Gender.

Gender shows the sex of a person , an animal, etc. It teels whether a person is a man or a woman, etc.. Nouns have four Genders:

1. Masculine Gender, used for all males, e.g. boy ,man,father.

2. Feminine Gender, for all female,e.g. girl , women, mother.

3. Common Gender where the Noun can be either male or female, e.g. friend, child, neighbour, cousin, adult, person, student, pupil, musician, clerk, guest, artist, traveller,companion, relative, passenger, tourist, bird, deer, frog, kitten, cat, fish, fly.

4. Neuter Gender for things which have no life or sex or are not thought of as having life of sex. E.g table, book, pencil, house, pen, box, school, duster, bag, etc.

Masculine Feminine

Boy girl

Man woman

Brother sister

Father mother

Husband wife

Son daughter

Uncle aunt

Nephew niece

Hero heroine

Monk nun

Lord lady

Wizard witch

Bachelor maid or spinster

Widower widow

Lad lass

Actor actress

Hunter huntress

Master mistress

Emperor empress

Sir madam

Gentleman lady

King queen

Tiger tigress

Duke duchess

Prince princess

Murderer murderess

Negro negress

Bull cow

Cock hen

Dog bitch

Drake duck

Gander goose

Horse mare

Drone queen bee

Boar sow

Buck (rabbit) doe

Buck (deer) doe or hind

Fox vixen

Count countess

God goddess

Manager manageress

Poet poetess

Priest priestess

Proprietor proprietress

Shepherd shepherdess

Tailor tailoress

Policeman policewoman

Milkman milkmaid

Pea-cock pea-hen

He-goat she-goat

Cock-sparrow hen-sparrow

Bull-calf cow-calf

Billy-goat nanny-goat

Manservant maidservant

Grandfather grandmother

Grandson granddaughter

Great-uncle great-aunt

Landlord landlady

Rex (king) Regina (queen)

Number.

Nouns have two Numbers, namely, the Singular Number and the Plural Number . The Singular Number shows only one person, animal,thing or place, e.g.boy, cow, pencil, garden, etc. The Plural Number shows more than one person , animal, thing or plate, e.g. boys, sows, gardens, etc.

The Plurals of Nouns are formed in the following ways:

1. By adding “s” to the singular (the general rule).

Singular Plural
Boy boys
Girl girls
Day days
Pen pens
River rivers
Thing things
Picture pictures

2. By adding “es” to Nouns ending in a hissing sound, that is, ending in ‘x’, “sh” and “s”.

Singular Plural
Box boxes
Fish fishes
Bush bushes
Church churches
Inch inches
Class classes
Glass glasses


3. By adding “es” to Nouns ending “o”.

Singular Plural
Pototo pototoes
Tomato tomatoes
Mosquito mosquitoes
Hero heroes
Buffalo buffaloes
Mango mangoes

There are however exceptions to this rule, e.g.

Singular Plural
Photo photos
Piano pianos
Bamboo bamboos
Dynamo dynamos
Pomelo pomelos




4. By changing “y” (after a consonant) into “ies”.
(note: a, e, i ,o, u, are vowels. All the other letters are Consonants, e.g. b, c, d, f, g, etc.)

Singular Plural
Lady ladies
Army armies
City cities
Fly flies
Story stories
Baby babies

If the “y” is after a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) we follow the ordinary rule and add “s”.

Singular Plural
Day days
Play plays
Key keys
Monkey monkeys
Boy boys
Toy toys
Guy guys


5. By changing words “f” or “fe” Into “ves”.

Singular Plural
Half halves
Loaf loaves
Wolf wolves
Calf calves
Leaf leaves
Thief thieves
Life lives
Wife wives
Knife knives

There are exceptions to this rule, e.g.

