Lecture 4
Nouns and Articles
Erik Smitterberg (PhD, Docent)
Royal Swedish Academy of Letters,
History and Antiquities Research Fellow
Department of English
[email protected]
A1/T1/HS1 Grammar
Spring Term 2013
Types of Nouns
Note: the same noun can belong to different categories in
different contexts!
I love coffee [concrete, uncountable]
Concrete,
Two coffees, please! [concrete, countable]
e.g. car
Nouns
Note
uppercase
letter!
Common
Countable
Abstract,
e.g. issue
Concrete,
e.g. butter
Proper, e.g.
Friday
Uncountable
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
Abstract,
e.g. music
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Some Features of English
Uncountable Nouns
• No plural form:
• No plural verb:
– *We sell British
– *The news were
furnitures
valuable
brittiska
– We sell British möbler
– The news was
furniture
valuable
• No indefinite article
• No numerals or plural
(usually):
determiners:
– *I heard an interesting
– *I didn’t need those
news
informations
– I heard some
– I didn’t need that
interesting news
information
en intressant nyhet
de där upplysningarna
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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Plural Formation I
• Regular plural (e)s (e.g. a cat > two cats, a bus > two
buses)
– Final y after a consonant usually > ies (e.g. a fly > two
flies)
• Irregular plurals:
– Final f sometimes > ves (e.g. a calf > two calves, but a
roof > two roofs
– Final o sometimes > oes (e.g. an echo > two echoes,
but a kilo > two kilos)
– Vowel changes (e.g. a tooth > two teeth)
– Plurals in en (a child > two children, an ox > two oxen)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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Plural Formation II
• Irregular plurals (cont.):
– Foreign plurals (e.g. a stimulus > two stimuli)
– Zero plurals:
• Many animals (e.g. a deer > two deer)
• Nationality words ending in ese + Swiss (e.g. a
Japanese > two Japanese, a Swiss > two Swiss)
• Other zero plurals (e.g. an aircraft > two aircraft)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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Invariable Singulars
• Most proper nouns and all uncountable nouns
• Problematic cases:
– Nouns that are uncountable in English but countable
in Swedish (e.g. furniture and news)
– Three groups that end in s:
• Some diseases (e.g. mumps)
• Some games and sports (e.g. darts)
• Some scientific and scholarly subjects (e.g.
acoustics)
– But some of these can be plural with a different
meaning (see also the handout to Lecture 4)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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Invariable Plurals
• Many things that consist of two parts:
– Clothes (e.g. jeans and shorts)
– Tools and instruments (e.g. scissors and tongs)
• Some living beings (e.g. people and police)
• A miscellaneous group (e.g. guts and oats)
corresponding to Swedish singulars or plurals
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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Logical Plurals I: English Plural
Nouns, Swedish Singular Nouns
• Four groups of expressions with countable nouns
where more than one item is involved:
– Changes between items (e.g. change lanes)
– Human interaction (e.g. shake hands)
– Numerals, digits, letters, etc. (e.g. sections 3.2 and
3.3)
– Bodies, minds, personal belongings, etc. (e.g. We
have different tastes)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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Logical Plurals II:
An Example of an Error
Halls!
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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Logical Singulars: Singular Verbs
with Plural Expressions
• Co-ordinated singular nouns are sometimes treated as
singulars (see the handout to Lecture 4 for details):
– Law and order has returned
– Each mother and father is given a booklet on caring
for infants
– Neither their father nor their mother was at work
• Many expressions of amount (e.g. Ten grammes of
sulphur was put in the test tube)
• Some plural proper nouns (e.g. The United States
borders Canada and Mexico)
– But e.g. The Alps have been important in European
history
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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The Choice between the Genitive
and the of Construction
• Use the genitive with:
– Nouns for people and people-related concepts (e.g.
the carpenter’s hammer; my life’s ambition; the
family’s decision)
– “Higher” animals (e.g. the dogs’ collars)
– Geographical names (e.g. Sweden’s future)
– Some expressions of time and measurement (e.g. an
hour’s drive)
• Use the of construction with:
– Other nouns (e.g. the colour of the boat)
– Adjectives as heads of noun phrases (e.g. the plight of
the unemployed)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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The Form of the Genitive
• The genitive singular:
lärarens
– Add ’s (e.g. the teacher’s handouts)
– If the noun is a personal name ending in s, add either ’
or ’s (e.g. Dickens’/Dickens’s novels)
lärarnas
• The genitive plural:
– Add ’ if the plural already ends in s (e.g. the teachers’
handouts)
– Add ’s otherwise (e.g. the children’s toys)
• With a few exceptions, do not add an apostrophe
to ordinary plurals!
