Talking about people and things: the Noun

1.

Talking about people and things:
the Noun
Sources:
1. Downing Angela, Locke Philip. English Grammar. A University Course. 2nd
Edition. — Routlegde, 2006. — 640 p.
2. Кобрина Н.А., Болдырев H.H., Худяков А.А. Теоретическая
грамматика современного английского языка: Учеб. пособие / Н.А.
Кобрина, H.H. Болдырев, А.А. Худяков. — М.: Высшая школа, 2007. — 368
с.
3. Каушанская В. Л. — A Grammar of the English Language. Пособие для
студентов педагогических институтов. — 2-е изд., перераб. — Л.:
Учпедгиз. Ленинградское отделение, 1963. — 318 с. Под ред. проф. Б.А.
Ильиша.
4.
Glossary of linguistic terms - https://glossary.sil.org/term/inflectionalaffix
5.
The Virtual Linguistics Campus: https://linguistics.online
6.
Moodle: Курс английского языка: профиль "теоретическая грамматика"
http://e.bsu.ru/course/view.php?id=715#section-4

2.

PLAN
1. Noun definition and its
classifications
2. Grammar categories of the
Noun
3. Nominal group and its
structure
4. Syntactical characteristics
of the Noun

3.

Definition
A noun is a member of an open
syntactic class
that includes words which refer to people,
places, things, ideas, or concepts
whose members may act as any of the
following: subjects, objects, indirect
objects, predicatives (GLT)

4.

Noun Classifications
Morphological classification (structural) –
Simple nouns – no suffixes or prefixes
chair, table, room
Derivative nouns – have derivative
elements (prefixes, suffixes) inexperience
Compound
- built from 2 or more stems
(dining-room, snowball)

5.

Noun Classifications
Semantic classification of the Noun
Proper Nouns – unique reference, capitalized
individuals, events, places, things (W. Shakespeare, NYC, the Norman Conquest, the
Mayflower (ship))
Common nouns - non-specific people, places, things, ideas (doctor, table, sorrow),
semantically fall into
ABSTRACT
CONCRETE
love
table
A more detailed Classification of concrete Nouns (Kaushanskaya V.L.)
Class nouns – denote people or things belonging to a class (shop, magazine, man)
Collective - refer to a group of people or things regarded as a single unit – can be
animate – (nouns of multitude – police, team) or inanimate (abstract nouns of singularia
tantum – money, advice, education, knowledge).
Material nouns – denote material (gold, wood, etc)

6.

Noun Classifications
Grammatical (formal classification)
Count nouns (laptop, book, teacher)
Noncount nouns - mass nouns (information,
music)

7.

PLURAL NUMBER

8.

Noun categories: NUMBER
Countable Nouns can be concrete (dog, plant) and abstract – denote states,
actions (ideas, talents, opinions)
Uncountable Nouns– can be abstract (stupidity) or mass or material nouns
(milk, chocolate)
Dual membership (chicken, chickens)
Nouns unable to be classified
Pluralia tantum (scissors, bowls, billiards, species), abstract (outskirts,
electronics, means, news ) complex indivisible notions and structures (stairs)
But: in a phrase grammatically these nouns can agree with the verb in singular
(a species, a means of , news, billiards is…) such nouns are called quasi-plurals
as well as plural verb agreement (trousers, scissors are new)
Singularia tantum (money, hair, info) are singular and agree with the verb in
singular (is…)

9.

What is Prof. Handker’s classification based on?

10.

Noun categories: case
indicates the relation of the Noun to the other words of
the sentence.
common case (uninflected form) and
genitive case
(inflected form, can be Dependent – Lucy’s flat and
Absolute – at the baker’s)
A girl’s book
Jane and Mary’s room
a girls’ school
men’s hats
Dickens’s =Dickens’ novel
Jane’s and Mary’s rooms

11.

Noun categories: gender?
distinction of nouns according to sex
Masculine
(father, god)
Feminine (mother, goddess)
Neuter (plant, idea)

12.

Noun categories: determination?
The category of determination first of all introduces the value of certainty /
uncertainty (Boldyrev N N)
is represented by the indefinite article a (an) and the definite article the,
and in some functions by the triad —a, the, and the absence of the article
(zero article).
Indefinite article a (an)
OE - one
Definite article the OE se demonstrative
pronoun
implication of something
new, unfamiliar
meaning of singularity=one
classifying function, related
to the set of homogeneous
entities = one of …
awareness of the addressee
on the basis of previous
circumstances or
experience of the referent
(the bag)
the perception of something
in integrity, unity (the
police)
determination, pointing,
individualization (the price
= that price)
singularity function (the
sun)
Zero article
With uncountable nouns
when we speak about
sth in general
With nouns that denote
processes and
procedures, such as
eating (at lunch )
In imperative sentences,
especially military
commands (hands up).
With nouns school,
university, etc when
they mean function, not
particular building

13.

Nominal group and its structure
is a group of words which represents or describes an entity Downing, Angela :

14.

Syntactic characteristics
of the Noun
A syntactic function is the grammatical relationship of one constituent to
another within a syntactic construction.
A noun can be a Subject, Object, Attribute, Predicative, Adverbial Modifier

15.

Syntactic characteristics
of the Noun