The Noun

NOUN.-  A noun is a word that names a person, animal, place, thing or an abstract idea, called concept.  It is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. The noun is one of the eight parts of speech. 

Let’s see some examples:

Regular Nouns	Plural	Examples
Most nouns	add s	book          books cup            cups	sprout       sprouts
Most nouns that end in ch, sh, s, x, or z	add es	box            boxes bus            buses	prize          prizes
Most nouns that end in a vowel and y	add s	boy            boys day            days	key             keys
Most nouns that end in a consonant and y	y becomes ies	baby          babies country     countries	spy             spies
Most nouns that end in f or fe	f or fe becomes ves	wife           wives elf              elves	loaf            loaves  thief          thieves
Most nouns that end in o	add s	kangaroo   kangaroos piano          pianos	video         videos
Certain nouns that end in a consonant and o	add es	hero            héroes potato        potatoes	volcano      volcanoes
Irregular Nouns
Certain English nouns change a vowel sound when they become plural.	These include	goose                geese  man                  men woman             women	mouse              mice tooth                teeth foot                  feet
Some nouns don't change at all when they become plural.	These include	deer                 deer  fish                  fish	sheep               sheep  species.          species.
A few nouns have plural forms that are left from Old English.	These include	child           children	ox              oxen.

What is the plural of each of the nouns? 

person	animal	place	thing/idea or concept
			concrete	Abstract
Mr.Kant	dog	classroom	computer	Happiness
president	cat	Lake Titi Caca	board	honesty
father	bird	restaurant	window	God
girl	mouse	supermarket	notebook	liberty
student	parrot	Lima	pencil	passion
Sara	squirrel	Europe	eraser	knowledge
dwarf	fish	India	backpack	freedom

*An abstract idea exist only in the mind. In other words, it is an intangible concept.

PROPERTIES OF NOUNS.- All nouns have four characteristics called “properties”. These are:

1) GENDER	2)  PERSON	3) NUMBER	4)  CASE
Indicates the sex of the person, place or thing that is named. 1.   Masculine gender (male sex): boy, brother, bull, cock, father, husband, man, king, uncle, brother and son. 2.   Feminine gender (female sex):girls, sister, cow, hen, mother, wife, woman, queen, aunt, sister and daughter. 3.   Common gender(denotes either sex): worker, singer, relative, birds cattle, children, citizens, driver, friend, neighbor and parent, 4.   Neuter gender denotes neither male nor female sex: books, desk, ink, pen, tree, river, house and lamp.	It is a characteristic or form which lets us know whether the word relates to the speaker, to the person spoken to, or to the person or thing spoken about. First person (refers to a person who is doing the speaking): I, we Second person (refers to a person who is being addressed) : you Third person(refers to a person or thing being spoken about): he, she and it.	Tells us whether the noun refers to only one person, place or thing, or to more than one. Examples: Singular: cat Plural: cats *some nouns do not have a plural form. These are called “non-count nouns” They are material things like: bread, butter, coffee, gold, water, sugar, silver, goal, wine, salt and vinegar. Abstract nouns are also non-count nouns. They include concepts like: freedom, liberty, biology, etc.	It indicates the grammatical function of the noun in a sentence. English nouns have three cases: nominative, objective and possessive. Examples: Nadia is fun. (subject of a sentence) Sara loves Tom. (object or a sentence) Sara’s book is nice. (possessive relationship with an object)

A noun can function in a sentence as a subject, direct object, an indirect object, a subject complement, an object complement, an appositive, and adjective or an adverb.

            Examples:     1. Rose and Tom are friends.

                                   2. Her secret admirer gave my sister a bouquet of flowers

                                   3. I consider my father tired. (object complement)

                                   4. My father became a magistrate.

                                   5. I love my father the magistrate. (appositive)

PLURAL NOUNS (SPELLING)

Most nouns in English have both singular and plural forms. Study these rules carefully.

REGULAR NOUNS
1.      For most nouns simply add “s” in the plural.	My father has four cars in Brazil.
2.               Nouns that end in “s”, “ss”, “sh”, “ch”, “x”, and “o” add “es” in the plural. Most English nouns ending in “o” form the plural by adding “s”         shampoo/shampoos         studio/studios         radio/radios Some can form the plural by adding either “s” or “es”, for example:         Zero -  zero or zeroes	I come back in two buses at night. My sister has three classes ever day. The churches in Europe are very old but beautiful. The matches are very dangerous for little children. My little brother has four boxes of toys. I buy five mangoes in the supermarket every week. I like those shampoos.
3.               Nouns that end in a consonant + “y” change to “ies” in the plural. But nouns ending in “y” preceded by a vowel usually forma the plural simply by adding “s”.	I love romantic stories (story). My sister has twenty two boys in her class.
4.               Many nouns that end in “f”, in the plural change the “f” to “v” and the add “es”. Nouns ending in “ff” become plural by adding “s”. For example: sheriff/sheriffs                Tariff/tariffs Other nouns ending in “f” or “fe” become plural by only adding “s”. For example:         Proof/proofs         Belief/beliefs	I saw two big wolves (wolf) and three calves (calf) in the zoo yesterday. My knives (knife) are made of silver.
5.               The most common “Irregular Nouns”are: All kinds: change the vowel, word or add a different ending. The ones that end with “us”, change “us” to “i”. There are also unchanging plural nouns.	For example:  man/ men                        foot/feet                        tooth/teeth                        goose/geese                        child/children                        person/people                        mouse/mice  For example:          cactus/cacti                                 nucleus/nuclei                                 focus/foci For example:  scissors/fish/sheep/deer/bison