The noun a word expressing substance in the widest sense of the word

Nouns Proper Common (London, John, Monday, May) Class Nouns of Collective Abstract (dog, table) material (family) (idea) (snow, iron)

Genders of nouns Masculine Feminine Neutral he she it (men, boys, (women, girls, (things, babies, animals when animals when animals when we know their we know their we dont know sex) sex, countries, their sex) ships, vehicles when regarded with affection)

Most nouns describing people have the same form whether they are male or female (teacher, student). Some nouns have different forms: actor – actress groom – bride waiter – waitress host – hostess widower – widow steward – stewardess prince – princess hero – heroine duke – duchess king – queen monk – nun heir - heiress

Noun-forming suffixes: -er, -or, -ar, -est, -ness, -ism, -ess, -(a)ion, -tion, -sion, -hood, -dom, -ship, -ment, -ance, -ence, -ty, -ity, -ure, -age, -y, -ee, -ian, -al, -sis, -cy The most common prefixes: re-, co-, dis-, mis-, over-, under-, sub-, inter- Compound nouns: one word (classroom), two words (CD player), hyphen (game-tester)

Nouns Countable Uncountable denote things that denote things we can be counted cant count can take singular and always take singular plural verbs; verbs; go with –a,-an,-my/his/ dont go with –a,-an, her/your/its/our/their, one/two…, these/ -this/these/that/those those

Countables can be used with Uncountables can be used with Many, few, a few, a couple of, several, a number of, both, a lot of, lots of, plenty of, some, any, no Much, little, a little, a good deal of, a large amount of, a small quantity of, a lot of, lots of, some, any, no We use –a, -an, one/two… with such uncountables as tea, coffee, etc. when we order smth. in a restaurant, etc.

Some problems with uncountables Some nouns are uncountable in English but countable in Russian: advice (совет), news (новости), money (деньги), information (сведения), progress (успех), travel (путешествие), trouble (проблема), hair (волосы), success (успех), toast (гренки), applause (аплодисменты), knowledge (знания), evidence (признак, свидетельство),spaghetti (спагетти), failure (неудача), fruit (фрукты), etc.

Some problems with uncountables Some nouns can be used as countable or uncountable with a difference in meaning: a glass(стакан), glasses(очки), a paper(газета), papers(документы), a hair(волосина), an iron(утюг), a wood(лес), times(разы), experiences(события), works(произведения), a chicken ( the animal), a toast (тост), a help (помощник), a gossip (сплетник), cheeses/fruits and other words denoting different sorts of a given material or food, etc.

Some problems with uncountables Many uncountable nouns can be made countable by adding a partitive: a piece of, a bottle of, a sheet of, a box of, a slice of, a loaf of, a bit of, a kilo of, a tube of, a plate of, etc. Always look it up in the dictionary!

Nouns are made plural by adding: -s to the noun -es to nouns ending in –s, -ss, -x, -ch, -sh, -z -ies to nouns ending in consonant + y -es to nouns ending in consonant + o ( But –s if they are abbreviations (photos, kilos, autos, etc.), musical instruments (pianos), proper nouns (Eskimos). Some nouns ending in –o can take either –s or –es ( buffalo, mosquito, volcano, tornado, zero, etc. -ves to some nouns ending in –f/-fe (calves, halves, knives, leaves, selves, thieves, wolves, wives, etc.) But: beliefs, chiefs, cliffs, handkerchiefs, scarfs/scarves, hoofs/hooves, roofs, safes) Greek or Latin suffixes ( basis- bases, crisis- crises, terminus- termini, criterion- criteria, phenomenon- phenomena, stimulus- stimuli, datum- data, medium- media, formula- formulae, index- indices, antenna- antennae, etc.)

Compound nouns usually form their plural by adding –s/-es to the second noun. But to the first noun if it is followed by a preposition ( mothers-in- law, passers-by). At the end of the compound if it doesnt include any nouns (letdowns). Irregular plurals: man- men (but: Walkmans), woman- women, foot- feet, tooth- teeth, mouse- mice, louse- lice, child- children, goose- geese, sheep- sheep, deer- deer, fish- fish, trout- trout, cod- cod, salmon- salmon, ox- oxen, spacecraft- spacecraft, aircraft- aircraft, hovercraft- hovercraft, means- means, species- species, swine- swine, dozen- dozen ( but: in dozens), score- score (but: scores of people), series – series, rendezvous- rendezvous.

Some problems with verb forms We use singular verb forms with: nouns which refer to school subjects (maths, politics), sports (athletics), games (billiards, dominoes, darts, draughts), illnesses (measles, mumps); when we talk about an amount of money, a time period, weight, distance, etc. ( Five thousand pounds was donated to build a new hospital wing. Two weeks isnt long to wait. Ten miles is a long way to ride.); with group nouns when we mean the group as a unit ( jury, family, team, group, crew, crowd, class, audience, committee, council, army, club, press, government, company, staff, etc.)

Some problems with verb forms We use plural verb forms with: nouns which refer to objects that consist of two parts ( trousers, binoculars, shorts, pyjamas, tights, glasses, earrings, scissors, compasses, scales, tongs, jeans, spectacles, etc.); nouns such as: clothes, police, stairs, looks, surroundings, outskirts, premises, earnings, wages, cattle, poultry, congratulations, thanks, riches, goods, contents, oats, potatoes, carrots, onions ( but: a potato/a carrot/ an onion); group nouns when we mean the individuals. These nouns are plural in Russian but both singular and plural in English: watch- watches, clock- clocks, gate- gates, sledge- sledges, vacation- vacations ( Our summer vacation lasts 2 months. We have 2 vacations a year.)

The category of case We show possession in English with the genitive form of a noun. This means we normally use s (апостроф + s) or (апостроф без s) for people and some living creatures. ( Franks car; a boys cat; Doriss address, an actresss career, childrens games, my father-in-laws house, the girls uniforms). We use s and with some non-living things: time phrases ( a days work, two hours journey), the names of countries/ cities/ships ( Moscows theaters), nouns expressing space/ weight/organisation ( the rivers edge, the companys success), with the nouns world/ country/city/ship (worlds best museums). The genitive is used in some set expressions and fixed phrases: for Heavens sake, for Gods sake, at ones wits end, a hairs breadth, at a stones through, the earths surface, journeys end, etc.