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Grammar 362

English 362: Chapter 8: Kinds of Nouns

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Heyo Pwips! Lets talk about the different kinds of nouns that exist:

Proper Nouns

These nouns are usually names. They can refer to a specific person, place, institution, etc.

Examples:

Cheyenne, The Great Wall of China, The University of Wisconsin, Jack Sparrow, Lady Mary, Yellowstone National Park, Mr. Handsome, Dr. Seuss, Reepicheep

 

Mass and Count Nouns

There is a mass/count distinction that separates nouns that can be individually counted from nouns that come in masses of material.

Examples of Count Nouns:

Scissors, book, hobbit, light saber, top hat, Pwips, cars

Examples of Mass Nouns:

Sugar, air, happiness, patriotism, magic

Concrete vs Abstract Nouns

Concrete nouns are nouns that are tangible or perceptible. Abstract nouns usually refer to qualities, ideas, and activities.

Examples of Concrete:

puppies, rain, Sponge Bob Square Pants, hair, slime, butterfly, trash cans

Examples of Abstract:

Love, fear, flying, confessions, grammar, graduation

 

Grammar 362

English 362: Chapter 8: Special Plurals

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Heyo Pwips! Let’s talk about plurals!

Most nouns are made plural by simply adding -s to the end. However, there are some special English  nouns and nouns that come from Latin or Greek that we use. These nouns do not follow the pattern of simply adding -s. Lets take a look at the singular and the plural forms of these nouns.

Special English Plurals:

  • child=children
  • Woman=women
  • man=men

There are also special plurals for common animals

  • bull/cow=cattle
  • sheep=sheep
  • mouse=mice
  • deer=deer

 

Latin and Greek Plurals

Latin and Greek nouns sometimes form their plurals based on Latin and Greek rules. Here are examples of such plurals:

Words that end in –us usually make their plurals in –i

  • fungus=fungi
  • nucleus=nuclei
  • focus=foci
  • alumnus=alumni

Words that end in –a, have a plural –ae

  • alumna=alumnae
  • emerita=emeritae

Words that end in –um (Latin) or –on (Greek) form their plural in -a

  • erratum=errata
  • criterion=criteria
  • corrigendum=corrigenda

Exception: Often writers identify the -a plural of this type as the singular form. For example, criteria and phenomena are often used as singular nouns (the criteria/the phenomena is…) but not always. Agenda, however, has become a singular form. (see page 149)

Words that end in –is form the plural with –es.

  • crisis=crises
  • analysis=analyses

 

Grammar 362

English 362: Ch. 8: Determiners

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Heyo pwips, let’s talk determiners!

 

Central Determiners

  • May be articles, demonstratives, or possessive pronouns
    • Articles: a, an, the
    • Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
    • Possessive pronouns: his, her, their, our, your, its
  • Forms: Art, Dem, Pron
  • Function: Det

 

Pre-Determiners

  • Come before Central Determiner
  • May be quantifiers or a link
    • Quantifiers:
      • Quantifiers: all, none, few, many, some, both
      • Multipliers: twice, double, three times
      • Fractions: half, one third
    • Links:
      • The word “of” in the determiner phrase has the function of a link
      • “Of” forms a Preposition by itself and does not have a PrepComp
  • Forms: Quantifier, Preposition
  • Functions: PreDet, Link

 

Post-Determiners

  • Come after Central Determiner
  • May be cardinal numbers, ordinal numbers,  or two quantifiers
    • Cardinal numbers: one, two, three
    • Ordinal numbers: first, second, third
    • Quantifiers: few, many
  • Forms: Numeral, Quantifier
  • Functions: PostDet
Grammar 362

English 362, Chapter 8: Personal Pronouns

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  • Heyo Pwips! We are on to chapter 8! In this chapter we will focus on the noun phrase. An important element of the noun phrase is the pronoun. Pronouns are substitutes for noun phrases (they take the place of a noun). There are several types of pronouns, but the set called personal pronouns are the core of this pronoun system.

Personal Pronouns:

Personal Pronouns have four aspects to their forms: Person, Gender, Number, and Case

Person refers to first-person form, second-person form, and third-person form.

Gender: The third person personal pronouns have masculine and feminine forms (he, she, his, her, him, etc.)

Number: refers to the fact that pronouns have singular and plural forms

Case: a distinction that refers to how a word functions in the sentence.

There are 3 types of case: Nominative (means the word functions as a subject in the sentence), Objective (means the word functions as an object of some kind) and Possessive (means the word indicates possession).

Now let’s look at examples of these pronoun forms:

Personal Pronouns in Nominative Case:
  • First person singular—I
  • First person, plural—we
  • Second person, singular—you
  • Second person, plural—you
  • Third person, singular—he, she, it
  • Third person, plural—they

 

Personal Pronouns in Objective Case
  • First person, singular–me
  • First person, plural—us
  • Second person, singular—you
  • Second person, plural—you
  • Third person, singular—him, her, it
  • Third person, plural—them

 

 

Personal Pronouns in Possessive Case
  • First Person, singular—my
  • First person, plural—our
  • Second person, singular—your
  • Second person, plural—your
  • Third person, singular—his, her, its
  • Third person, plural—their

Examples:

Our family turns into a flock of swindling, mafia vultures when it comes to left over dessert!

That is my pumpkin pie!

Mom put your pie in the fridge.

In my family, you have to mark your food, hide it, and play guard patrol during mealtimes.

There is a special sub-category of Possessive Pronouns: Independent Possessive Pronouns

  • First Person, singular—mine
  • First person, plural—ours
  • Second person, singular—yours
  • Second person, plural—yours
  • Third person, singular—his, hers
  • Third person, plural—theirs

These are independent because they can stand alone in a sentence and don’t have a following noun that they refer to like the previous possessive pronouns:

That pie is mine.

Yours is in the fridge.