*five teacher’s
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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The Indefinite Article I: Usage
• The indefinite article (a, an) is used with singular
countable nouns:
– To introduce something new (e.g. A one-armed man
was running from the scene of the crime)
– To talk about something in a generic sense (e.g. A
computer can beat anyone at checkers)
– In a Ps or Po, and after as, when someone is
classified regarding e.g. occupation (e.g. I want to
become a linguist; I have worked as a teacher)
– Corresponding to Swedish per/i (e.g. six times a day)
– In many other expressions with singular countable
nouns (see e.g. Appendix 3)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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The Indefinite Article II:
Word Order
ett sådant
• The indefinite article follows:
begåvat barn
– Such and what (e.g. such a gifted child)
ett för
– Adjectives used with as ... as, how,
allvarligt
however, so, and too (e.g. too serious a
problem
problem)
– no + comparative adjective (e.g. no
inte en värre
worse a situation)
situation
• The indefinite article often follows quite
and rather, and sometimes half (e.g. quite
an important section of the grammar book)
en rätt viktig del av grammatikboken
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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The Definite Article I
• The definite article points to something familiar:
– Something mentioned before directly or by association
– Something that can be identified through context (e.g.
Aim for the legs!)
– Something which is generally familiar (e.g. We always
listen to the radio)
– Something unique (The earth revolves around the
sun)
– Generically with singular countable nouns (e.g. The
polar bear is an endangered species)
– Often when something is identified by a postmodifier
(e.g. I will never forget the book that I read last year)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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The Definite Article II:
An Example of an Error
into the universe!
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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The Definite Article III
• The definite article is used in English
but (usually) not in Swedish:
samma
sång
– Before certain adjectives (e.g. the same
song)
från
– With cardinal points (e.g. a warm wind from
väster
the West) and grammatical terms (e.g. in
the present tense)
i presens
– Often with musical instruments and dances
dansa
(e.g. dance the waltz)
vals
– See Appendix 2 for usage with proper
nouns and Appendix 3 for more
expressions!
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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No Article I: Uncountable and
Plural Nouns in a Generic Sense
Uncountable
Art mirrors life
Konsten
speglar
livet
Generic sense:
‘in general’
Prices have fallen lately
Plural
Priserna har
gått ned på
sistone
Premodified nouns may still
be used in a generic sense:
British history is full of wars
Den brittiska historien…
In English, no article is used
with uncountable and plural
nouns used in a generic sense!
Postmodifiers often
make the sense specific:
The history of Britain is full of wars
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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No Article II:
An Example of an Error
No article!
Uncountable noun
Generic sense
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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No Article III: Place Names
Preceded by Adjectives
• No article is used when an
adjective comes before a place
name (e.g. I’m back in medieval
Visby)
•
•
det
medeltida
Visby
Exception: the definite article is used
before former and modern with
respect to borders (e.g. the former
Czechoslovakia)
Note that the definite article is used
with postmodified place names (e.g.
the London of Shakespeare’s time)
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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No Article IV: Other Cases
• Many places for human activities (e.g. I’m due in court)
• Some expressions of time with at, before, and by (e.g.
We attack at dawn)
• Meals (e.g. Dinner is served!)
• Religions, ideologies, etc. (e.g. Communism suffered a
severe blow in 1989)
• Seasons discussed in general (e.g. Spring has finally
arrived)
• Headlines (e.g. Killer Bug Fear Hits Conference)
• See Appendix 3 for more expressions; see the handout
to Lecture 4 for more detail, exceptions, etc.
Erik Smitterberg, PhD, Docent, Dept. of English
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