Basic Rules Of Noun In English Grammar

Last Updated : 12 Oct, 2024

In the last article, we talked about an important grammar topic – nouns. A noun is a word that refers to a person, thing, or idea, and it helps answer the question "who or what." We've already covered the definition and types of nouns. In this article, we'll dive deeper into the concepts of numbers, gender, and cases related to nouns.

NUMBER

The number of nouns is of two kinds:

Singular: The nouns that describe a single person or object
Plural: The nouns that refer to more than one person or object

There are several ways to make plural nouns-

1. By adding suffix -s:

Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Joy	Joys	Canto	Cantos
Run	Runs	Momento	Momentos
Chair	Chairs	Dynamo	Dynamos
Radio	Radios	Piano	Pianos

2. By adding the suffix -es:

SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Glass	Glasses	Buffalo	Buffaloes
Bench	Benches	Potato	Potatoes
Bush	Bushes	Hero	Heroes
Church	Churches	Ego	Egos
Watch	Watches	Mango	Mangoes

3. By changing the last letter y into -ies:

SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Baby	Babies	Candy	Candies
Lady	Ladies	Family	Families
Story	Stories	Puppy	Puppies
City	Cities	Country	Countries

4. Changing the spelling:

SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Person	People	Foot	Feet
Ox	Oxen	Goose	Geese
Man	Men	Woman	Women
Child	Children	Louse	Lice
Tooth	Teeth	Son in law	Sons in law
Passer by	Passers-by	Mouse	Mice
Commander in chief	Commanders in chief	Die	Dice
Court-martial	Courts-martial	Person	People

5. The plural form is taken from different origins: 

SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Radius	Radii	Aquarium	Aquaria
Datum	Data	Madam	Mesdames
Formula	Formulae	Axis	Axes
Analysis	Analyses	Phenomenon	Phenomena
Bacterium	Bacteria	Thesis	Theses
Dictum	Dicta	Index	Indices
Criterion	Criteria	Monsieur	Messieurs

6. Nouns with different meanings in different numbers:

SINGULAR	PLURAL	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Advice (counsel)	Bits of Advice (information)	Good (quality)	Goods (things)
Respect (regard)	Respects (compliments)	Force (strength)	Forces (army)
Ash (waste)	Ashes (body remains)	Physic (medicine)	Physics (science)

GENDER

In English grammar we can find four kinds of Gender:

Masculine gender: A noun referring to a male person or animal is called be of the masculine gender.

Feminine gender: A noun referring to a female or an animal is called be of the feminine gender.

Common gender: A noun that can refer to both male and female genders is called be of common gender.

For example: person, parent, enemy, servant, neighbour

Neutral gender: A noun that refers to something that is neither male nor female is called be gender-neutral.

For example: paper, fruit, pencil, paper

Now let’s understand from some examples:

1. Masculine to Feminine by other words:

Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Bull	Cow	Earl	Countess
Lad	Lass	King	Queen
Bachelor	Spinster	Husband	Wife
Dog	Bitch	Stag	Deer
Drake	Duck	Wizard	Witch

2. Masculine to Feminine by adding a syllable without dropping a vowel:

Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Author	Authoress	Shepherd	Shepherdess
Poet	Poetess	Hero	Heroine
Steward	Stewardess	Host	Hostess

3. Masculine to Feminine by adding a syllable and dropping a vowel:

Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Actor	Actress	Duke	Duchess
Tiger	Tigress	Master	Mistress
Waiter	Waitress	Emperor	Emperess

4. Masculine to Feminine by placing a word before or after:

Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Grandfather	Grandmother	Salesman	Saleswoman
Landlord	Landlady	Headmaster	Headmistress
Policeman	Policewoman	Manservant	Maidservant

Important Note:

A few nouns that are considered to be graceful, lovely, and soft, such as the moon, the earth, nature, spring, nations, and ships, are considered as feminine nouns. 
Some words, such as the sun, time, death, winter, wind, summer, thunder, ocean, war, and wine, are classified as masculine because they denote strength, firmness, and activity.

Cases

There are different kinds of cases of nouns to define the actions or role the nouns play in a sentence:

Nominative Case: if a noun is the subject of a verb it is said to be in the Nominative case.

For example: Rahul is the tallest in his class.

Objective Case: When a noun is the verb or preposition's direct object, it is said to be in the objective case. 

For example: Write your paper!

Possessive Case: When a noun indicates ownership or possession, it is in the possessive case.

For example: This is my house.

Vocative Case: When a noun is used to call, it is in the vocative case (to get attention).

For Example: Neha, please come here!

Dative Case: When a noun is in the indirect object of a verb it is in the Dative case.

For Example: Rohan brought me chocolates.

Conclusion

Thus, the three very important properties of nouns are now clear to you. In the different govt. exams the questions related to numbers, genders and cases are asked as Spotting errors, Sentence Improvement and Fillers. To understand the usage of nouns, you can refer to the next part of the topic.

Basic Rules Of Noun In English Grammar

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Basic Rules Of Noun In English Grammar

NUMBER

GENDER

Important Note:

Cases

Conclusion

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