The Noun: General

The noun as a part of speech has the categorical (semantic) meaning of substance or thingness.
(The noun denotes things, objects, notions, presenting them as substances.)

As a part of speech, the noun is also characterized by set of formal features: a set of derivatives
(affixes) and different types of combinability with other words in the sentence. There are the
following noun - forming affixes: - er (teacher), - ress (actress), - ness (happiness), - ism
(socialism), - ship (friendship), etc.

Nouns are divided into two classes: A. proper nouns; and B. common nouns;

A. Proper nouns are individual names given to separate persons or things. Here belong:
personal names: Mary, Peter, Levinson, Jackson; geographical names: ( Tbilisi, London,
the Caucasus ); the names of the months and of the days of the week ( December, April,
Monday, Friday ) names of ships, hotels, clubs, cinemas, etc.
B. Common nouns are names that can be applied to any individual of a class of persons or
things ( man, dog, book, theatre ) ; materials ( snow, iron, cotton, gold, paper, water ); or
abstract notions ( kindness, development, happiness, sadness, beauty ) ;

A noun can combine with a preceding adjective (good advice) or occasionally a following
adjective (times immemorial), with a possessive case (Nick 's room), with a verb following it
(students study) or preceding it (read books). Occasionally a noun may combine with an
adverb (the house there).

Most typical of a noun, however, is its ability to combine with adjectives and noun-markers:
prepositions, articles, possessive, demonstrative and negative pronouns and numerals.

The chief functions of the noun in a sentence are those of subject and object.

The noun has the category of number, the category of case, the category of the definiteness/
indefiniteness.

Noun: Gender
The category of gender is expressed in English by the obligatory correlation of nouns with the
personal pronouns of the third person.

Like the Georgian noun, the English noun has no grammatical gender. The suffixes - ess, - ine
are word - building suffixes helping to derive a noun (host-hostess, tiger-tigress, hero-heroine).
The peculiar feature of English gender is its semantic character. Accordingly, what is still
traditionally called gender in English is a division of nouns into three classes (masculine,
feminine and neuter) according to their lexical meaning: names of male beings are referred to as
he, names of female beings are referred to as she, names of lifeless things and abstract notions
are referred to as it, unless they are personified.

The category of gender is strikingly oppositional and is formed by two oppositions. One
opposition functions in the whole set of nouns, dividing them into person (human) nouns and
non-person (non-human) nouns. The other opposition functions in the subset of person nouns
only, dividing them into masculine nouns and feminine nouns. Thus, the first opposition can be
referred to as the upper opposition in the category of gender, while the second, partial
opposition can be referred to as the lower opposition in this category.

The strong member of the upper opposition is the human subclass of nouns, its semantic mark
being person, or personality. Here belong such nouns as: girl, boy, sister, brother, student,
teacher, nurse, doctor. The weak member of the opposition comprises both inanimate and
animate non - person nouns. Here belong such nouns as: tree, love, cat, ant, society, crowd,
bull, cow, cock and hen, horse etc.

The strong member of the lower opposition is the feminine subclass of person nouns, its
semantic mark being female sex. Here belong such nouns as: woman, girl, mother, bride, etc.
The masculine subclass of person nouns comprising such words as: man, boy, father,
bridegroom, etc. makes up the weak member of the opposition.

A great many person nouns in English are capable of expressing both feminine and masculine
person genders. These are referred to as nouns of the common gender. Here belong such words
as: person, parent, friend, cousin, doctor, president, etc.

Alongside of the demonstrated gender distinctions, English nouns can show the sex of their
referents lexically, by means of notional words used as sex indicators, or else by suffixal
derivation: boy-friend, girl-friend, man-producer, woman-producer, washer-man, washer-
woman, landlord, landlady, he-bear, she-bear, master, mistress, actor, actress, etc.

Thus in English, nouns can be classified into seven groups in accord with the following
correlation words:
1) pattering with he/who, nouns like: man, boy, bachelor, etc.

2) pattering with she/who, nouns like: woman, girl, maid, etc.

3) pattering with he/she/who, nouns like: person, doctor, parent, fried, etc.

4) pattering with it/which, nouns like: cake, box, insect, etc.

5) pattering with it/he/which, nouns like: Horse-Stallion; Tiger, lion,bull, ram, cock, "billy"
goat, etc.

6) pattering with it/she/which, nouns like: Horse-Mare, Tigress, lioness, cow, hen, "nanny"
goa,t cow, hen, etc.

7) pattering with it/he/she/who/which, nouns like: child, baby, dog, cat, etc.

There is some variation of usage. We may speak of a baby as it before we do not know
whether it is a boy or a girl, but if we speak of a car as she, it is to associate ourselves with a
particular attitude to the car. Here we may speak of personification of non-human nouns by
attributing personal qualities to things or inanimate nouns.

Comprehension Exercises:

a. Answer the following questions:

1. What are the peculiar features of a noun?

2. How many grammatical categories does a noun possess?

3. Does English have the grammatical category of gender ?

4. How many gender oppositions are formed ?

5. What are the chief functions of the noun in a sentence ?

b. Read the statements below and decide whether they are true or false

1.The noun has no categorical meaning of substance or thingness. T/F

2.Most typical of a noun, is its ability to combine with adjectives and noun-markers. T/F
3.The chief functions of the noun in a sentence are those of verb and adverb. T/F

4.The peculiar feature of English gender is its semantic character. T/F

5.The category of gender is formed by four oppositions. T/F

6. Many person nouns in English are capable of expressing both feminine and masculine person
genders. T /F

c. A few jobs and positions have different words for men and women. Look at the words
given below and think about their matching equivalents according to their gender difference:

Actor

Bridegroom

Heroine

Manager

Hostess

Duke

Monk

Stewardess

Prince

Waitress

Widower

policeman