English 101: Uses of Nouns (series 1.A3)

         This is my 7th writing in the series of English 101, and the 3rd writing under the Noun series. The first in a series is about the different Parts of Speech, wherein a noun is a part. 

    The second series is about different kinds of Nouns, and the third series is about Singular and Plural Nouns. 

    Due to the pre-requisites in understanding this topic, Uses of Nouns, I have to post first the different Kinds of Pronouns and the Kinds of Verbs and Characteristics of Verb.

      

This is one topic about nouns that some high school students are having a hard time with, identifying in a sentence the use of the noun. To start with, let us enumerate the seven (7) uses of nouns and how to identify each of them in a sentence. 

1) as SUBJECT. The noun is placed before the verb (action word/linking verb/helping verb).
    Examples: God cares for us.
                      Alex lived on a small island.
                      A lullaby is a song for babies.
                      Mother and I are cooking some pasta.
                      Grandfather had his boat ready for the sail.
                      The crew did nothing to save the passengers on the ship.
                       Leo should win the academy award for his performance.

*linking verbs=am, is, was, are, were
*helping verbs=do, does, did, has, have, had, shall, should, may, might, will, would, can, could, ought, must

2) as SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT. The noun is placed after the linking verb.
    Examples: The giver of any good gift is God.
                      The time setting of the movie was 1942.

3) as DIRECT OBJECT. The noun is placed after the transitive verb.
        (transitive verb=when a person or thing directs the action toward someone or something)
    Examples: We thank God for all His blessings.
('we' directs the action 'thank' to God, thus making it the direct object)
                       Let us help Gino and his family.
('us' direct the action 'help' to Gino, thus making it the direct object)

4) as INDIRECT OBJECT. The noun is placed between the transitive verb and the direct object.
    (direct object=answers the question of who or what receives the action)
    Examples:  The mother gives Laura the consent she was asking for.
    ('gives', the transitive verb, 'the consent' answers the question, what does the mother give? so Laura is
       the indirect object)
                       She asked the teacher about the contest tomorrow.
    ('asked', the transitive verb, 'the contest' answers the question, what did she ask? so the teacher is the
       indirect object)

5) as NOMINATIVE ADDRESS. The noun refers to a person or persons spoken to in a sentence.
     Examples: Gina, stop it.
                       Sheila, Andrea, go get some help!

6) as OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT. The noun comes after the direct object to modify or
    describe it.
    Examples:  She considered Manang a member of the family.
                       He plays basketball well, my favorite sport.

7) as APPOSITIVE. The noun is placed after another noun to identify or define it.
    Examples:  My confidant, God, never lets me down.
                       Her favorite English teacher, Miss Sicuya was among her guest.  
 

#noun #directobject #complement #appositive #subject #nominative #English101 #grammar             

English 101: Singular & Plural Nouns (series 1.A2)

     This is my third in a series of my English 101 on this blog. I am through discussing the different types and kinds of nouns, we will go on how is it when a single noun becomes many.

When we talked about the Number of Nouns, we are referring to Singular and Plural Nouns. Determining the numbers of a noun is vital in sentence construction. Most singular nouns are made plural by only adding "s" to their word. However, there are singular nouns which does not need any changes at all, and some are governed by rules or need changes for most of the letters in a word.

Here are some words which stay the same in plural form:

words with a suffix of -craft, 
sheep, cod, swine, trout, deer, salmon, moose, series, species, Japanese, Chinese, fish (fishes can be used if referring to different species)

Here are the lists of rules for changing singular nouns to plural forms.

1) If the noun ends in  's', 'x', 'sh', or 'ch', we add -es to make it plural.
    Examples: bus-buses, box-boxes, bush-bushes, batch-batches,
 
2) If the noun ends in 'o' with a consonant before it, we add -es,
    Examples: mango-mangoes, potatoes

    If a noun ends in 'o' with a vowel before it, we add -s.
    Examples: igloo-igloos, stereo-stereos

3) If the noun ends with 'f' or 'fe', we sometimes change the f or fe to -v and add -es.
    Examples: leaf-leaves, beef-beeves, life-lives, knife-knives

4) If the noun ends in 'y' with a consonant before it, change the y to -i and add -es.
    Examples: battery- batteries, candy-candies, berry-berries, lady-ladies

5) If the noun ends in 'y' with a vowel before it, we add -s to make it plural.
    Examples: monkey-monkeys, journey-journeys, key-keys, decoy-decoys

And here are the lists of some singular nouns that must change their spelling:
child-children, man-men, woman-women, ox-oxen, mouse-mice, foot-feet, tooth-teeth, goose-geese, louse-lice

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