1.5.2: Nouns

Nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, animal, or emotion. 

People        Places          Things         Animals       Emotions

man            America         books           dog             love

woman        bedroom       houses          cat              hate

boy             cafeteria.       car               cow             sadness

girl              Seattle          shoes            mouse         fear

Don            downtown      water            deer            joy

Tram           office            hair               lion             anger

 

       There are many kinds of nouns.

Count Nouns       Non-count Nouns               Common Nouns              Proper Nouns

books                    water                                 boy                                 Alex

toys                       hair                                   woman                            Mrs. Jones

desks                     dirt                                    city                                 Seattle

rooms                    air                                     state                               Washington

babies                    coffee                                ocean                             Pacific Ocean

cigarettes               smoke                                streets                            Phinney Avenue

days                       time                                  month                             September

      

Count Nouns can be singular (1) or plural (many).

book books           day days              baby      babies           shoe       shoes

dish  dishes           box boxes            snake     snakes          match    matches

       Non-count nouns cannot be plural because you cannot count them.      

Some count nouns have special spelling rules. 

When a singular noun ends in a consonant letter and a y, change the y to i and add es to make it plural.

baby babies           fly   flies              library   libraries         party     parties

army armies          lady ladies            country  countries      family    families

When a singular noun ends in a vowel letter and a y, add an s to make it plural.

day          days              key   keys              boy boys      toy  toys

monkey   monkeys         way  ways             tray trays      play plays

When a singular noun ends in an s, sh, ch, x, or z, add es to the end of the noun to make it plural.

dish     dishes       rash          rashes     kiss     kisses    fox      foxes     waltz     waltzes

brush   brushes    watch        watches   bus     buses    tax      taxes      patch     patches

Sometimes, when a noun ends in an f or an fe, we change the f to V and add es.  There are many exceptions to this “rule.”

life     lives             wife       wives            knife      knives           loaf       loaves

shelf   shelves         leaf       leaves          thief       thieves          wolf       wolves

Exceptions to this “rule”:

roof    roofs             chief      chiefs           chef      chefs             cliff       cliffs

puff    puffs             cuff        cuffs            gaffe     gaffes            whiff     whiffs

There are also some irregular plural nouns in English or nouns with no singular form.

man  men       woman    women     child      children     foot      feet     tooth      teeth

mouse mice    deer        deer         sheep     sheep       louse    lice      ox          oxen

person persons/people        ----- police    ------      clothes   ------ pants  fish       fish(es)

Forming the plural with nouns ending in “O”  (Good Luck!)

1.  When nouns end in “o” preceded by a vowel, add “s” only.

Examples:

studio    studios          radio     radios           rodeo     rodeos          patio      patios

bio        bios              ratio       ratios           kangaroo      kangaroos     zoo     zoos      

2.  Musical terms ending in “o” also end in “s.”  These are exceptions to rule # 1.

piano pianos           alto       altos             solo solos             cello      cellos

3.  Some nouns ending in an “o” preceded by a consonant, however, also add “s”only; others add an “es.”  (This is an awful rule.)

Examples:

(“S” only)   kimono     kimonos      zero  zeros        two       twos                 ratio       ratios    

                  silo            silos           solo solos         tango     tangos

(“ES”)         potato        potatoes              hero       heroes           Negro    Negroes

                  mango       mangoes

4.  Some nouns ending in “o” can form the plural by add an “s” or an “es.”  Both are correct.  (This is also an awful rule.)

Examples:

halo       halos      haloes           cargo     cargos    cargoes  motto     mottos   mottoes

lasso      lassos     lassoes

       Basically, when a noun ends in an “o” and you want to know how to make it plural, look up the spelling of the word in a dictionary … because that is what I had to do.

Exercise 4:  Fill in the blanks with the plural form of the nouns, please.

