(исчисляемые) (неисчисляемые)
continent, idea, effort sand, fuel, progress
Gender (Poд)
The category of the gender is semantic (семантическая) in English.
There are three gender: masculine gender (мужской род) E.g. husband, sailor, boy, hephew. They can be replaced by the pronoun he; feminine gender (женский род) E.g. girl, niece, cow, hen. They can be replaced by the pronoun she; all other nouns are considered to be of neuter gender (средний род) E.g. box, table, opinion, pride. They can be replaced by the pronoun it.
The gender of such nouns as cousin, friend, teacher, politician etc. can be defined by the context.
The gender can be shown in the noun structure, itself.
host - hostess, actor - actress, tiger - tigress, a he-wolf - a she-wolf, duke - duchess, hero - heroine, monk - nun, prince - princess, widower - widow.
Some uncountable nouns can never be countable. This means we cannot: use a/an in front of them, give them a plural.
(advice, clothing, furniture, homework, jewellery, lightning, thunder, weather, scenery, traffic, shopping, luggage, rubbish, progress, money, news, soap, spaghetti)
Traditionally, the nouns ship, boat, car and also countries’ names and animals are referred to the feminine gender and are replaced by the pronoun she.
Once upon a time there was a fox called Joe.
He lived …
Look at the cat. Isn’t she graceful?
‘How’s your new car?’ ‘Terrific’. She ’s running beautifully.
The ship’s struck a rock. She ’s sinking.
We can use she with countries, but it is more common in modern English.
Number (Число)
Singular, plural.
The plural form is generally made with the suffix – s(es)
[ z ] [ s ] [ 8z ] after [s, z, 5, t5 ]
days books brushes
boys horses
tables roses
dogs
Making plural nouns the following spelling rules are important:
1. the suffix – es is added to the nouns ending in –s, -sh, -ch, -x, -z. (glass – glasses, box
– boxes, wish – wishes)
2. the suffix – es is added to the nouns ending in –o, preceded by a consonant (tomato –
tomatoes, hero – heroes, cargo – cargoes, volcano - volcanoes); if o is preceded by a
vowel or the noun is borrowed from another language, only –s is added. (cuckoo –
cuckoos, radio – radios, piano – pianos, photo – photos, bamboo – bamboos, zoo –
zoos, video – videos)
3. the ending –y, preceded by a consonant is changed into – ies. (story – stories, fly –
flies); to the ending –y, preceded by a vowel, only –s is added. (boy – boys, play –
plays). But if a noun ends in –y and starts with a capital letter, we just add –s
(Kennedys, Januarys)
4. the ending –f, or –fe is changed into –ves. (wife – wives, life – lives, shelf – shelves).
But: roofs, cliffs, gulfs, proofs, safes, cuffs, beliefs, hand kerchief – hand kerchiefs.
5. irregular plural nouns:
man-men sheep-sheep
woman-women salmon-salmon headquarters
tooth-teeth deer-deer
foot-feet trout-trout
mouse-mice beaver-beaver
goose-geese swine-swine
ox-oxen fish-fish
analysis-analyses craft-craft
basis-bases means-means
crisis-crises works-works
criterion-criteria
datum-data
phenomenon-phenomene
medium-media
6. the nouns that are used only in the singular form: advice, fun, hair, luck, money,
news, knowledge, information, progress, work, weather, politics,phonetics,physics
7. the nouns that are used only in the plural form: trousers, pants, shorts, trunks,
pyjamas, braces, scissors, spectacles, glasses, scales, tongs, billiards, cards, domi-
noes, draughts, contents, clothes, troops, goods, whereabouts, surroundings, savings
8. the nouns that can be used both in the singular and the plural form: family, group,
audience, army, crew, team, delegation, party, crowd, herd, flock
9. the nouns: people, police and cattle are always used with the plural verb.
Case (Падеж)
The common case the genitive case
(общий падеж) (родительный падеж)
The nouns in the common The genitive case is formed
case have no ending with the suffix ‘s
1. proper names
2. person names
3. collective nouns
4. animals’ names (the dog’s barking)
5. nouns denoting time and distance (a few days’ trip, a moment’s pause) geographical names (Europe’s unity)
6. set phrases (a pin’s head, at one’s finger’s end)
The nouns in the genitive case are used as attributes (определение) in a sentence.
Упражнения: пособие ‘Noun’ (p. 5ex. 3A, 3B; p. 7 ex. 4B; p. 8 ex. 4C; p. 9,10 ex
1-4; p.15 ex 7A; p.17 ex 8A, 8B; p.18 ex 8C, 8D, 8E)
Stop and Check.
Test № 1
Complete the sentences using the correct article and verb form.
1. ____ police (be) an essential establishment.
2. ____ police (look) for the criminal for half_ year.
3. ____ goods (be) still at the docks.
4. NATO’s headquarters (be) in Brussels.
5. ____ cheapest means of transport (be) ___ bicycle.
6. ____ news (be) at ten o’clock on Channel 2.
7. ____ mathematics (teach) in Russian schools beginning from ___ first year.
8. ____ government (be) very popular.
9. ____ government (disagree) on the matter.
10. ____ United States (be) smaller than Canada.
11. Three weeks (be) enough holiday.
12. ____ Welsh (have) a very old tradition, Eistedford.
Test № 2
1. When he (fall) over, he (break) two of his (tooth).
2. The police in Britain (wear) uniforms.
3. We’ve got enough (plate), but we need some more (knife) and (fork).
4. Modern supermarkets offer _____ wide variety of goods from (tomato, potato) to (piano and furniture)
5. In ____ mountains there (be) a lot of (deer).
6. (Baby) must (look after) ____ day and ____ night.
7. ____ Mass (medium) (cover) developments both inside and outside the country.
8. (Cat) hunt (mouse).
9. What (criterium) (use) to estimate the economic situation in the country?
10. He was slim with short brown hair and ____ thin (moustache).