Exercises: the noun. Number

Ex. 1. Point out nouns in the following sentences. Arrange them into: count­able and uncountable: proper and common; class, collective, material and abstract. If possible use an article.

1. The train leaves at six o'clock. 2. I have bought two books. 3. Coal is pro­duced in many districts of our country. 4. He made a speech yesterday. 5. Ani­mals do not possess the power of speech. 6. There are many amusements in the Park of Culture and Rest. 7. He does that just for fun. 8. The boy threw a stone into the water. 9. The ground was as hard as stone. 10. His voice was as dry as a biscuit. 10. She has sent me some magazines from London. 11. What a clever man. 12. What luck! 13. Love is a special feeling. 14. f love my family very much. 15. Add some water. 16. I'll speak to manager. 17. Peter is my best friend. 18. There are four seasons in the year: spring, summer, autumn and winter. 19. I want to visit my aunt Mary. She lives in New York. 20. My sister likes to play with pets.

Ex. 2. Give the plural of the following. Write the words in transcription.

a hand, a machine, a shoe, a year, a map, a safe, a table, a chair, a book, a room, a cat, a dog, a puppy, a kitten, a tiger, a class, a box, a dish, a horse, a place, a prize, a judge, a city, an army, a day, a toy, a key, a house, a doll, a ball, a pen, a knife, a wife, a loaf, a hero, a tomato, a roof, a handkerchief.

Ex. 3. Remember these words. Write them in transcription. Make the sen­tences using these words.

Singular	Plural
man	men
woman	women
foot	feet
tooth	teeth
goose	geese
mouse	mice
ox	oxen
child	children
louse	lice

Ex. 4. Give the plural of the following compound nouns:

a custom-house, a man of war, a hotel-keeper, a mother-in-law, a passer-by, a man-servant, a woman-doctor, a schoolboy, a housewife, a postman.

Ex. 5. Give the plural of the following:

a mouse, a piano, a baby, a knife, a deer, a dish, a trout, a man, a box, a sheep, a woman, an ox, a life, a child, a thief, a roof, a potato, a brother-in-law, a handful, a man of war, a criterion, a phenomenon, a wife, a fly, a louse, a half, a foot, a spoonful, a nose, a hero, a goose, a shelf, a toothbrush, a forget-me-not, a stimu­lus, an appendix, hair, people, a datum, gin-and-tonic.

Ex. 6. Give the singular of the following. Remember to use an indefinite ar­ticle where necessary:

flies, loaves, men of war, spoonfuls, women-doctors, feet, deer, swine, heroes, mice, donkeys, bases, data, fathers-in-law, handfuls, stimuli, wives, boxes, la­dies, solos, youths, lice, leaves, wolves, potatoes, teeth, geese, oxen_; police, peo­ple, trousers, oaths, appendices, goods.

Ex. 7. Choose the correct verb form:

1. Her information is/are correct. 2. These scissors is/are new. 3. The furniture is/are very old. 4. Some people is/are coming today. 5. Her clothes is/are smart. 6. His trousers is/are well worn. 7. Their advice is/are very useful. 8. The mice is/are caught. 9. Her hair is/are long. 10. The news is/are very interesting. 11. The police has/have already come. 12. The criteria is/are important.

Ex. 8. Give the following sentences in the plural. Remember to change the verb

Pattern: This is a photo. These are photos.

1.This is a hero. 2. This is a leaf. 3. This is a cargo. 4. This is a knife. 5. This is a toy. 6. This is a shoe. 7. This is a tomato. 8. This is a handkerchief. 9. This is a city. 10. This is a roof. 11. This is a key. 12. This is a box.

Ex. 9. Give the following sentences in the singular. Remember to change the verb.

Pattern: Those are teachers. That is a teacher.

1. Those are girls. 2. Those are children. 3. Those are oxen. 4. Those are horses.

5. Those are students. 6. Those are postmen. 7. Those are mothers-in- law. 8.

Those are passers-by. 9. Those are apples. 10. Those are wolves. 11. Those are

maps. 12. Those are pencils.

Ex. 10. Give the following in the plural.

Pattern: She is a housewife. They are housewives.