1. coat ______________        2.  woman ______________

3. baby ______________       4.  day ______________

5. hour  ______________       6.  hero ______________

7. dress  ______________      8.  city ______________

9. knife  ______________      10.  foot  ______________

11. punch  ______________   12.  patio  ______________­

13. caress  ______________   14.  sandwich  ______________

15. lady  ______________      16.  toy  ______________

17. tooth  ______________     18.  penny  ______________

19. rash  ______________      20.  fax  ______________

21. snake _____________       22.  patch ______________

23. wish ______________       24. tax _______________

25. waltz ______________      26.  wheeze _____________

27. bus _____________          28.  shelf ______________

29. watch _____________      30. radio ______________

31. person  _____________    32.  fish -------------------

33. nanny   ______________  34.  nickel ______________

35. clock ______________      36.  piano ______________

37. window_____________     38.  box  ___________

39. thief ______________       40.  attorney _____________

     Non-count Nouns:  Non-count nouns are nouns that cannot be counted.  In other words, we can’t put a number in front of them or the articles (a or an).  We can, however, use words such as some, any, a little, little, and much.  Most of the nouns in English are count nouns.  Some of the most common non-count nouns are listed below.

meat         beef      chicken          ham     fish        pork      bacon    bread     butter   fruit       pepper
cheese      rice        salt               food     soup      sugar     tea        wine      soda     juice      coffee
milk          water     cream           beer     money    hair       weather help       homework         mail
paper        music    advice           work     traffic     blood     glass     anger     love hate
furniture    ink        blood           

Exercise 5A:  Complete the following sentences by using count nouns, please.

1. I can see a -------------------- in front of the room.  I can see a -------------------- near me.  I can see a -------------------- in back of the room.  I can see an ------------------- in the room.
2. There are three ------------------ in this row of chairs.
3. I have one --------------------, but I have two -------------------.
4. There are many -------------------- in this room.
5. I have school ------------------- days a week.

Exercise 5B:  Complete the following sentences using non-count nouns, please.

1. Don has -------------------- hair.  He also has ------------------- hair on his face.
2. I like to eat -------------------- meat every day.
3. I drink -------------------- water every day.
4. My friend cut his finger with a knife and there was ------------------- blood on his shirt.
5. I don’t have -------------------- money with me today.

The words some and any can be used with both count and non-count nouns.  With count nouns, they will always be followed by a plural noun.  With non-count nouns, they are never followed by a plural noun.  Non-count nouns are never plural.

Examples:

I have some money.  I don’t have any change.  I have some hair.  I don’t have any black hair.  I drank some coffee this morning.  I didn’t drink any tea yesterday.

I have $50 dollars in my pocket.  I also have three quarters.  However, I don’t have any nickels.  I have some English grammar books in my office.  I don’t have any Chinese grammar books in my office.

Some and any both mean an unknown quantity.  Some is an affirmative word, but any is a negative word.  Both some and any can be used in questions.

Exercise 6:  Fill in the blanks with some or any, please.

1. Some student need ------------ help with their homework.
2. Other students don’t need ------------ help with their homework.
3. I didn’t eat ------------ fruit for breakfast today. 
4. However, I will eat ------------ fruit after dinner this evening.
5. I had to buy ------------ milk at the market last night.
6. My son never drinks ------------ wine.
7. ------------ people don’t eat ------------ pork because of their religion.
8. I invited ------------ friends to my house, but they didn’t drink ------------ wine.
9. We ate ------------ fish for dinner last night.  We didn’t eat ----------- beef.
10. I use ------------ black pepper on my eggs, but I don’t use ----------- salt.

Exercise 7:  Use some, any, a, or an in the sentences below, please.

1. I am very thirsty, but I don’t want ------------ juice.  I only want ------------ water.
2. Can I have ------------ bottle of soda?  I drank ----------- glass of water, but now I want to drink ------------ soda.
3. I ate ------------ orange this morning, but now I want to eat ------------ sandwich.
4. There are ------------ stools in my kitchen, but there aren’t ------------ chairs.
5. We didn’t have ------------ homework last night, but we have ------------ tonight.
6. My friend has ------------ chickens and ------------ rooster.  ------------ people call ------------ rooster ------------ cock.
7. I ate ------------ piece of cake and ------------ glass of milk.  I like to drink ------------ milk with ------------ cake.
8. My sister drank ------------ cup of coffee this morning.  She usually drinks two cups of coffee every morning.
9. My wife saw ------------ beautiful bird in our garden this morning.  ------------ birds are really very beautiful.
10. ------------ animals are very dangerous.  For example, ------------ tiger and ------------ elephant can be very dangerous.
11. My wife ate ------------ banana, ------------ apple, ------------- cherries, and ------------ ice cream after dinner last night.
12. My students sometimes need ------------ advice about what classes to take in college.
13. Other students never ask for ------------ help or advice.
14. I have ------------ old pencil and ------------ new pen.
15. This is ------------ easy exercise.