The Noun (4 hours) Problems to be discussed

Lecture 6

The Noun (4 hours)
Problems to be discussed:

• 
  nouns as a part of speech
  
• 
  the grammatical categories of nouns
  
• 
  number
  
• 
  case
  
• 
  the meaning of gender in Modern English
  
• 
  gender and sex.
  

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 because:

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.