English language: Morphology Seminar no. 4 The Noun continued Answer the following question: 1.

. What is the distinction between countable and uncountable nouns? 2. What is the difference between common and proper nouns? 3. Why is it that proper nouns do not need plural form or articles? 4. What kind of modifiers and determiners can a proper noun have? 5. What type of reference do abstract / concrete nouns have? 6. Give examples of how the same noun (abstract / concrete) can be both countable and uncountable. 7. Give examples of plural uncountable nouns. 8. What nouns are capitalized in English? 9. Which proper nouns are preceded by the definite article? 10. What are collective nouns? Give examples. 11. What connotative value can group nouns have? 12. What are unit nouns? Give examples. 13. What are the classes of quantifying nouns? 14. What are species nouns? Give examples. 15. What is number? 16. What are native irregular plurals? 17. Give examples of zero plural nouns. 18. What are the markers of the Genitive? 19. When does the Genitive act as a determiner? As a modifier? 20. What types of noun take the s Genitive? The of Genitive? Activity 1 Give the plural of the following nouns: Portfolio, swine, house, tomato, hearth, mother-in-law, basis, clergyman, ox, cry, key, fox, downfall, looker-on, rock, bush, enemy, leaf, roof, genius, hero, bunch sheep, ship, criterion, youth, journey, penknife, loss, datum, goose, deer, pie, Englishwoman, wolf, mouse, formula, bath, volcano, possibility, forget-me-not, foot, handkerchief, thief, crisis, stepdaughter, birth, echo, fingertip, court martial, spy, lie. Activity 2 Explain the use of the genitive in each case: a. Since his illness, however, he had reluctantly abandoned this attempt to get twenty four hours work out of each day. b. Agnes was at her wits end. c. To Elizabeth it seemed that the lines with which fear had falsely aged his face were smoothed away, and it was a boys face which watched her with a boys enthusiasm. d. And he lifted his strange lowering eyes to Dereks. e. Phillip heard a mans voice talking quickly, but soothingly, over the phone. f. Presently, Rex was on his two miles walk to Offendene. g. I spent Christmas at my aunt Emilys. h. I spotted the brides fathers uncles silk hat on the seat of a straight chair across the room. i. We took some bread and cheese with us and got some goats milk up there on the pasture. j. He was still thinking of next mornings papers. k. Why, for Gods sake, why must we go through all this hell? l. A man stepped out from a tobacconists and waved to them, and the car slid to the kerb and stopped. Activity 3 Which of the following can be expressed naturally as a noun+noun pattern or a noun+ s pattern? 1. wool from a lamb; 2. a headline in a newspaper; 3. a nest lived in by a bird; 4. insurance for a car; 5. a hole in the wall; 6. the uniform worn by a nurse; 7. a request for help; 8. the wheel of a bicycle; 9. the voice of a man; 10. a cloth for drying dishes. Activity 4 What do you call... 1. a shelf for books; 2. a train which carries goods; a test to detect drugs; 4. a case for putting pencils in; 5. a film lasting two hours; 6. an essay which is four pages long; 7. an issue of human rights.

Activity 5 Correct the following sentences: 1. 120 miles are too far to travel. 2. We put our bottles in a bottles bank for recycling. 3. Ive got two brother-in-laws. 4. She bought me a chocolate box for my birthday. 5. There have been three breaks-in in this street this month. 6. The company own a cars park in the city centre. Activity 6 Identify the processes of formation for each of the following nouns: Billboard, business, self-motivation, songwriter, education, talk, skydiving, counterintelligence, crackdown, professional, highlight, partnership Activity 7 Provide the feminine (and the common gender, wherever possible) of the following masculine nouns: a. cock; gander, pigeon, drake, buffalo, horse, billy goat, buck rabbit, ram, hog, bull. b. Bachelor, boy, bridegroom, brother, brother-in-law, husband, king, lad, man, bar-tender, monk, nephew, doctor, spokesman, uncle.