Look at what Red Riding Hood has said. She talks about herself, her grandmother and her basket. The nouns are replaced by ‘I‘ , ‘her‘ , ‘it‘ . These words are called Personal Pronouns.
Personal Pronouns are words which can take the place of nouns. They are used so that we will not be using the nouns all the time.
These are personal pronouns.
The lion is hungry.
Ferry kicks the ball.
They swim in the morning.
In the three sentences, ‘lion’, ‘Ferry’ , and ‘they’ are called the subjects of the sentences.
They can be singular or plural.
“Lion’ and ‘Ferry’ are singular.
The verb ‘is’ and ‘kicks’ are also singular.
‘They’ is plural.
The verb ‘swim’ is also plural.
The use of singular or plural verb must agree with the noun it is used with in the sentence.
A singular verb must be used with a singular noun.
A plural verb must be used with a plural noun.
The verb is commonly learnt in its plural form – go, come, fly, wash.
To change them into the singular form, we can
add ‘s’
come – comes
run – runs
add ‘es’
go – goes
wash – washes
change ‘y’ to ‘ies’
fly – flies
dry – dries
different words
have – has
are – is
Look at the picture.
Can you count the number of zebras?
There is only one zebra.
Now, have a look at this picture.
How many zebras are there?
There are many zebras.
To show that there is only one zebra, the word ‘zebra‘ is used.
To show that there is more than one, the word ‘zebras‘ is used.
We use a singular noun like ‘toy‘ to show that there is only one toy (singular).
If there are many toys, we will use the plural form.
There are many different ways to change nouns into their plural form.
We have looked at all the different types of plural nouns.
By adding -s
ant
bag
cloak
dot
evening
friend
giraffe
manager
orang utan
plum
restaurant
xylophone
ants
bags
cloaks
dots
evenings
friends
girafffes
managers
orang utans
plums
restaurants
xylophones
By adding -es to nouns ending -s, -sh, -ch, -x
class
bush
ostrich
box
glass
fish
watch
fox
classes
bushes
ostriches
boxes
glasses
fishes
watches
foxes
By adding -es to nouns ending in -o
buffalo
potato
mango
mosquito
tomato
buffaloes
potatoes
mangoes
mosquitoes
tomatoes
By adding -s to some nouns ending in -o
kangaroo
zoo
kangaroos
zoos
By adding -y into-ies
lorry
baby
teddy
story
lady
lily
cherry
puppy
fly
nanny
lorries
babies
teddies
stories
ladies
lilies
cherries
puppies
flies
nannies
By adding -s to some nouns ending in -y
monkey
donkey
key
day
ray
toy
way
monkeys
donkeys
keys
days
rays
toys
ways
By changing -f or -fe into -ves
loaf
half
leaf
knife
life
shelf
elf
calf
loaves
halves
leaves
knives
lives
shelves
elves
calves
By changing -s to some nouns ending in -f
chief
cliff
chiefs
cliffs
In other ways
fireman
ox
child
louse
tooth
goose
foot
woman
firemen
oxen
children
lice
teeth
geese
feet
women
The pictures above show nouns to describe both the male and the female sex.
Some nouns are of the male sex, some are of the female sex.
Which is which?
Man, bull, cock and prince are of the male sex. They are part of the masculine gender.
Woman, cow, hen and princess are of the female sex. They are part of the feminine gender.
Masculine gender is the male form of nouns.
Feminine gender is the female form of nouns.
These are some examples:
actor
brother
dog
drake
fireman
gander
grandfather
husband
king
lion
master
sir
son
tiger
waiter
uncle
nephew
actress
sister
bitch
duck
firewoman
goose
grandmother
wife
queen
lioness
mistress
madam
daughter
tigress
waitress
aunt
niece
We have learnt that nouns can be countable and uncountable. The words ‘some’ and ‘any’ can be used with countable or uncountable nouns.
There are some children, some sand and some balls.
There are not any children, any sand or any balls.
‘Some‘ is used when the sentence means ‘yes’.
‘Any‘ is used when the sentence means ‘no’.
‘Any‘ is also used in questions.
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‘A‘ and ‘an‘ are used when we speak of a countable object for the first time.
Look at the picture 1.
We can see a pen, a laptop, a spade and a book.
Picture 2 shows nouns which go with ‘an’. We use ‘an’ for words beginning with vowel sounds.
We have an orange, an egg, an umbrella and an elephant.
A kangaroo was here just now.
The kangaroo has a joey.
The sun is shining.
Look at Picture 3.
We use ‘a‘ in front of ‘kangaroo’ in the first sentence.
In the second sentence, we use ‘the‘ in front.
‘The‘ is used when we want to speak of the same thing again.
Look at Picture 4.
We use ‘the‘ before ‘sun’. Why is this so?
We use ‘the‘ as there is only one sun.
‘The‘ is also used when there is only one such object.
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In group A, we can see that there are some nails, sharks, roses and a table.
How many of each are there?
We can count them, therefore they are known as countable nouns.
For singular (one) countable noun, we use ‘a’ or ‘an’. We use ‘an’ only for nouns that begin with vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u).
Example:
This is a dog.
That is an egg.
For plural (two or more) countable nouns, we use ‘many’ and ‘a few’.
Example:
There are many boys.
A few books are on the table.
Now, look at group B.
Are flour, salt and milk countable? No, therefore they are called uncountable nouns.
For singular (one) uncountable noun, we do not use ‘a’ or ‘an’.
Example: There is water.
For plural (two or more) uncountable noun, we use ‘much’ and ‘a little’.
Example:
There is much milk.
There is little food.
More examples of countable and uncountable nouns.
dog, cat, boy, house, pen, book, cup, fork, hand, leg, finger, chair, cow, bird, car, library, building, hand, head, toe.
water, sand, food, mud, ink, milk, money, honey, bread, air, jam, fire, oil, magic, cream, light, butter, flour, powder
The following are pictures of animals, people, places and things. Do you know their names?
The animal shown is a bear.
The people are father, mother, daughter and son.
The place is a house.
The thing is a xylophone.
These are known as nouns.
Nouns are words we use to name things, places, plants, animals, names and people.
The words ‘things’, ‘places’, ‘plants’, ‘animals’ and ‘people’ are also nouns.
The following are some examples of nouns.
Things: pen, pencil, book, bag, paper, ship, plane, car, music, piano, cup, plate, fork, spoon, watch, shoes, socks, shirt, dress, purse, wallet, water, food, rice, noodles, bed, cupboard, toy and doll.
Places: school, classroom, house, home, room, office, shopping centre, beach, field, housing areas, park, city and country.
Plants: tree, grass, rose, flower, fruit, apple and orange.
Animals: cat, rat, dog, tiger, lion, fish, snail, bird, cow and snake.
Names: Andy, Jenny, Smith, Jones and Henry.
People: boy, girl, man, woman, baby, teacher, pupil, doctor, postman, mother, father, brother, sister, uncle and aunt.
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