ENG 1503

BASIC GRAMMAR
WEEK 1
PA RT S O F S P E E C H : N O U N S
SOW (SCHEME OF WORK)
ENG 1503 SESSION 2/2020
• ENG1503 SOW GRAMMAR BASICS [Link]
RECOGNISING PARTS OF SPEECH

Sally has a beautiful

personality.
NOUNS

 Proper & Common Nouns

 Concrete and Abstract Nouns
 Countable and uncountable nouns
 Collective nouns
 Possessive nouns
 Noun suffixes
 Compound noun
 Noun clauses
WHAT ARE NOUNS?

NOUNS are WORDS that refer to people, animals, things,

places and concepts.

TYPES OF NOUNS:
PROPER & COMMON NOUNS
Proper nouns refer to specific people, animals, things or places. A proper noun always begins
with a capital letter even when it does not begin a sentence.
Jonathan was born in Johor in June.

Common nouns are the general names for people, animals things, or places. A common noun is
not written with a capital letter unless it begins a sentence.
The boy you saw yesterday was Ali.
Is the word below a Proper Noun or a
Common Noun?

internet
DECAPITALISATION

• In 1999, journalist Stephen Wilbers published a column in the Orange County Register predicting

that words like Internet and Web would lose their capitalization over time. “If you like being
ahead of the game, you might prefer to spell internet and web as internet and web,” he wrote. The
the internet and the web are
reason usually given for this shift in usage is that
changing from proper nouns—unique, named entities—to generic
nouns through common use. Indeed, most people (other than techies) are not aware of
any internets other than the Internet—that distinction is no longer relevant in ordinary usage. And
for many younger folks who have grown up with the technology, the internet itself is ordinary—
just another communication medium, like the telephone, television, and radio.
TYPES OF NOUNS:
CONCRETE & ABSTRACT NOUNS
Anything you can see, touch (feel), smell, taste, or hear is a concrete noun.

YOU CAN
CONCRETE NOUNS

see smell hear taste feel

a chair smoke siren soup air

Any noun which cannot be seen, touched, smelled, tasted, or heard is an abstract noun.
Abstract & Concrete Nouns
Is this an Abstract or a Concrete Noun?

misfortune

Abstract
Check
Abstract & Concrete Nouns
Is this an Abstract or a Concrete Noun?

boredom

Abstract
Check
Abstract & Concrete Nouns
Is this an Abstract or a Concrete Noun?

coastline

Concrete
Check
Abstract & Concrete Nouns
Is this an Abstract or a Concrete Noun?

embarrassment

Abstract
Check
TYPES OF NOUNS:
COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Nouns such as family, committee, jury, team, and audience always refer to a
group of people. For example, a family is made up of a father, mother, sisters, and brothers, but it
is considered as one unit, so you use a singular verb.

My family lives in Sarawak.

When you talk of a family as having different tastes, likes, opinions, and views or doing different
activities, you need a plural verb. This is because the people in the family now act as separate
individuals and not as a group.

My family spend their free time doing different activities.

TYPES OF NOUNS:
COUNTABLE & UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
COUNTABLE NOUNS:
Countable nouns are individual objects,
people, places, etc. which can be counted.

A countable noun can be both singular or plural

- a friend, a house, etc.

- - a few apples, lots of trees, etc.
 COUNTABLE NOUNS
SINGULAR: PLURAL:
a + noun
one + noun noun + s

a potato potatoes
Countable nouns can be singular or plural:
– minion vs minions
– Penguin vs penguins
– The minion is happy.
– My penguins are hungry.
Yet, Always remember to:

Use a singular form of the VERB

with
a singular countable NOUN.

Use plural form of the VERB

with
a plural NOUN.
UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate
elements. We cannot "count" them.
example:
"milk".
We can only count it using measurement
"bottles of milk"
"litres of milk",
List down some examples of Uncountable nouns:
• music, art, love, happiness
• advice, information, news
• furniture, luggage
• rice, sugar, butter, water
• electricity, gas, power
• money, currency
TYPES OF UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
1. A group of something made up of a variety of things.
furniture, money, food

2. Abstract nouns
Honesty, advice, happiness

3. Nouns ending in –s but are not plural

News, physics, statistics, politics

4. Gerunds – which are verbs ending in ‘-ing’ but act as nouns and refer to names of
activities
Swimming, jogging, speaking, hiking
• treat uncountable nouns as singular :
uncountable nouns are followed by singular verb.

