Translate into Russian and then back into English. Pay attention to the use of countable and uncountable nouns.

↑

▷ Содержание

⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 3 из 53Следующая ⇒

***

English nouns have three grammatical categories: number, case and gender; the latter, however, is mainly expressed lexically, not by grammatical means, and there is a close relation of gender in English with a biological sex.

UNIT 3 N U M B E R

Most nouns make a distinction between singular and plural numbers, they are variable (a student – students).

But some nouns are invariable, they have only one form, singular (news) or plural (trousers).

3. 1. Variable nouns

Regular plurals

1. Most nouns form their plurals by adding - s to the singular: daughter – daughter s, son – son s, mouth – mouth s.

2. Nouns ending in - s, -sh, -ch, -x, or - z add - es to the singular: a dish – dish es, a match -- match es.

3. Nouns ending in - y preceded by a consonant change the - y to - i and add - es: a li l y – li l ies, ba b y -- ba b ies.

4. Nouns ending in - y preceded by a vowel keep the - y and add - s: a d a y – d a ys

5. The majority of nouns ending in - o add - es when forming their plurals: a her o – her oes.

6. Compound nouns written as one word make their plurals by adding - s/ - es: sunrise – sunrise s or by vowel shift if the second part of the compound needs it: postm a n – postm e n.

7. Compound nouns consisting of a noun plus a modifier pluralize the modified word, NOT the modifier: passer-by – passer s -by. If the first part of the compound noun is the word man or woman, then both the parts of the

compound become plural: a man-servant – m e n-servant s, a woman-doctor – wom e n-doctor s.

E x e r c i s e s

Put the nouns into the plural and explain the use of the form.

a) A star, a cloud, a bird, a bottle, a person, a train, a desk, a student, a teacher, a dog, an M.A. degree, a speaker, a lecture, a thing, a machine, a lawyer, an economist;

b) boss, horse, house, gas, class, church, dish, judge, place, prize, tax, waltz;

c) a bottle, a cottage, an egg, an orange, a car, a book, a house, a box, an elephant, a rose, a waltz, a tax, a doll, a desk, a boss, a glass, a dish, a bee, a match, an answer;

d) army, factory, penny, laboratory, city, country, spy, lily;

e) day, boy, key, journey, toy, valley, chimney;

f) buffalo, cargo, domino, embargo, echo, hero, mosquito, potato, tomato;

g) cupful, leftover, schoolboy, housewife, postman, sportsman;

h) notary public, brother-in-law, man-of-war, attorney general, editor-in-chief; hotel-keeper, watch-maker;

i) one c, one but, in 1980.

Познавательные статьи:



Организация работы процедурного кабинета

Статус республик в составе РФ

Понятие финансов, их функции и особенности

Сущность демографической политии