some) progress this problem.
in our research.
Singular countable nouns need

Can be used without a
 a determiner (e.g. a/an, my,
determiner this, one)
 Research is expensive.  We paid £6,000 for this report.
 Always take a singular  Can take a singular or a plural
verb
verb
 My boss has a PhD. My colleagues
 This software is out of
are all graduates.
date and needs updating.
Nouns that are

 (a.) UNCOUNTABLE when they refer to
SUBSTANCE / IDEA
 (b.) COUNTABLE when they refer to
1. CONTAINERS (for things)

2. TYPES/BRANDS

3. PARTICULAR EXAMPLES / CONCRETE THINGS

4. A PARTICULAR SITUATION

I prefer tea to coffee. 1. Three teas and two
 
coffees, please. (=cups
There’s cheese in the

of~) (colloquial English)
fridge.
2. Our shop offers you

She has blonde hair.

dozens of cheeses to
The statue was made
 choose from. (=kinds
of stone. of~)
3. There’s a hair in my

soup!
4. He had a stone in

hand.
(a.) UNCOUNTABLE (b.) COUNTABLE
BUSINESS (= company)

BUSINESS (=activity)

 Small businesses are our future.
 We do business all over
EXPERIENCE (= an event) the world.

 Going to Asia was a great  EXPERIENCE (=
experience. practical knowledge)
 PAPER (= newspaper; 2. (plural  I have limited experience
only) documents) in sales.
PAPER (=material)
 Do you get the local paper? 
 I have to file the papers of this  I didn’t have any paper
deal. so I couldn’t take notes.
 ROOM (= a hall)  ROOM (=space)
 We’re short of meeting rooms.  Our office is full. There’s
no room to expand.

COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE
COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE
COMPETITION (=contest)

COMPETITION (=rivalry

 We run competitions as part of
for supremacy)
promotion.
 Is there much competition
PROPERTY (= a building, a piece of

in the field of IT?
land; 2. plural only) features that
a substance has)  PROPERTY (=things that
somebody owns)
 They sold a property to avoid going
bankrupt.
 The hotel is not responsible
 The physical properties of this for any loss or damage to
product are outstanding.
guests’ property.
WORK (= books, painting/s, music

WORK (= job, activity)

produced by an artist; (plural only)
 He is a first-year student
activities involved in
but he is looking for part-
building/repairing roads and
time work.
bridges)
 Our company intends to buy some of
this artist’s works.
 This year they are investing in road
works all over the country.
Expressions used with UNCOUNTABLE nouns.

 MEASURES AND CONTAINERS:
 A LITER OF OIL
 15 TONNES OF CEMENT
 A BOTTLE OF WATER
 TWO TINS OF PAINT
 A PIECE OF / AN ITEM OF / A BIT OF ADVICE (EQUIPMENT,
, , , , , ,
EVIDENCE FURNITURE LUGGAGE MACHINERY NEWS PAPER
)
SOFTWARE
 SOME / A BIT OF ADVERTISING (CASH, FEEDBACK, FUN, LUCK,
, , , )
MONEY PROGRESS TRAFFIC TRAVEL
 A BIT OF IS COLLOQUIAL, DO NOT USE IT IN FORMAL
!
WRITING
 General rule: noun (singular) + -s
 road/-s, area/-s, machine/-s
 Variations: Noun ending in
PLURAL FORM EXAMPLES
CONSONANT + -Y + ies family – families, party –
parties
VOWEL + -Y +s tray - trays, storey -
storeys
-CH*, -S, -SH, -X, -Z + es watch – watches, boss –
bosses, fox - foxes, quiz -
quizzes
CONSONANT + -O +es potato – potatoes, hero –
heroes, volcano/-es,
mosquito/-es, echo/-es,
negro/-es, veto/-es
+ s piano/-s, casino/-s,
photo/-s, kilo/-s, adagio/-s
VOWEL + -O +s radio – radios, video – videos