1. He is a hotel-keeper. 2. He is a man-servant. 3. She is a woman-doctor. 4. He is a schoolboy. 5. He is a postman. 6. She is a mother- in- law. 7. She is a judge. 8. He is a child. 9. He is a businessman. 10. She is a landlady.

Ex. 11. Translate into English.

1. Летом мы едим много фруктов. 2. Его волосы совсем темные. 3. Я купил эти часы вчера. Они очень хорошие. 4. Эти новости очень интересные. 5. Ваши советы мне очень помогли сегодня. 6. Кому принадлежат эти деньги? 7. Его одежда не новая. 8. Эти дети очень вежливые. 9. Где зубные щетки? 10. Положи книгу на полку. 11. Копии этих писем будут разосланы завтра. 12. Последний лист упал с дерева. 13. Почему дети не хотят есть груши?

Ex. 12. Remember the nouns that may be both countable and uncountable, but with different meanings.

wine (любое вино) — a wine (определенное вино)

coffee (кофе вообще) - a coffee (определенный кофе)

speech (речь) — a speech (доклад)

work (работа) — a work (произведение)

light (свет) — a light (фонарь)

nature (природа) — a nature (характер)

decision (решимость) — a decision (решение)

beauty (красота) — a beauty (красота)

experience (опыт) — an experience (случай, переживание)

Choose the correct variant:

1. There was (hard / a hard work) to be done on the farm. 2. He spoke of the pic­ture as (work / a work) of art. 3. We must live in peace with (nature / a nature). 5. Mr. Brown was a man of (decision / a decision). 6. We couldn't come to (de­cision / a decision). 7. (Beauty / a beauty) is only skin deep. 8. She was (beauty / a beauty) twenty years ago. 9. We all learn by (experience / an experience). 10. It was (unusual experience / an unusual experience).

Ex. 13. Insert much or many.

1.... people want to see this film. 2. He does not drink ...wine. 3. How ... sheets of paper do you want? 4. Unfortunately we haven't got ... time. 5. How ... does it cost? 6. Did you pay... money for your watch? 7. We haven't had ... rain this summer. 8. How ... time does it take to go there? 9. How ... times have you been there? 10. How ... butter did you buy? 11. How ... apples did you buy? 12. lie doesn't eat... fruit.

Ex. 14. Use the correct variant: much, many, a lot of, lots of. plenty of, a great deal of. a great many.

I. He has not ... friends in Moscow. 2. He has ... friends. 3. He has as ... friends as I have. 4. He has got ... work to do. 5. He hasn't got... work to do today. 6. Have you invited ... people to the party? 7. We have invited ... people to the party. 8. You have invited too ... people to the party. 9.1 haven't bought... ap­ples. 10. I have bought... apples. 11. He didn't know ... about it.

Ex. 15. Insert little, a little, few, a few.

I. It's no use asking him about it. He has ... knowledge of the subject. 2. He had very ... friends (hardly any friends). 3. He had ... friends (some friends). 4. He drank ... water and felt much better. 5. There was very ... water in the glass; so he poured in some more. 6. ... people understood what he said (hardly any peo­ple). 7. The chairman said ... words (some words). 8. May I have ... wine, please? 9. Hurry up! We have very ... time.

Ex. 16. Choose the correct determiners.

I Andrew doesn't have (many/much) money. 2.1 would like (a few / a little) salt on my vegetables. 3. We bought (that / those) books last week. 4. There (less / fewer) students in this room than in the next room. 5. There is (too much / too типу) bad news on TV tonight. 6. She doesn't want (these/ this). 7. These is (too many/too much) information to learn. 8. (A few/ a little) people left early. 9. Would you like (less/fewer) coffee than this? 10. This skirt costs (too much/too many).

Ex. 17. Spot the errors (one sentence - one mistake).

1. Is there many ink left in my pen? 2. Did the storm do many damage to crops? 3. Is there a great many coal left in the shed? 4. Were much passengers sea-sick? 5. We have not a few time to get to the station. 6. I haven't got a good deal of books in my library. 7. This train stops a little stations. 8. We didn't expect a good deal of people to visit us. 9. We haven't got many work to do today. 10. May I have a few wine, please?