Singular Plural
Roof roofs
Chief chiefs
Hoof hoofs
Proof proofs
Belief beliefs
Cliff cliffs
Mischief mischiefs
Gulf gulfs


6. By changing the inside vowel (s)

Singular Plural
Man men
Woman women
Foot feet
Tooth teeth
Goose geese
Mouse mice
Phenomenon phenomena


7. By having the same form for both the Singular and the Plural.

Singular Plural
Sheep sheep
Deer deer
Cattle cattle
Fish fish
Furniture furniture
News news
Advice advice
Knowledge knowledge
Information information
Scenery scenery
Equipment equipment
Information information


8. Compound Nouns (i.e. word formed by joining other words), add “s”.

Singular Plural
Son-in-law sons-in-law
Father-in-law fathers-in-law
Brother-in-law brothers-in-law
Sister-in-law sisters-in-law
Looker-in-law lookers-in-law
Commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief
Passer-by passers-by
Director-general directors-general
Attorney-general attorneys-general
Secretary-general secretaries-general

10. Some nouns are used in the Plural only, e.g. trousers, shorts, pants, pyjamas, scissors, spectacles, compasses, clothes, goods, people, thanks,riches, contents.

11. Some Nouns are plural in form but are used in the Singular. E.g. mathematics, physics, politics, news.


12. The following are foreign words (although most have become acceptable English words).

Singular Plural
Formula formulas or formulae
(note: prononced as “formu-lee”)
Index indices
Fungus fungi or funguses
Stratum strata
Analysis analyses
Series series
Axis axes
Specie species
Syllabus syllabuses or syllabi
(Note:pronounced as “sylla-bai”)
Crisis crises
Oasis oases
Datum data
Terminus termini
(note: pronounced as “termi-nai”)
Locus loci
(note: pronounced as “lo-sai”)
Radius radii
(note: pronounced as “radi-ai”)
Thesis theses.

Case.

A Noun or a Pronoun is sometimes the subject and some times the Object of a verb. In order to express these and other relations, we use what is called Case.

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How to find the Subject of a Verb.

We can find Subject of a Verb by asking the Question “Who?” or “What?” along with the Verb. The subject usually comes before the Verb in a Sentence. Let us look at the following Sentence:

1. Rahim went out. (Who went out? Rahim)

2. The dog ran away.(what ran away? The dog)

3. He came here. (Who came here?He)

The Subject in these sentences are, “Rahim”, “The dog” and “He”.

How to find the Subject of a Verb.

We can find the Subject of a Verb by asking the question “Whom?” or “What?” along with the Verb and its Subject. The Object usually comes after the Verb. The following sentences will explain:

1. The boy ate rice. (What did the boy eat? rice)
2. He killed the dog. (Killed what? The dog)
3. She gate me a book. (Gate whom? me)
(Gate what? A book)

There are two Object in last Sentence. The First Object “me” is the Indirect Object. The second Object “a book” is the Direct Object.

To find the Indirect Object we ask the question, “Whom?” after the verb.
Note: The Subject or Object of a Verb is always a Noun or a Pronoun.

There are three Cases in Modern English. Namely, Nominative Case, Objective Case (or Accusative Case for Direct Object and Dative Case for Indirect Object) and possessive Case ( or Genitive Case).

The Nominative Case.

A Noun or pronoun that is the Subject of a Verb, e.g.

1. The policeman caught the thief. (What caught? The policeman)

2. The pen was stolen by him. (What was stolen? The pen)

3. He told a lie (who told? He)

The Nouns “policeman”, “pen” and the Pronoun “He “ are in the Nominative Case.

The Objective Case or Accusative Case.

A Noun or Pronoun that is the Object of a Verb is in the Objective Case, e.g.

1. We saw him. (Saw whom? Him)

2. I broke the pencil. (Broke what? The Pencil)

3. She heard the noise. (Heard what? The Noise)

The Pronoun “him” and the Nouns “pencil” and “noise” are in the Objective Case.

Nouns and Pronouns following Prepositions (i.e. words like to, on, in, over, under, etc.) are also in the Objective Case, e.g.

1. The book is on the table. (On what? The table)

2. The boy is the room. (In what? The room)

3. He came before me. (Before whom? Me)

Note :The Nouns “table” and “room” and the Pronoun “me” are said to be governed by the Prepositions “on”, “in” and “before”.