Lecture 4 Noun and Noun Phrase

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Lecture 4Noun and Noun Phrase
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Teaching Contents

• 4.1 Classification of nouns and function of noun
  phrases
• 4.2 Number forms of nouns
• 4.3 Partitives

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4.1 Classification of nouns and function of noun
phrases

• 1) Classification of nouns
• a) Simple, compound and derivative nouns by
  word-formation
• b) Common and proper nouns by lexical meaning
• C) Countable noun and uncountable noun
• This classification is based on the grammatical
  features of nouns instead of whether they are
  countable. Regarding grammatical features,
  uncountable nouns cannot have numeral before them
  (two information), have no plural forms
  (informations) and cannot be modified by how
  many but by how much

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• 2) Functions of noun phrases
• Nouns can function as all the elements in a
  sentence except the predicative verb.
• e.g. They elected him chairman of the board.
• He returned last night.
• A photo is taken each time this button is
  pushed

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• The general pattern of noun phrase is
• (determiner)(premodifier)noun(postmodifier)
• The premodifier of noun phrase can be noun as
  well as adj. or participle.
• e.g. a table leg, water supply, the life sciences
• When noun is used as premodifier, it can be
  either singular, plural, or both.
• (1) Singular noun as premodifier
• e.g. table legs legs of a table / tables
• a shoe store a store that sells shoes
• a car race a race between cars

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• a kitchen sink a sink in a kitchen
• When the plural noun in the postmidifier is
  changed into premodifier, it usually becomes
  singular.
• e.g. a cloth for dishes a dish cloth
• decay of teeth tooth decay
• a station for buses a bus station
• a pocket for trousers a trouser pocket
• a tray for ashes an ash tray
• (2)Singular or plural noun as premodifier
  a.There is ambiguity here.
• foreign language(s) department department of
  foreign languages

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• (foreign language department department of a
  foreign language)
• soft drinks manufacturer manufacturer that
  produces several kinds of soft drink
• soft drink manufacturer manufacturer that
  produces one kind of soft drink
• b. different meanings
• e.g. an art degree a degree in fine art
• an Arts degree a degree in the humanities
• (3) Only plural noun as premodifier
• e.g. a customs officer, a goods train, clothes
  hanger, sales technique, contents bill, savings
  bank

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• It is more popular to use plural nouns as
  premodifiers in British English than in American
  English. Now it tends to increase.
• (4) When the head of the noun phrase is
  collective noun or name of an organization, the
  plural noun as the premodifier can have two
  forms, but the same meaning.
• e.g. Scientists() Institute for Public
  Information
• But the singular noun is seldom used.
• e.g. Yibin Teachers/ Teachers/ Teachers College

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4.2 Number forms of nouns

• Number is a grammatical distinction which
  determines whether a noun or determiner is
  singular or plural.
• 1) Regular and irregular plural
• The regular is formed by adding s or es to the
  base, while the irregular is formed by changing
  the internal vowel or by changing the ending of
  the noun.

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• Irregular plurals also include some words of
  foreign origin, borrowed from Greek, Latin or
  French. Their plural forms are known as foreign
  plurals, e.g. basisbases, criterioncriteria.
• Some borrowed words have two plural forms a
  foreign plural and an English one.
• e.g. mediummedia mediums
• For some, their singular and plural number share
  the same form,

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• A) animal names
• Singular form and regular plural coexist
  Antelope, elk, fish, flounder, herring, reindeer,
  shrimp, woodcock
• (??,?,?,???,??,??,?,??(????)
• e.g. He caught several fish/three little fishes.
• They went catching shrimp/shrimps.
• I shot two elk/elks.

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• b) Singular form is usually used bison, grouse,
  quail, salmon, swine
• (?? , ??,??,?(????),?)
• e.g. The farmer raises many quail/quails and
  chickens.
• c) Singular form is always used cod, deer,
  mackerel, trout, sheep.(?,?,??,??)e.g. This is a
  deer.
• Those are deer.

