NOUNS

Nouns are words that name things such as persons, animals, places, ideas, and institutions. A noun can be the subject of a clause. Nouns are sometimes called substantives, a term that means any word or group of words that can be used as the subject of a clause: a noun, a pronoun, a noun phrase, a gerund phrase, or an infinitive phrase.


Kind of Nouns

. Countable and uncountable

Countable nouns are sometimes called counts nouns.


Some rules are the following:
- Have singular and plural forms.
- Take singular or plural verbs acording to their use as singular or         plural.
- Can have a, an, or one before them as modifier in the singular.
- Can have many or few before them as modifier in the plural.
- Can have some before them as modifier only in the plural.
- Can have number of before them only in the plural.


Examples:
1. My little niece is very beautiful.
2. The tigers are wild animals.
3. Carlos has a horse, three dogs, and seven birds.
4. Many people do not have a job.


Uncountable nouns are sometimes called noncount or mass noun.
Some rules are the next:
- Have only one form.
- Take a singular verbs. 
- Cannot have a, an, or  one before them as modifier.
- Can have much before them as a modifier.
- Can have some before them as modifier.


Examples:
1. The responsability is very  important that everybody has it.
2. In our country people need peace.
3. My mother cooked some bread.
4. I do not have enough money.


. Proper nouns and common nouns

Proper nouns are the names of particular people, places, or things.They are capitalized.


Examples:
1.  Sam was playing soccer yesterday.
2. Friday is the best day of the week.
3. Maria went to the beach.
4. I was born on July 19th.


.Commom nouns can be classified into abstract nouns and concrete nouns.


Abstract nouns name ideas, emotions, qualities, and processes.
Examples:
1. Everyone wants to get the happiness.
2. The love is very important in a family.
3. The beauty is not enough.
4.The violence does not bring anything good.


Concrete nouns name persons or things that can be known directly through the senses.
Examples.
1. The book was very interesting.
2. The computer is used for different activities.
3. The water was very fresh.
4. I have many pens and pencils.


.Collective nouns
Collective nouns are special nouns that stand for a group of people, animal, birds, or insects.
Examples:
1. The audience had the reason.
2. The chorus of my church sang very well.
3. The police caught the fugitive man.


Spelling of nouns


*Most nouns are regular in spelling the plural. Add -s to the end of the singular form.

   book ------>books           boy -------> boys   

Examples:
- I have many books
- The boys were playing soccer yesterday.


* Add -es to make plurals of nouns that end in -s or in a similar sound (ch, sh, tch, x, and z).

watch -------> watches           fox ---------> foxes

Examples:
- My grandfather has many watches.
- The foxes are very full.


Some nouns are irregular in spelling plurals.


* A final -f or -fe becomes -ves in some nouns.
life ----> lives         knife ------> knives       wife -----> wives


Examples:
- The cat has seven lives.
- My mother has many knives.
- In some countries the men can have many wives.


* Some old English plural forms are still used.

man ------> man    woman -------> women

Examples:
- In my neighborhood there are many men.
- Women are more sensitive  than men.

Compound with- man
Examples:
- The firemen extinguished the fire.
- In our country there are many workmen.


* Some nouns can keep the singular form in a collective plural meaning.
Examples.
- Eduardo hunted a deer.
- In the zoo there is elephant.


* Some Latin and Greek plurals are used.


- Words ending in -a in the singular and -ae in the plural.
amoeba ---------> amoebae         formula ---------> formulae


Examples: 
- Some people have amoebae in their stomach.
- My teacher wrote formulae on the board.
  
- Words ending in -ex or -ix in the singular and -ices in the plural.
index ---------> indices                    apex --------> apices.
 Examples:
- I have to do some indices in my books.
- In some places there are apices.


Uses of Nouns


1. Subject
My granmother just came.


2. Predicate nominative
Rocio is my niece.


3.Direct object
I love my family.

4. Indirect object
Carla gave her mother a present.


5. Object of preposition 
I am waiting for my aunt.


6. Possessive
Cindy´s house is very amazing.
My sister had a waitress´s job.
The books´ pages are very interesting.


Endings of noun
It is important to mention that we can do nouns from others words by adding different endings or suffixes.
Some noun endings are: ant, an, er, ian, ist, or, ness, ence, etc.
Examples:
- The sadness is something that you feel in your heart.
- I have a excellent proffessor.
- In my neighborhood there is a pianist.