Nouns and DeterminersHow can we recognise a noun?

We can follow the following three definitions or criteria:

Notional or semantic definition (based on meaning).

Formal or morphological definition (the form or ‘shape’ of a word).

Distributional or syntactic definition (the position or ‘environment’ of a word in a sentence).

Notional or semantic definition(based on meaning)

Words that denote

People PeterAnimals dogThings chairPlaces 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 definition(the form or ‘shape’ of a word)

Different words can have similar endings: suffixes. For example:-age: storage.-ance: alliance, reliance.-cy: democracy, obstinacy.-dom: kingdom, boredom.-eer/-er/-or: engineer, teacher, actor.

-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, extension, condition, action.

Nouns have plural endings:house housescat catschair chairs

Genitive endings (to indicate possession) are typical of nouns:Sophie Sophie’s

man man’sbrother brother’s

Limitations of a formal definition:Many nouns do not end in any 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;

criterion criteria.

Distributional or syntactic definition(the 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 the noun in some way.• Articles: a(n); the.• Demonstratives: this, that, these, those.• Possessives: her, my, his.• Quantifiers: some, many.• Numerals: first, three.

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

possessivereflexive

Pronouns demonstrativereciprocalrelativeinterrogativeindefinite

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 party. (numeral - ordinal).

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 Sally’s 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. It’s 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 PhraseA phrase is a string of words which form a grammatical unit. A phrase does not

have a subject-predicate structure.

They are classified according to their central word or head

Noun Phrase Verb Phrase

Adjective Phrase Adverb Phrase

Prepositional Phrase

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

HEADPremodifier/s Postmodifier/s

The cat (Premodifier + HEAD)

One of the most beautiful places(HEAD + postmodifiers)

The most beautiful place in the world(Premodifiers + HEAD + postmodifiers)