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• B). Nationality nouns
• Some words ending in sound /z/ or /s/ use
  singular form Chinese, Japanese, Lebanese,
  Portuguese, Sinhalese, Vietnamese, Swiss
• e.g. I am a Chinese.
• There are four Chinese in the training
  class.
• C) Quantitative nouns (hundred/thousand/million/bi
  llion)
• a) Cardinal numeral hundred/thousand/million/bil
  lion n.
• e.g. two hundred / two hundred of years ago
• Thats going to take hundreds of/hundreds years.

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• Cardinal numeral million n.
• Cardinal numeral millions of n.
• e.g. three millions of dollars
• three million dollars
• When the noun is omitted, if it is not monetary
  unit, the singular form is more often used than
  the plural form if it is, the regular plural
  form is used.
• e.g. The population rose to four million /
  millions.
• The firm had to pay three millions.

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• b) several/many/a few singular / plural (of)
  n.
• e.g. He has played the part several hundred times
  / several hundreds of times.
• some regular plural n.
• e.g. He has played the piano some hundreds of
  times / many, many times.
• (some hundred times about a hundred times)
• c) dozen, score
• e.g. She bought three score (of) eggs.
• I have been there dozens of times.
• He has already asked me several dozens of/
  many scores of times.

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• 2) Number forms of the collective, material,
  abstract and proper nouns
• a) Number forms of the collective noun
• Some are countable, while some are not. Countable
  nouns behave like individual nouns. An
  uncountable one has no plural form if we want to
  count the number, we will use a kind of
  individual noun related semantically to the
  collective, e.g. poetrypoem.

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• Some collective nouns can be used in either
  singular or plural sense. The following verb is
  determined by the singular or plural sense.
• b) Number forms of the material noun
• Generally they are U and have no plural form.
  However, some items can be used either
  uncountably or countably.

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• Some material nouns can take plural endings to
  convey the large quantity or scope ,
• e.g. sand/sands, snow/snows
• Sometimes material nouns are C to express one
  type of or various types of this material.
• e.g. I n Britain tea is usually drunk with sugar
  in it.
• Id like to have a famous tea.

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• We hardly bought wine at lunch time.
• We like wines and liquors.
• Some material nouns become C to express packet
  of , cups of.
• e.g. How many beers were you wanting?
• How many tins of beer were you wanting?
• When referring to the material itself, they are
  U otherwise, they are C, e.g. stone, rubber

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• c) Number forms of the abstract noun
• Mostly they are U and cannot take such
  determiners as a/one or plural forms. A few are
  C, e.g. victoryvictories.
• Some are not C, although they have plural
  endings, e.g. several difficulties.
• The addition of a plural ending to some can
  change the meaning of the base, e.g.
  experienceexperiences.

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• Some can only use singular form with a, some
  only plural form, some both.
• e.g. He has a dislike/dread/hatred/horror/love of
  cats.
• He had a good knowledge of mathematics.
• Give my best regards to your parents.
• He refused with much regret / many regrets.
• I have a suspicion / suspicions that hes right.
• Some abstract nouns can have indefinite article
  to express a type of or an example of.

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• a) Some can have an indefinite article only if
  modifier exists.
• e.g. They are doing a business / a brisk
  business.
• I attach an exaggerated importance/importance
  to regular exercise.
• b) If modifier is implied, a/an can appear.
• e.g. She has had an education ( a good
  education).
• c) Some can have a/an regardless of modifier.
• e.g. A knowledge/ A good knowledge of English is
  essential.

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• d) Number forms of the proper noun
• They have no plural forms, except for such proper
  name as the United States, the Philippines, the
  Netherlands. When one takes a plural ending, it
  takes on some characteristics of a common noun,
  e.g. the Browns

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4.3 Partitives

• They are also called unit nouns and used to
  denote a part of a whole or the quantity of an
  undifferentiated mass.
• 1) general partitives piece, bit, item, article
• 2) partitives related to the shape of things
  cake, bar, drop, ear, flight, grain, head, loaf,
  lump
• 3) partitives related to volume bottle, bowl,
  pail, bucket, handful, spoonful.
• 4) partitives related to the state of action a
  fit of anger/coughing/laughter/fever
• 5) partitives denoting pairs, groups, flocks
  pair, herd, litter, swarm, bench, troupe, shoal.