2. The Problem of Notional and Functional Parts of Speech.

In accordance with the these principles it is possible to distinguish the following parts of speech in English:

1. Nouns	2. Adjectives	3. Pronouns	4. Numerals
5. Verbs	6. Adverbs	7. Modal words	8. Prepositions
9. Conjunctions	10. Particles	11. Interjections	12. Articles
13. Response words

Some linquists claim that the words of the "category of state"/ adlinks must be recognized as a separate part of speech.

These parts of speech fall into two groups:

a/ notional /укр. повнозначні; рос. знаменательные/: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, verbs, adverbs, modal words, adlinks;

b/ functional or semi-notional /укр. неповнозначні, службові; рос.служебные/: prepositions, conjunctions, particles, interjections, articles, response words.

The notional parts of speech:

• have lexical meanings,, i.e. they name notions /book, to speak, big, well/;

• are parts /members/ of a sentence;

• may be used as heads of phrases

• all changeable words are notional but not all notional words change their form.

Functional parts of speech:

• do not have independent lexical meanings, i.e. they are words of incomplete nominative meaning;

• are unchangeable.

The problem of parts of speech causes great controversies in English. Many linguists doubt if it is right to distinguish adlinks and modal words within notional parts of speech. Not all linguists agree to distinguish articles as a functional part of speech. The limits of particles are not distinct.

3. The Noun.

The lexico-grammatical meaning of nouns is "substance", "thingness".

Nouns have different types of stems: simple /books/, derivative /teacher/, compound /sister-in-law/.

Nouns have two grammatical categories: number and case.

The grammatical category of number is manifested in the opposition of two forms: Singular and Plural: girl – girls /in the form "girl" singularity is expressed by a zero morpheme, in the form "girls" plurality is expressed by the morpheme [-z], in spelling "-s"/. With regard to the category of number, nouns are divided into: countables, which denote countable "substance" /boy - boys/ and uncountables, which denote uncountable 'substance' /e.g. material nouns: sugar, silk, abstract nouns: friendship, love/.

The grammatical category of case shows the relation between the thing denoted by the noun and other things, or properties, or actions. It is manifested in the opposition of two forms: the Common case – the Possessive Case /or more traditionally the Genitive Case, which seems preferable on the ground that not all the meanings of the Genitive case are "possessive"/: boy – boy's.

Both cases are used in Singular and Plural:

	Singular	Plural
The Common case:	the boy	the boys
The Genitive Case:	the boy's	the boys'

The Common case form does not have any formal sign. The absence of any sign is significant to distinguish one particular case from another, i.e. the Common case form does not express the relations, which are characteristic of the Genitive case.

There are, however, certain phenomena, which give rise to doubts about the form in -'s being a case form at all. There are expressions, in which 's belongs to a phrase: Smith and Brown's office /= the office belonging to both Smith and Brown/. The –'s is still farther away from its status as an inflection in such examples as: somebody else's child, the man I saw yesterday's son /here the words immediately preceding the –'s are adverbs: else, yesterday, which can't by themselves stand in the Genitive case/, etc.

With regard to the category of case, English nouns are divided into: declinables /ті, що змінюються за відмінками/, which are used in the Common and the Genitive case girl- girl's, and indeclinables /ті, що не змінюються за відмінками/, which have, as a norm, only the potential meaning of the Common case: book, iron, care.

The subclass of declinables is comparatively limited, including mostly nouns denoting;

living beings: my mother's car, the dog's tail;

time: a month's holiday, an hour's absence;

distance: five minutes' walk;

countries and towns: Ukraine's problem, Kyiv's buildings, etc.

Gender. In Modern English there is not any grammatical category of gender. What is traditionally called gender in English is a division of nouns into 3 classes according to their lexical meaning:

Masculine /referred to as "he"/ – names of male beings: brother;

Feminine /referred to as "she" – names of female beings: woman;

Neuter /refered to as "it" – names of lifeless things and abstract notions: desk, friendship.

Thus, gender is expressed in English lexically.

There is one gender-forming suffix in English "-ess", expressing feminine gender: host-hostess, lion-lioness, tiger-tigress, heir-heiress

In some nouns, a word, denoting the sex, is added: girl-friend, boy-friend, maid-servant, man-servant, he-wolf, she-wolf; male-elephant, female-elephant.

Sometimes proper nouns are used with the names of animals to show the sex /in this case the proper name is not capitalized/: jack-ass, billy-goat, tom-cat.

Nouns combine with:

• articles: This is a student. The student is 20.

• prepositions: He is at school.

• adjectives: This is an interesting book.

• pronouns: This is his pen. Give me that book,

• numerals: Read Text 3.

• other nouns: I study at Zhytomyr State University.

• verbs: I have books.

Nouns may perform different functions in the sentence:

• the subject: The boy is 20.

• the object: I saw a film.

• the predicative: They are students

• the attribute: He is a school teacher.

• the adverbial modifier: He is in Zhytomyr.