Writing Journal
Writing JournalWriting Journal
Noun Rule
• A noun is a word that can be made plural and/or possesive
• Singular: Cat, Horse Singular Possessive: Cat’s, Horse’s
• Plural: Cats, Horses Plural Possessive: Cats’, Horses’
• Remember to watch for nouns that do not follow these rules: Man, Men, Man’s, Men’s
• Nouns are essential to all sentences, they provide the subject.
Noun Phrase• A noun phrase (NP) is a word or a group of
words that function as a unit within a sentence.
• A phrase always has a headword and this is the noun.
• Nouns are signaled by the determiner
• Common determiners include articles (a, an, the), Possessive nouns and pronouns (Camille’s, his), and demonstrative pronouns (this, that, those)
• Let us add to the noun definition:A noun is a word that can be made plural and/or possessive, it occupies the headword position in a noun phrase, it is usually signaled by a determiner
• Locate each noun phrases headword and determiner:
• The students rested after a long trip.
• Our new neighbors became our best friends.
• A huge crowd lined the streets for the parade.
• This new lasagna recipe feeds an enormous crowd.
Count vs. Noncount Nouns• Knowing the difference between count and
noncount nouns will help you do the following:
• Use the noun plural ending -s correctly
• Use the appropriate type of article: definite (the) or indefinite (a or an)
• Use words that express quantities, such as little, much, . . .
Count vs. Noncount
• The main difference between count and noncount nouns is whether or not the things they refer to can be counted.
Count Nouns• Count nouns refer to things that can be divided up into smaller units which
are separate and distinct from one another. They usually refer to what can individually be seen or heard:
table
chair
word
remark
finger
bottle
award
candidate
Noncount Nouns• Noncount nouns refer to things that cannot be counted because they are
regarded as wholes which cannot be divided into parts. They often refer to abstractions and occasionally have a collective meaning:
anger
furniture
warmth
leisure
education
courage
progress
weather
The Rules
• The Rules
• Count nouns can be pluralized by adding a final -s to the nouns.
• Noncount nouns cannot be not pluralized at all.
Special Cases
• Special Case: A special case is the use of the mass/count distinction for the purpose of classification. The nouns which function both ways mainly denote foods and beverages: food(s), drink(s), wine(s), bread(s), coffee(s), and fruit(s).