nouns in englishenglish grammar

The four properties of nounsThe four formal properties of nouns are case, gender, number, and person.. Consider the following examples for each of the four properties: Case Case defines

The four properties of nouns

The four formal properties of nouns

are case, gender, number, and person Thus, how each noun will

function depends on which property the noun is exhibiting Consider the following examples for each of the four properties:

Case

Case defines the role of the noun in the sentence—as the subject or object or to show possession Nouns in the subject and object role appear identical in form; nouns that show possession, however, are slightly different as they usually require an apostrophe

The French player (subject) is especially tall

The manager chose the French player (object)

The French player's (possessive) skill is famous

Gender

Gender classifies nouns into masculine and feminine, for example, king, queen, boyfriend, and girlfriend In the past, many nouns

changed their form according to their gender, for example, author and authoress However, these days, the use of gender-specific nouns is rare Many common nouns, such as engineer or teacher, can refer to men or women

Number

Number shows whether one or more objects are being referred to Most nouns change their form when they become plural, by adding –s

or –es, for example, cloud/clouds or church/churches A noun ending

in –y, preceded by a consonant, becomes plural with –ies, as in

fly/flies, cry/cries, or city/cities But forming plurals is not always straightforward There are many irregular forms of noun plurals, such

as woman/women or crisis/crises When in doubt, consult your

dictionary, or submit your paper to one of Scribendi.com's English editing services

Person

Person shows whether someone is speaking (first person, I and we), is being spoken to (second person or addressee, you), or is being spoken about (third person, he, she, it, and they)

We, the leaders, will decide The noun "leaders" is in the first person Class, pay attention! The noun "class" is in the second person

A launch carried all the passengers The nouns "launch" and

"passengers" are in the third person

Number, Gender, and Case

When we use a noun, we have to take into consideration three things:

• Its number–singular or plural

• Its gender–masculine, feminine or neuter

• Its case–how it’s used in the sentence

Here’s the definite article “the” in all its numbers, cases, and genders.

the

Nominative

Case Genitive

Case Accusative

Case But wait–there’s more! Not only does the article change with case, so does the noun that goes with it Here’s an example on the next page: