#The noun. Semantic classification.
MORPHOLOGICAL COMPOSITION
simple nouns — cat, desk, floor, grass, toy
derived nouns
• abstract nouns —freedom, likelihood, meeting
• concrete nouns —student, librarian, inventor
compound nouns --- airport, living room, stand-by
converted nouns — a walk (from a verb), a native (from an adjective)
SEMANTIC CHARACTERISTICS
Proper nouns and common nouns.
Proper – particular person, place, thing, idea. Generally spelt with a capital letter.
Common nouns are divided into count and uncount.
There are a number of nouns in English which refer to a set of objects collected together – collective nouns. They include group nouns, nouns of multitude, mass nouns.
GROUP NOUNS
Are countable, refer to groups of individuals. May be treated as sg and pl.
Family, herd, crew, team, nation
NOUNS OF MULTITUDE
Are used as plurals and have no plural ending.
People, police, cattle (can be combined with numerals – 36 cattle), poultry, livestock
MASS NOUNS
2 groups: sg and pl
SG – substance which can be divided into separate objects
Furniture, grass, hair . PL – clothes, goods, earnings