WRIT2250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Dont, One Story, Mass Noun
Lecture 4 – 19/3/18 – Nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns
What is a noun?
- The name of a person, place or thing
- Nouns can inflect (change form) to show number (one fat cat vs two fat cats)
- Nouns can inflect to show possession (the leturer’s fat cat, “all’s tube of red lipstick) –
possessive/genetive case
- Nouns can combine with determiners and adjectives
o my cat
o Three blind mice
o The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day
- Nouns can modify other nouns (textbook, toothpaste, chicken soup, grammar quiz) –
adjunct noun (three types)
o Hyphenated
o Closed
o Open
- Compound nouns
o Noun + noun = strawberry
o Adjective + noun = blueberry
o Noun + adjective = spoonful
o Noun + preposition = sister-in-law
o Verb + noun = pickpocket
o Preposition + verb = upturn
- Nouns can function as subjects, objects, and complements (follows linking verbs) of verbs
o The cat chased the grasshopper
o The cat is an insect murderer
o Subjects of verbs
▪ Lisa studied
▪ Homer snored and drooled
o Objects of verbs
▪ Bart dropped the chalk
o Complements of verbs
▪ My spirit animal is Ralph Wiggum
- Nouns can be objects of prepositions (prepositions can be – in, of, on, at, with, behind,
beside, etc.)
o Bart was writing lines in Mrs Kale’s lassroo
o Mildred fell down the stairs
- In some languages, nouns have a gender
The noun phrase
- Easter eggs taste delicious (compound noun)
- All the caramel-filled Easter eggs taste delicious (two determiners, compound adjective, and
a compound noun)
- Nou head: the part of the ou phrase that ou’d keep if ou stripped all the other its
away
- Noun phrases can be confusing
o Increasing levels of melatonin helps you fall asleep
o Increasing levels of melatonin help you fall asleep
o The verb tells you which way you should read it
o The noun head is what the verb has to agree with
Concrete vs abstract nouns
- Concrete
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 4 19/3/18 nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns. The name of a person, place or thing. Nouns can inflect (change form) to show number (one fat cat vs two fat cats) Nouns can inflect to show possession (the le(cid:272)turer"s fat cat, all(cid:455)"s tube of red lipstick) possessive/genetive case. Nouns can combine with determiners and adjectives: my cat, three blind mice, the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Nouns can modify other nouns (textbook, toothpaste, chicken soup, grammar quiz) adjunct noun (three types: hyphenated, closed, open. Compound nouns: noun + noun = strawberry, adjective + noun = blueberry, noun + adjective = spoonful, noun + preposition = sister-in-law, verb + noun = pickpocket, preposition + verb = upturn. Nouns can function as subjects, objects, and complements (follows linking verbs) of verbs: the cat chased the grasshopper, the cat is an insect murderer, subjects of verbs.
