Use of Articles with Common Nouns

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§ 6. The category of number.

English countable nouns have two numbers — thesingular and theplural.

The main types of the plural forms of English nouns are as follows:

1. 1. The general rule for forming the plural of English nouns is by adding the ending (-es) to the singular; -s is pronounced in different ways:

[iz] after sibilants: noses, horses, bridges.

[z] after voiced consonants other than sibilants and after vowels: flowers, beds, doves, bees, boys.

[s] after voiceless consonants other than sibilants: caps, books, hats, cliffs.

2. If the noun ends in -s, -ss, -x, -sh, -ch, or -tch_f the plural is formed by adding -es to the singular:

bus — buses                                             brush — brushes

              glass — glasses                                    box — boxes

              bench — benches                                      match — matches

¹ On the use of articles with abstract nouns see Chapter II, § 8, 9, 10

3. If the noun ends in -y preceded by a consonant, y is changed into i before -es.

fly — flies

army — armies

lady — ladies

In proper names, however, the plural is formed by adding the end­ing to the singular: Mary, Marys.

N o t e. If the final -y is preceded by a vowel the plural is formed by simply adding -5 to the singular.

day — days                                              monkey — monkeys

play — plays                                           toy — toys

key — keys                                              boy — boys

4. If the noun ends in -o preceded by a consonant, the plural is generally formed by adding -es. Only a few nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant form the plural in -5.

cargo — cargoes                                     potato — potatoes

hero — heroes                                         echo — echoes

but:

piano — pianos solo — solos photo — photos

All nouns ending in -o preceded by a vowel form the plural in and not in -es.

 cuckoo — cuckoos

 portfolio — portfolios

There are a few nouns ending in -o which form the plural both in -5 and -es:

mosquito — mosquitos or mosquitoes

5. With certain nouns the final voiceless consonants are changed into the corresponding voiced consonants when the noun takes the plural form.

(a) The following nouns ending in –f (in some cases followed by a mute e) change it into v (both in spelling and pronunciation) in the plural:

wife — wives

knife — knives

life — lives

sheaf — sheaves

leaf — leaves

thief — thieves

half — halves

calf — calves

shelf — shelves

wolf — wolves

There are some nouns ending in –f which have two forms in the plural:

scarf — scarfs or scarves

wharf — wharfs or wharves

b) Nouns ending in -th [Ө] after long vowels change it into [ð] in pronunciation (which does not affect their spelling).

bath [ba:Ө] — baths [ba:ðz]

path [pa:Ө] — paths [pa:ðz] oath [əuӨ] — oaths [əuӨ z]      

But [Ө] is always retained after consonants (including r) and short vowels:

smith — smiths [smiӨs] month — months [m۸nӨs] myth — myths [miӨs] birth — births[b3:Ө] health — healths [helӨs]

c) One noun ending in [s] changes it into [z] (in pronunciation):

house [haus] — houses ['hauziz]

II. The plural forms of some nouns are survivals of earlier forma­tions.

1. There are seven nouns which form the plural by changing the root vowel:

man — men

woman — women

foot — feet 

tooth — teeth

goose — geese

mouse — mice

louse — lice

2. There are two nouns which form the plural in -en:

ox — oxen

child — children

Note. The noun brother has, beside its usual plural form brothers, another plural form brethren, which is hardly ever used in colloquial language. It belongs to the elevated style and denotes people of the same creed and not relationship.

The noun cow has, beside its usual plural form cows, a plural kine, which sometimes occurs in poetry.

3. In some nouns the plural form does not differ from the singular: deer, sheep, swine, fish_y trout.

III.Some words borrowed from Latin or Greek keep their Latin or Greek plural forms: e. g. phenomenon, phenomena; datum, data; crisis, crises; stimulus, stimuli; formula, formulae; index, indices. Some of these nouns have acquired English plural forms: memorandums, formulas, indexes, terminuses, etc.

The tendency to use the foreign plural is still strong in the technical language of science, but in fiction and colloquial English there is an evident inclination to give to certain words the regular English plural forms in -5. Thus in some cases two plural forms are preserved (formulae, formulas; antennae, antennas).

IV. In compound nouns the plural is formed in different ways.

1. In compound nouns the final element takes the plural form:

lady-bird — lady-birds

2.As a rule a phrasal compound noun forms the plural by adding -s to the head-word:

editor-in-chief — editors-in-chief

brother-in-law — brothers-in-law

looker-on — lookers-on

3.If there is no noun-stem in the phrasal compound, is added to the last element:

forget-me-not — forget-me-nots

merry-go-round — merry-go-rounds

V. Some nouns have only the plural form:

1. Trousers, spectacles, breeches, scissors, tongs, fetters. These are for the most part names of things which imply plurality or consist of two or more parts.

2.Billiards, barracks, works. These nouns may be treated as singu­lars. We may say: a chemical works, a barracks, etc.

3.Words like phonetics, physics, politics, optics, etc. are usually treated as singulars except in some special cases.

It was not practicalpolitics! (Galsworthy)

All partypolitics are top dressing. (Galsworthy)

4.The word news is treated as a singular.

When she goes to make little purchases, there is nonews for her. (Thackeray)

Thenews he gave them was to be read in the lamentations. (Sabatini)

Note. The names of sports teams are normally used with the verb in the plural form:

Scotland are playing France in a football match next week.

§ 7. The category of case.

