Grammaire

Introduction

2. 1. Definition

Nouns = “Name” = “Nouns and Noun-Related Parts of Speech”

 

         Nouns are among the simplest words among the parts of speech. A noun is a word describing who “subject” or “what “object” in a sentence. A noun is used to name a person, place, or thing. The word “thing” comprises anything which can be perceived by human senses. Remember, that the term “thing” can be anything-an animal, a device, a point, an object, an event, and so on. In addition, nouns represent qualities, feelings, concepts, activities and measures. Nouns are the most basic unit of speech. See the example and the table below for more details:

·        Persons: Stephanie, Dr. Edelstein, teacher, accountant ………….………….…..

·        Places: Chicago, island, Italy, college……………….………..…………..……..

·        Things: novel, surfboard, bicycle, horse………………...……...………………..

·        Qualities: patience, honesty, enthusiasm……………….....……...………….…..

·        Feelings: happiness, anger, confusion, sadness…………….….….....…....……..

·        Concepts: knowledge, freedom, friendship, travel………......…..…..…………..

·        Activities: snowboarding, dancing, management, eating……...….…..…...…….

·        Measures: day, week, inch, kilometer, million……………...…....…………..…

·        Condition: peace, security, joy ………………………………..….……..………

Nouns are important words in English language. Sentences revolve around nouns because nouns function both as subjects and as objects of verbs. To determine whether a word is really a noun, try using it with the verb “is” or “are”. You should notice that all word nouns would make sense if used in this way. See the examples below:

·        Katia smiled. The bold type word is a noun that refers to a person.

·        Katia smiled at Isabel, Kevin, and their two dogs, Trevor and Lance.

·        Trevor and Lance were watching a show on Animal Planet.

·        That plain red wooden chair in the corner is a priceless antique.

·        The iceberg was massive underneath water.

·        Austin, Texas is known as the “Live Music Capital of the World”.

·        But the New York Times created controversy when it referred to it as the ““Live Music Capital of the South”.

Examples of Nouns
People	Girls, boys, men, women,
Places	Lake, Algeria, district
Things §  Animals §  Objects §  Substances §  Actions §  Measures	·        Dog, cut, fish, cow, fox, ·        Car, plane, house, machine, tools ·        Gold, air, iron ·        Race, dance,  hit, travel, ·        Meter, centimeter, day, hour,
Qualities	Beauty, honesty, happiness, courage,

 

 

Nouns can be found anywhere in a sentence, and most sentences contain several nouns. One way to find nouns is to look for the little words a, an, the. The naming word that comes after them is probably a noun. Sometimes nouns appear without these little words, but you can usually insert them without changing the meaning of the sentence. Try to analyze the nouns in this sentence:

·        John and his daughters visited the continent of Europe and saw some lions. the nouns in this sentence are as follows:

-         The word John is a noun that names a person.

-         The word daughters name people

-         The word continent names a thing

-         The word Europe names a place

-         The word Lions names animals.

Now, examine the following sentences carefully until you feel satisfied that you can identify the nouns, their kinds and for what they stand for in most sentences.

·        Stephan and his brother went to the forest to watch over the lions.

·        His doctor bought a new flat in Algiers last week.

·        Finish your food before the big game starts on your phone.

·        The Smiths lived on a factory until a year ago when the family moved to the capital of the country.

·        Algiers is the capital of Algeria, and Constantine is the cultural capital of the country.

·        Sometimes excellent students spend more time in the library than their exams need.

·        French is the first language of many citizens of Canada.

 

grammar Point A noun is the name of a person, place, animal, thing, idea or emotion. In short, it is a naming word.

 

1. 2. Noun Phrase

 

A noun is often called a noun phrase. A noun phrase can be a single-word noun. But a noun phrase is usually longer than a single word because it consists of an adjective or a determiner plus a noun. See the examples below:

·        Teacher loves their pupils. (noun phrase: teacher = single word noun)

·        A good teacher loves his pupils. (Noun phrase: a good teacher = group of words)

The left-hand column in the table below lists categories of single words that may constitute a Noun Phrase, and which must consequently be its head; the italicized expressions in the right-hand column in the same table are examples of single-word NPs belonging to the corresponding category.

Category of Head Word                              Example

§  Noun, count                                            Girls are playful. §  Noun, non-count                                      Mushroom is nutritious. §  Subject and object personal pronouns       She met he r teacher. §  Genitive personal pronoun                       Mine are vivid. §  Indefinite pronoun/quantifier                    None were found here. §  Wh-word/pronoun                                   Who made the cake?

All of the word categories in the right-hand column are noun-like, so in order to abbreviate and to simplify matters, let’s refer to them all as nominal. Every NP, like every other phrase, must have a head, and any nominal can be the head of an NP.