1. Lecture 4 – Nouns and Noun Phrases
English Grammar: Week 4
Lecture 4 – Nouns and Noun Phrases

2. Important Notice
I'm leaving for the US this Thursday! I will be back on Tuesday, October 8th
Next week we won't have class, but will have to make it up sometime after the National Holiday

3. What are nouns? Nouns are naming words.
They name people, places and objects.
They can also name ideas, emotions, qualities and activities.
What are some examples of nouns?

4. Classification Nouns can be classified according to word formation:
Simple Nouns – cat
Compound Nouns – armchair
Derivative Nouns – agreement
Lexical meaning:
Common nouns – baby, hat, honesty
Proper nouns – Emma, The Guardian, Chicago

5. Classification Abstract and concrete nouns: Grammatical form
Abstract nouns name ideas, feelings and qualities. Most, though not all, are uncountable.
Grammatical form
Count Nouns (countable) – a car, two cars, a few cars
Noncount Nouns (uncountable) – bread, furniture, trust

6. Diagram of Nouns proper individual nouns countable collective common
material
uncountable
abstract

7. Noun Gender Nouns do not have grammatical gender in English.
Some have a natural gender,
male female
uncle
groom
son
father
bull
monk

8. Number Forms of the Material Noun
Material nouns are generally uncountable and have no plural forms.
When used to mean the material itself, they are uncountable
But when used in other senses, for example, two coffees in the sense of “two cups of coffee”, they are countable, behaving just like individual nouns.
The house is built of stone.
They throw stones at him.

9. Number Forms of the Abstract Noun
Abstract nouns are mostly uncountable.
In the case of some abstract nouns, the mere addition of a plural ending has the effect of changing the meaning of the base.
We meet once a year to exchange our teaching experience.
We told each other our experiences in foreign countries.

10. Nouns both countable and uncountable
He shared with us some of his experiences.
Climbing this mountain requires experience.
I never have enough time to read the evening paper.
The bouquet is wrapped in colored paper.
The talks will break off.
I wonder how she enjoys silly talk.
The lambs were grazing nearby.
Lamb is usually on the menu at Easter.

11. Partitives
Partitives, also called unit nouns, are commonly used to denote a part of a whole or the quantity of an undifferentiated mass.
Both countable and uncountable nouns can enter partitive constructions.
With plural count nouns, partitive constructions can denote the idea of “a group”, “a pack”, etc.
A flock of sheep or a gang of criminals
With noncount nouns, such constructions can achieve countablility.
A piece of advice or an article of furniture
Page give many examples and kinds

12. What are the plural forms?
a) bus - buses h) craft -
b) lady i) goose -
c) toy j) trout -
d) roof k) basis -
e) wolf l) louse -
f) tooth m) dwarf -
g) woman n) criterion -

13. Fill in the blanks
ball, slice, drop, kilo, bottle, tube, sheet, jar, piece, bar.
1. Eat your steak with a .. of bread.
2. He bought a .. of oranges to give his grandsons.
3. Put your toothbrush and the .. of toothpaste in a glass.
4. I'm so thirsty that I'm craving for a .. of water.
5. Write your name and address on a .. of paper.
6. Please, fetch the .. of wine from the pantry.
7. To tie all these parcels you need a whole .of string.
8. I need a .. of soap. Will buy me one if you go shopping?9. This problem is a .. of cake. I wonder why you cannot find the solution.
10. He saw the .. of jam on the top shelf but he couldn't reach it.

14. Let's play a game! The class will be divided into 2 teams
You will line up as a team
1 person from each team will come to the front
I will tell you a word and you will need to make it into a partitive
To be the one to answer you must grab the wad of paper
Then tell me as many constructions as you can
For example: Bread = slice of bread, piece of bread, and loaf of bread

15. Homework
Read Lecture 5
Do exercises 5A and 5D on a separate piece of paper