Case indicates the relations of the noun (or pronoun) to the other words in the sentence.

English nouns denoting living beings (and some nouns denoting lifeless things) have two cases, an uninflected form called thecommon case and an inflected form called thegenitive case.

1. The genitive case is formed by adding – ^‘s (the apostrophe s) to the noun in the singular and only ' (the apostrophe) to plural forms ending in -s.

SINGULAR: a girl's book                                          PLURAL: a girls' school

Note 1. Nouns forming their plural by changing the root vowel take the apostrophe 5 in the plural.

SINGULAR: a man's hat                                            PLURAL: men's hats

Note 2. Nouns ending in -s form the genitive case in two ways: Dickens' novels, Dickens's novels.

The pronunciation of the genitive case ending follows the same rules as the pronunciation of the plural ending:

[iz] after sibilants: prince's Judge's, witch's, etc.

[z] after voiced consonants other than sibilants and after vowels: boy's, man's, king's.

[s] after voiceless consonants other than sibilants: Smith's, count's, bishop's.

Note. With nouns ending in -5 and forming the genitive case in two ways (Dickens' novels, Dickens's novels) the ending is pronounced [iz] whether the letter s is written or not.

2. Sometimes the apostrophe 5 may refer to a whole group of words (the group-genitive): Jane and Mary's room. The last word of the group need not even be a noun: I shall be back in an hour or two's time.

As to its use the genitive case falls under:

(A)The Dependent Genitive.

(B)The Absolute Genitive.

The Dependent Genitive is used with the noun it modifies and comes before it.

The Absolute Genitive may be used without any noun or be sepa­rated from the noun it modifies.

A. The Dependent Genitive.

1. The chief meaning of the genitive case is that of possession:

... a young man and a girl came out of thesolicitor's office. (Braine)

He stayed atFanny's flat. (Aldington)

2. Very close to the meaning of possession is that of a part to a whole:

A faint smile had come onVictorine's face — she was adding up the money she might earn. (Galsworthy) Hissister's eyes fixed on him with a certain astonishment, obliged him at last to look at Fleur. (Galsworthy)

3. The Dependent Genitive may express the doer of an action (the so-called subjective genitive) or show that some person is the object of the action (the so-called objective genitive):

It wasTom's step, then, that Maggie heard on the steps. (Eliot)

Gwendolen's reception in the neighbourhood fulfilled her uncle's expectations. (Eliot)

4. The noun in the genitive case may denote qualitative relations:

He looked ever so much smarter in his newofficer's clothes with the little blue chevron... (Aldington)

The use of the genitive case of nouns denoting inanimate things and abstract notions is rather limited.

The genitive case of nouns denoting inanimate things may denote the relations between a part and the whole.

... the sudden shaking of anaspen's leaves in the puffs of breeze that rose along the river... (Galsworthy)

He stepped on thetruck's running board hanging on with his left arm. (Heym)

The genitive case of nouns expressing time, space and weight is widely used.

From the depot he was sent to the officers' training camp with twodays' leave. (Aldington)

They both quite took to him again and during hismonth's leave gave him a good time. (Aldington)

There is a remnant still of the lastyear's golden clusters... (Eliot)

The three of us had had dinner, and walked down past the theatre to theriver's edge. (Snow)

B. The Absolute Genitive.

1. The Absolute Genitive may be used anaphorically.

Mrs. Moss's face bore a faded resemblance to herbrother's.(Eliot)

The face Michael drew began by beingVictorine's and ended by beingFleur's. (Galsworthy)

2. The Absolute Genitive may have local meaning: the stationer's, the baker's, the tobacconist's, my uncle's, etc.

On her way home she usually bought a slice of honey-cake at thebaker's. (Mansfield)

"My dear," said the lace collar she secured fromPartridge's, "Ifit you beautifully." (Dreiser)

The Absolute Genitive may be introduced by the preposition of.

She is a relationof the Colonel's. (Austen)

Chapter II

THE ARTICLE

§ 1. General notion.

The article is a structural part of speech used with nouns. There are two articles in Modern English: theindefinite article and thedefinitearticle.

The indefinite article has the forms a and an. The form a is used before words beginning with a consonant sound (a book, a pen, a stu­dent). The form an is used before words beginning with a vowel sound (an opera, an apple, an hour). The article is pronounced [ə], [ən]; when stressed it is pronounced [ei], [æn].

The definite article has one graphic form the, which is pronounced in two ways: [ði] before a vowel sound [ði 'æpl] and [ðə] before a con­sonant sound [ðə 'pen].

The indefinite article has developed from the Old English numeral an (one), and as a result of its origin it is used only with nouns in the singular.

The definite article has developed from the Old English demonstra­tive pronoun se and in some cases it has preserved this demonstrative meaning in Modern English.

The use of the indefinite article implies that the object is presented as belonging to a class.

The use of the definite article shows that a particular object is meant.

The absence of articles with class nouns in the plural, with abstract nouns and nouns of material has grammatical significance: it shows that the nouns are used in a general sense.

With nouns in the plural some is often used. Some, as well as the absence of articles with class nouns in the plural, is the equivalent of the indefinite article in the singular. Some is used when the speaker wants to emphasize the idea of number. Some is also used with nouns of material if the idea of quantity is implied. Some has the meaning of 'several' with class nouns and ^‘a little' with nouns of material. Some is hardly ever translated into Russian.

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