For example:
• This news is very important.
• Your luggage looks heavy MILK

You can count uncountable nouns if you use

measurement:
• A piece of… cheese
• A bowl of… soup
• A cup of… tea
• A bottle of…water
• A carton of…milk
• A bar of… chocolate
SINGULAR & PLURAL NOUNS
SINGULAR & PLURAL NOUNS
 HERE ARE SOME OF THE MOST COMMON CONTAINERS /
QUANTITY EXPRESSIONS FOR THESE UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS:

ADVICE - A PIECE OF ADVICE

BAGGAGE - A PIECE OF BAGGAGE
BREAD - A SLICE OF BREAD, A LOAF OF BREAD
EQUIPMENT - A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT
FURNITURE - A PIECE OF FURNITURE
GARBAGE - A PIECE OF GARBAGE
INFORMATION - A PIECE OF INFORMATION
KNOWLEDGE - A FACT
LUGGAGE - A PIECE OF LUGGAGE, A BAG, A SUITCASE
MONEY - A NOTE, A COIN
NEWS - A PIECE OF NEWS
 HERE ARE SOME MORE COMMON UNCOUNTABLE FOOD
TYPES WITH THEIR CONTAINER / QUANTITY EXPRESSIONS :

 LIQUIDS (WATER, BEER, WINE, ETC.) - A GLASS, A BOTTLE, A JUG OF

WATER, ETC.
 CHEESE - A SLICE, A CHUNK, A PIECE OF CHEESE
 MEAT - A PIECE, A SLICE, A POUND OF MEAT
 BUTTER - A BAR OF BUTTER
 KETCHUP, MAYONNAISE, MUSTARD - A BOTTLE OF, A TUBE OF KETCHU
ETC.
TYPES OF NOUNS:
POSSESIVE NOUNS
Ali’s cat
When you put an apostrophe (‘) after the word Ali, and add s after the apostrophe (Ali’s), it
means that Ali is the owner of something. In this case, Ali is the owner of the cat.

Therefore, the purpose of adding ‘s to a noun is to show that it is the owner of something.
If the owner is singular, add ’s .

doctor + ’s = doctor’s patients

If the owner is plural and the word ends in s, add an apostrophe after
the s’ .

doctors + ’ = doctors’ patients

If the owner is plural, but the plural word does not end in s, add ’s.

Men + ’s = men’s views

TYPES OF NOUNS:
COMPOUND NOUNS
A NOUN MADE UP OF 2 OR MORE WORDS PUT TOGETHER AS A SINGLE NOUN.

YOU CAN CREATE A COMPOUND NOUN BY COMBINING

• NOUN + NOUN = WHITE + BOARD = WHITEBOARD
• ADJECTIVES + NOUN = SHORT + STORY = SHORT STORY
• PREPOSITION + NOUN = IN + BOX = INBOX
• NOUN + VERB = BODY + WASH = BODY WASH
ALSO NOTE THAT COMPOUND NOUN CAN EXIST IN THREE DIFFERENT FORMS,
DEPENDING ON HOW THEY ARE COMBINED.

1. JOINED
DOWNPOUR, HAIRBRUSH, HANDBRAKE

2. SEPARATED
SOFT DRINK, SCHOOL BUS, WASHING MACHINE

3. HYPHENATED
MAKE-UP, CHECK-IN, SIGN-OFF
NOUN SUFFIXES

NOUN SUFFIXES ARE LETTERS ATTACHED TO THE END OF A WORD TO CHANGE

ITS PART OF SPEECH TO A NOUN AND OTHERS.

DISCUSS + ION = DISCUSSION

VERB SUFFIX –ION NOUN
 PRACTISE WITH THESE WORDS!

• IDENTIFY IF THEY ARE ADJECTIVES, VERBS OR NOUNS

BEFORE CHOOSING THE SUFFIX TO FORM NOUNS:

appoint
sad probable
arrange
weak complex
silent
tidy decide
appear
good describe
partner
forgetful multiply
relation
responsible alter
child
NOUN CLAUSES

• DEFINITION: A CLAUSE (WITH A SUBJECT AND A

VERB) THAT FUNCTIONS AS A NOUN.

• EXAMPLE: SUBORDINATE
CONJUNCTION

I HATE THAT I LOVE YOU.

NOUN CLAUSE
HOW TO CHECK IF YOUR CLAUSE IS
FUNCTIONING AS A NOUN:
• Try to replace the NOUN CLAUSE with a PRONOUN.

What you saw is fake.

What you saw = It

It is fake.
IT’S THE END OF THE LECTURE!
FUHH (TO BE READ)
IF YOU NEED ANY ASSISTANCE, DON’T HESITATE TO CONTACT

1. NUR ARIFAH DAUD

B1-6 / 0179480977

2. NORHAFIZAL SHAIDI
B1-2 / 0192819490