Contents introduction chapter I

1.2.The parts of speech nouns’ grammatical character
In most cases in treating parts of speech in English we shall keep to the conception of scientists that we refer to post-structural tendency. It's because they combine the ideas of traditional and structural grammarians. The noun is classified into a separate word - group ⁵because:
1. they all have the same lexical - grammatical meaning :
substance / thing
2. according to their form - they've two grammatical categories:
number and case
3. they all have typical stem-building elements:
- er, - ist, - ship, - merit, -hood ...
4. typical combinability with other words:
most often left-hand combinability
5. function - the most characteristic feature of nouns is - they can be observed in all syntactic functions but predicate. Some words about the distribution of nouns. Because of the fact that nouns express or denote substance / thing, their distribution is bound with the words which express the quality of substance, their number, their actions and their relation to the other words /nouns/ in English.
When the quality of nouns are described we make use of adjectives:
big, red apple
energetic crisis
a long, dusty track and others.
When the quantity and order of nouns are described the numerals are to be used:
the six continents
25th anniversary
12 students....
When we denote the action of substances we make use of the verbs:
An apple-tree grows in the garden
Russia assisted India in Mounting Bokaro Steal Plant
When the relation of nouns to other words are described we make wide use of prepositions
a window of the school
to the park
at the construction of the bridge
In all these cases with the exception of verbs the noun is characterized with left-hand combinability / in overwhelming majority/. So far as to the verbs are concerned they may both precede and follow them.
The Number and Case in English Nouns
Number is a grammatical category of nouns which denotes the number of objects, expressed by a word. In English there are two numbers: singular and plural. The formal signal of the singular number is a zero morpheme, while the usual signal of plurality -/e/s. The formation of plural by
means -/e/s is considered to be productive, but in Modern English there are some non-productive
types of plural number, as for instance:
a) suffix - en : ox - oxen
b) variation of vowels in the root of a word:
tooth-teeth; goose-geese; mouse-mice; man-men,
c) variation of vowels of the root + suffix- "ren" children;
d) homonymous forms for both sing and plural:
sheep – sheep
deer – deer
swine – swine
This type of formation of plurality was a norm for the whole group of words in Old
English, but in Modern English only some words have been preserved.
Non-productive type of number we find in some borrowed words from Latin and Greek, such as:
datum – data basis – bases /si:z/
memorandum – memoranda crisis – crises /si:z/
formula – formulae /i: / analysis – analyses /si:z/
These words form their plural as per the norms of Latin and Greek languages, though some
Of them form their plural according to English: formulas, memorandums. With regard to the category of number English nouns fall under two subclasses: countable and uncountable. The latter is again subdivided into those having no plural form and those having no singular. The former type is called Pluralia tantum: clothes, goods, the latter – singularia tantum: milk, water. The lexical and grammatical morphemes of a word linked together so closely that sometimes it seems impossible to separate them. The relation between foot and feet, goose and geese, man and men is similar to the relation between.