English Grammar and Composition chapter 1: The Noun

Part -1

GRAMMAR

01 The Noun 1/1: Kinds of Nouns

A . Read the following passage and notice the underlined words:

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He was a poet, playwright and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in English and the most prominent dramatist in the world. He enjoys enormous popularity, even in the modern age, for his plays and poems.

These are all nouns. Noun is a naming word. It may name a person, place or thing. There is a bewildering variety of things in the world. So there is a bewildering number of nouns in a language.

Look back at the nouns in the passage above and think about what they name.

There are five kinds of nouns in English. They are:

1. Proper nouns
2. Common nouns
3. Collective nouns
4. Material nouns
5. Abstract nouns

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Activity 1 Notice the underlined words in the following passage and say what they refer to:

Rajshahi is a divisional city in Bangladesh. It is in the western part of the country. It stands on the river Padma. My friend Alamgir lives in this city. He is a professor of history. I often visit him and discuss many things with him. He speaks English well.

These are all proper nouns. Proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or thing. For example, "Rajshahi" is the name of a particular city and "History" is the name of a particular subject. Think of the other proper nouns in the passage. A proper noun usually begins with a capital letter. A proper noun is usually singular but some proper nouns are plural in form.

Figure

Description: A large building with a tall rectangular tower and a long low wing, with a row of flagpoles with flags in front of it.

For example: The Maldives is an island country. Have you ever been to the Philippines? The United Nations has a big responsibility.

Note: Although these nouns are plural in form, they are singular in number.

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Activity 2 Notice the underlined words in the following passage:

Nasima is a beautiful girl. She is a bright student too. She reads in a local college. She has many friends. She discusses her lessons with them. She attends classes regularly. Every teacher is fond of her.

These are common nouns. A common noun refers to every person, place or thing of the same class or kind. It does not refer to anything in particular. For example, the noun 'girl' may mean any girl in the world. A common noun can be both singular and plural. For example:

London is a big city.

There are many big cities in the world.

Note: A proper noun can be used as a common noun. Look at the following examples:

He is called the Shakespeare (i.e., the greatest dramatist) of Bangladesh. There are two Ragibs in this class.

B . Look at the underlined nouns in the following passage:

Salam comes from a big family. He has three brothers. His elder brother is a member of Parliament. His younger brother has recently joined the army. His other brother is a cricketer who plays for the national team. Salam himself is a civil servant who works for the government.

These are collective nouns. A collective noun is the name of a collection or group of people or things taken together. For example, an army is a group of soldiers and a team is a group of players. Think of the other nouns in the passage as a group of persons spoken of as one whole. A collective noun can take both singular and plural verbs after it. For example:

The government has/have decided on a new pay scale.

The committee was/were in favour of my proposal.

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C . Read the following passage and notice the underlined nouns:

Mrs. Rahman is now visiting a jeweller. She will buy some gold and silver to make some jewellery. Next, she will also go to a grocery shop. She needs to buy sugar, tea, milk and oil.

These are material nouns. A material noun names a thing that has weight but cannot be counted. It is a kind of mass noun that is considered uncountable. It refers to any material or substance. The substance may be solid, liquid or gaseous. "Oxygen" is also a material noun.

D. Look at the underlined nouns in the following passage:

Mr. Haque is a freedom fighter. He is known for his bravery. He is working for a private company now. Everybody loves him for his honesty and sincerity. He is an admirer of freedom and justice.

These are abstract nouns. An abstract noun is the name of a quality, state or concept. It has no material form, shape or size.

Activity 3 Think of some other abstract nouns and make a sentence with each of them.

Activity 4 Identify the nouns in the following passage, and say whether they are Proper, Common, Collective, Material or Abstract nouns.

Hasan is a rich farmer who lives in a village in the district of Sirajganj. He has a lot of cultivable land. He grows rice, wheat and other crops. He has a herd of cattle and other domestic animals. They provide him with milk and meat. Hasan is a kind man. He has love and sympathy for the poor people.

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1/2: Number

A . Read the following two passages and notice the forms of the underlined nouns:

Figure

Description: A stack of hardback books of various sizes and colours, piled on a table, with several book spines visible behind them.

Figure

Description: A line drawing of a young boy with short hair, wearing a collared shirt with short sleeves, facing forward.

(i) Mr. Aslam is a teacher. His wife is a banker. They have only one child. Theirs is a small family. They live a happy life.

(ii) Mr. and Mrs. Hasan are teachers. They have two children. Both of them are students. All the four members of this family are fond of books.

In the first passage each of the underlined nouns denotes only one person, place, idea or thing. On the other hand, each underlined noun in the second passage denotes more than one person or thing.

This is related to number. A noun that denotes one person or thing is said to have a singular form. For example, the nouns in the first passage (teacher, banker, child, family and life) are all singular in form. On the contrary, a noun that denotes more than one person or thing is said to have a plural form. For example, all the nouns in the second passage (teachers, children, students, members and books) are plural in form.

Number is a grammatical distinction which tells whether a noun (also a pronoun, verb or determiner) is singular or plural. There are two numbers in English — the Singular and the Plural.

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B. Plurals are usually formed by adding s, es or ies to the singular form. Look at the following examples.

(i) Singular + s = plural

Note: Most nouns are made plural by adding an s to the singular form.

(ii) Singular + es = plural

Note: Plurals are formed by adding es when the singular form ends in s, ss, sh, ch and x.

(iii) Singular + ies = plural

Note: Singular nouns ending in a consonant + y form their plurals by dropping y and adding ies.

C . Plural forms of nouns can also be made in other ways. Notice the following examples:

(i) Singular nouns ending in f/fe form their plurals by dropping f/fe and adding ves:

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Now write the plural forms of the following nouns:

(ii) Plurals are often formed by making an internal change of vowels:

Now fill in the following blanks with plurals:

(iii) Look at the plurals of some compound words:

(iv) Nouns ending in is have es in the plural:

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D. Number is applicable not only for nouns but also for pronouns, verbs and determiners. Read the following passage and notice the underlined words:

Figure

Description: A line drawing of a man pedalling a rickshaw, with two passengers sitting in the rickshaw seat under a canopy.

Karim is a student of class nine. He is my friend. We go to school together by rickshaw. We always share our rickshaw fare. In his free time he loves to play badminton while I love to watch movies.

In this passage 'he' and 'we' are pronouns; 'reads', 'is', 'go' and 'share' are verbs, and 'my' and 'our' are determiners. You can easily guess which of these words are singular and which are plural. Remember, whether a verb is singular or plural is determined by its subject. A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

Activity 1 Now fill in the gaps in the following sentences:

We have a pet that ________in our house. We _______ all very fond of it. My mother _________ care of it. It__________ to eat fish and milk. It_________us by killing _________.

Activity 2 Rewrite the following passage changing the singular words into their plural forms:

As you are my friend, you can borrow this book from me. But you should return it within a week. You should not tell a lie to me. I hate a liar. I also hate a person who breaks a promise.

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