Nouns and

How Determiners
can we recognise a
noun?
We can follow the following
Notional
or
semantic
definition
three definitions or criteria:
(based on meaning).

Formal or morphological definition

(the form or shape of a word).

Distributional or syntactic definition

(the position or environment of a

Notional or semantic
(based
on meaning)
definition
Words
that
denote

People
Animals
Things
Places

Peter
dog
chair
Paris

Problems with a notional

definition: it leaves a great
number of words
unaccounted for. For
example:

Abstract ideas or concepts

(death, success).
Emotional states (happiness,
sadness).
Bodily sensations (pain,
dizziness).

Formal or morphological
(the form
or shape of
definition
Differentawords
word)can have
similar endings: suffixes.
-age:example:
storage.
For
-ance: alliance, reliance.
-cy: democracy, obstinacy.
-dom: kingdom, boredom.
-eer/-er/-or: engineer, teacher,

-hood: brotherhood, childhood.

-ism: criticism, capitalism.
-ist: artist, scientist.
-ity: possibility, reliability.
-ment: arrangement,
development.
-ness: darkness, sadness.
-(o)logy: biology.
-ship: scholarship, friendship.
-sion/-tion: admission,

Nouns have plural

house houses
endings:
cat
chair

cats
chairs

Genitive endings (to

indicate possession) are
typical
nouns:
Sophie ofSophies
man mans
brother

Limitations of a formal

Many nouns do not end in any

definition:
of the typical nominal suffixes:
cat, dog, hat, door, girl, etc.
The plural ending -s can be
mistaken with the ending -s in
the third person singular
(simple present).
Some nouns take an irregular
plural ending: man men; ox
oxen;

Distributional or syntactic
(thedefinition
position or
environment of a word
in a sentence)
The way in which nouns
behave syntactically in
sentences (the different
patterns they typically
occur in).

They are preceded by

determiners.
A determiner is a word which
is used with a noun, and
which limits the meaning of
Articles:
the noun
some way.
a(n);in
the.
Demonstratives: this, that,
these, those.
Possessives: her, my, his.
Quantifiers: some, many.

They can also be preceded

by adjectives.
An adjective is a word which
in some ways qualify the
nouns they precede.
Nice, difficult, good,
strong, bad, wonderful,
mysterious, etc.

Noun subclasses
Common Nouns
countable
uncountable
Proper
Nouns
Numerals

cardinal
ordinal

personal

subject
object
possessive
reflexive
Pronouns demonstrative
reciprocal
relative
interrogative
indefinite

Examples:
The book is on the table.
(common nouns - countable)
There is some butter in the fridge.
(common noun - uncountable)
Jack went to London. (proper
nouns)
They divided into twos and
threes. (numerals - cardinal)
She was the first to arrive at the

They went to the party. (personal

pronoun - subjective)
Sally told them the truth.
(personal pronoun - objective)
Those pencils are mine.
(possessive pronoun)
He was talking to himself.
(reflexive pronoun)
Those are my books.
(demonstrative pronoun).

They kissed each other and left.

(reciprocal pronoun)
The boy who is standing next to
the window is Sallys son. (relative
pronoun)
What is your name?. (interrogative
pronoun)
Everybody agrees with his views.
(indefinite pronoun)

Activity. Choose the right

option:
1) That pencil is mine.
a) Determiner.
b) Demonstrative pronoun.
2) Who is he?
a) Determiner.
b) Interrogative pronoun.

3) Is there any flour?

a) Countable noun.
b) Uncountable noun.
4) That is his car.
a) Determiner.
b) Demonstrative pronoun.
5) They really hate each other.
a) Reflexive pronoun.
b) Reciprocal pronoun.

6) Stop blaming yourself. Its

not your fault!
a) Reflexive pronoun.
b) Reciprocal pronoun.
7) Can anybody tell me where
Peter lives?
a) Reflexive pronoun.
b) Indefinite pronoun.

The Noun Phrase

A phrase is a string of words
which form a grammatical unit. A
phrase does not have a subjectpredicate structure.
They are classified according to their central
word or head

Noun
Verb
Phrase
Phrase
Adjective
Adverb
Phrase
Phrase
Prepositional

Nouns become the HEAD of a

Noun Phrase.
The
cat
The black
cat
The black cat on the
roof
The black cat sitting on the
roof
The black cat which is sitting on
the roof

Structure of the
phrase
HEA

Premodifie
Postmodifie
r/s
r/s
D
The
(Premodifier +
cat
HEAD)
One of the most beautiful
(HEAD
places +
postmodifiers)
The most beautiful place in the
(Premodifiers
+ HEAD +
world
postmodifiers)