The Category Of Case.

Case is the inflected form of the noun indication the grammatical relation in which the noun stands to other parts of the sentence.

English nouns have a two case system: the common case/the basic form/ and the genitive case/the possessive case./

The genitive case of all singular nouns /which are used in it, of course of those plurals which don’t have the number morpheme –s / is built up by means of the morpheme –s which is added to the base form .For example:

• Singular: boy-boy’s

• Student-student’s

• Plural: man-men’s

• Woman-woman’s

In the genitive of personal names ending in sibilants the morpheme –s  is optional, but the apostrophe and the pronunciation /-iz/ are obligatory. For example:

Common case          Possessive case

Burns                        Burn’s/-iz/ poems

Boz                             Boz’s/-iz/ sketches

Fox                              Fox’s/-iz/ articles

The form of the possessive/genitive case

1. 's is used with singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in s: a man's job the people's choice men's work the crew's quarters a woman's intuition the horse's mouth the butcher's (shop) the bull's horns a child's voice women's clothes the children's room Russia's exports

2. A simple apostrophe (') is used with plural nouns ending in s: a girls' school the students' hostel the eagles' nest the Smiths' car

3. Classical names ending in s usually add only the apostrophe: Pythagoras' Theorem Archimedes' Law Sophocles' plays

4. Other names ending in s can take 's or the('): Mr Jones's (w Mr Jones' house) Yeats's (or Yeats') poems

5. With compounds, the last word takes the 's: my brother-in-law's guitar

Names consisting of several words are treated similarly: Henry the Eighth's wives the Prince of Wales's helicopter

's can also be used after initials: the PM's secretary the MP's briefcase the VIP's escort

Note that when the possessive case is used, the article before the person or thing 'possessed' disappears: the daughter of the politician = the politician's daughter the intervention of America = America's intervention the plays of Shakespeare = Shakespeare's plays

Use of the possessive/genitive case and of + noun

The possessive case is chiefly used of people, countries or animals as shown above- It can also be used:

1. Of ships and boats: the ship's bell. the yacht's mast

2. Of planes, trains, cars and other vehicles, though here the of construction is safer: a glider's wings or the wings of a glider, the train's heating system or the heating system of the train

3. In time expressions: a week's holiday, today's paper, tomorrow's weather, in two years' time, ten minutes' break, two hours' delay; a ten-minute break, a two-hour delay are also possible: We have ten minutes' break/a ten-minute break.

4. In expressions of money + worth: £1 's worth of stamps ten dollars' worth of ice-cream

5. With for + noun + sake: for heaven's sake, for goodness' sake

6. In a few expressions such as: a stone's throw Journey's end the water's edge

7. We can say either a winter's day or a winter day and a summer's day or a summer day, but we cannot make spring or autumn possessive, except when they are personified: Autumn's return.

8. Sometimes certain nouns can be used in the possessive case without the second noun. a/the baker's/butcher's/chemist's/florist's etc. can mean 'a/the baker's/butcher's etc. shop'. Similarly, a/the house agent's/travel agent's etc. (office) and the dentist 's/doctor 's/vet 's (surgery): You can buy it at the chemist's. He's going to the dentist's.

Names of the owners of some businesses can be used similarly: Sotheby's, Claridge's

Some very well-known shops etc. call themselves by the possessive form and some drop the apostrophe: Foyles, Harrods.

Names of people can sometimes be used similarly to mean ... 's house': We had lunch at Bill's. We met at Ann's.

of + noun is used for possession:

1. When the possessor noun is followed by a phrase or clause: The boys ran about, obeying the directions of a man with a whistle. I took the advice of a couple I met in the train and hired a car.

2. With inanimate 'possessors', except those listed above: the walls of the town, the roof of the church, the keys of the car

However, it is often possible to replace noun X + of + noun Y by noun Y + noun X in that order: the town walls, the church roof, the car keys

The first noun becomes a sort of adjective and is not made plural: the roofs of the churches = the church roofs

Unfortunately noun + of + noun combinations cannot always be replaced in this way and the student is advised to use of when in doubt.