NUMBER & GENDER in nouns apuntesingles.pptx

Apuntes de inglés

1. NUMBER in nouns singular and plural Biber, 4.8 Number affects not only nouns but also PRONOUNS, DETERMINERS AND VERBS. Plural nouns are formed from the singular by INFLECTIONAL CHANGE, THE ADDITION OF A SUFFIX. REGULAR PLURALS

2. NATIVE IR REGULAR PLURALS LATIN AND GREEK IRREGULAR PLURALS They keep their original plurals but the regular plural is often an alternative. Ex. syllabus syllabi syllabuses Expanded in R.A.Close. ZERO PLURAL They do not change and can be used with singular and plural concord . Fish are easy to catch. Each fish is caught. They include animal nouns (deer, salmon) , quantifying nouns as part of a phrase (two dozen people) and AIRCRAFT-DICE-SERIES-SPECIES P LURAL ONLY NOUNS- SINGULAR ENDING IN S collective nouns: people, police, staff, cattle look plural but are singular: news, measles, mumps, checkers

3. NUMBER in nouns singular and plural R. A. Close 5.14 to 5.23 IR REGULAR PLURALS I N PRONUNCIATION ONLY TH from voiceless dental fricative to voiced dental fricative: BATH to BATHS MOUTH, OATH, PATH, YOUTH, BIRTH The voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ becomes voiced /z/: HOUSE to HOUSES. ending in O rule + ES: echoes, embargoes, heroes, etc. IN SPELLING ONLY E optional (both versions accepted) BUFFALO, CARGO, COMMANDO, HALO, MOSQUITO, TORNADO, VOLCANO. No E preceded by vowel or v. sound: BAMBOOS, EMBRYOS, FOLIOS, KANGAROOS, ORATORIOS, RADIOS, ZOOS. abbreviations : KILOS, MEMOS, PHOTOS musical terms of italian origin : CONCERTOS, CONTRALTOS, PIANOS, SOLOS, SOPRANOS. proper names: ESKIMOS, FILIPINOS. DYNAMOS.

4. IN PRON. AND SPELLING F - FE / f / = VES /vz/ : SHELF to SHELVES. More ex. THIEF-SELF-LEAF-LOAF- LIFE-WIFE- CALF - ELF - HALF- WOLF exceptions HOOF- SCARF - WHARF (both plurals accepted) HANDKERCHIEFS-ROOFS (/fs/ or /fz/) All other words ending if F treat as regular= CLIFFS IRR. OLD PLURAL FORMS COLLECTIVE PLURALS MAN-MEN/WOMAN-WOMEN and their combinations. POSTMAN-POSTMEN BUT GermanS-RomanS-The BowmanS OX-OXEN CHILD-CHILDREN FOOT-FEET GOOSE-GEESE TOOTH-TEETH MOUSE-MICE LOUSE-LICE BROTHER- BRETHREN (religious context) BROTHERS accepted. PENNY PENCE a TENPENCE coin (total amount) PENNIES 3 pennies (separate plural) PERSON PEOPLE (collectively, meaning persons) PERSONS (separately) PEOPLES (meaning races) FISH FISH (collectively) FISHES (separately) They are optional plurals for certain type of ANIMALS-BIRDS-FISH-TREES- HUMAN BEINGS = LION are plentiful here. or LIONS are plentiful here. TIGER-ELEPHANT-DUCK-HERRING-SHARK-PINE-BIRCH-MAN-WOMAN- CHILD BUT for WILD BIRDS = WILD-FOWL HORSE = CAVALRY they are obligatory

5. LATIN, GREEK AND FRENCH PLURALS These plurals occur in a number of words borrowed from the languages concerned. However, we only use them mainly in scientific contexts. Endings in … change to ….. US … I /ai/ /i:/ ex. radius radii stimulus stimuli bacilus cactus fungus nucleus terminus US ERA-ORA ex. genus genera corpus A AE /ai/ /i:/ ex. amoeba amoebae antenna formula nebula UM A ex. curriculum curricula bacterium desideratum erratum medium memorandum stratum symposium AGENDA (sing. an agenda) DATA (unc. pl. there is/are data ) IS ES /i:z/ ex- analysis analyses axis basis crisis diagnosis hypothesis neurosis oasis parenthesis synopsis thesis ON A ex. criterion criteria phenomenon EX-IX ICES ex. index indices appendix matrix indexes and matrixes also used EAU EAUX /au/ /auz/ ex. bureau bureaux plateau portmantea, tableau trousseau NO PLURAL certain animals, birds and fish = DEER - MACKEREL - SALMON- SHEEP- TROUT- PLAICE- GROUSE CRAFT (meaning BOAT) - AIRCRAFT = 50 aircraft person of a nationality ending in /s/ /z/ = VIETNAMESE - SWISS - PORTUGUESE DEFINITE N°s and MEASUREMENTS = HUNDRED - THOUSAND- MILLION- DOZEN-STONE (14 pounds)-HEAD (of cattle) A HUNDRED PAGES INDEFINITE N°s = carry NORMAL PLURAL hundreds / dozens of times 6 feet tall

6. NOUNS ENDING IN “S” The rule “adding ES with no doubling of the consonant” is applied to BUSES, GASES, LENSES, SUMMONSES. SINGULAR ONLY with A SING. VERB = NEWS This is very good news . MEASLES - MUMPS - LINGUISTICS - MATHEMATICS …. when sciences do not refer to the science itself, they take a plural verb = The acoustics in this room are terrible. George’s mathematics is/are good. SINGULAR AND PLURAL with a SING. or PLURAL VERB = MEANS This is a means of solving our problem .. There are several means to .. BARRACKS - GALLOWS - BELLOWS - GASWORKS - GOLF-LINKS HEADQUARTERS - KENNELS SERIES-INNINGS-SPECIES USED AS PLURAL (THESE) or with A PAIR OF = TROUSERS These trousers are…. This pair of trousers is …. No numeral before them = BINOCULARS - BRACES- GLASSES - PYJAMAS - PANTS - SCISSORS - SHORTS USED IN THE PLURAL, NO NUMERAL = THE MIDDLE AGES THE ANTIPODES ASHES ARCHIVES CLOTHES BELONGINGS ETC. CAREFUL WITH PAIRS OF WORDS WITH DIFFERENCES IN MEANING cause DAMAGE (harm) / pay DAMAGES a LOOK / LOOKS ( appearances ) MANNER (attitude)/ MANNERS (ways of behaving) LODGING / LODGINGS WIT / WITS WAGE / WAGES MINUTE / MINUTES SAVING / SAVINGS I didn’t like that man’s manner George has very good manners BUT

7. gender in nouns AND PRONOUNS We denote “female”: suffix ESS : lioness by adding a modifier: GIRL - LADY - FEMALE - WOMAN girl scout, female patient, woman doctor Using a compound: policewoman We denote “male”: suffix ER / OR by adding a modifier: BOY - MAN - MALE boy scout - male nurse using a compound: Englishman Not an important grammatical category, but semantically interesting and controversial. 4 semantic classes. The boundaries are not so clear.

8. air partner waitress Terry pet lord king sister nephew engineer parent hair wife servant milk chair Toni salesperson nun Chris aunt cousin ant chairman FEMININE MASCULINE PERSONAL NEUTER