Faculty of Political Science
1st Cycle Degree Programme in Tourism Studies
March 10, 2016
Word-classes in
English for Tourism
1. NOUNS
² noun or name?
è è è è see handout 1, unit 2
² countable and/or uncountable
Here follows the main features in the behaviour of a C-noun
compared to an U-noun:
Countable nouns [C]
• have singular and plural
forms
• take singular and plural
verbs
• can
have
a/an
(=
indefinite
article)
and
numbers in front of them
• have many / a lot of / lots
of in front of them
•
have few / a few in front
of them
Uncountable nouns [U]
• only have one form
• always take a singular
verb
• never have a/an or a
number directly in front of
them
• have much / a lot of / lots
of in front of them
• have little / a little in front
of them
It can be useful to list uncountable nouns into the following
categories:
ü substances: blood, glass, fuel, iron, gold, oil, petrol,
plastic, water, wood, etc.;
ü fibres: cotton, nylon, silk, wool, etc.;
ü food: bread, chocolate, milk, spaghetti, sugar, etc.
ü abstract ideas: access, finance, freedom, health, humour,
peace, progress, profitability, relevance, safety, etc.;
© 2016 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
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Faculty of Political Science
1st Cycle Degree Programme in Tourism Studies
March 10, 2016
ü verbal nouns (i.e. -ing verbal forms used as nouns):
advertising,
brainstorming,
marketing,
offshoring,
outsourcing, training, etc.;
ü subjects: biology, chemistry, economics, electronics,
mathematics / maths, physics, politics, statistics, etc.;
ü miscellaneous: accommodation, advice, baggage, cash,
damage, equipment, hardware, information, legislation,
luggage, money, news, research, software, traffic,
transport, travel, trouble, weather, work, etc.
Moreover note that:
1 some words which are countable in some other languages
are uncountable in English (e.g. advice, information,
management, news);
2 some words can be used in two different ways – one
countable, one uncountable (e.g. business, glass, hair,
paper);
3 collective nouns can take singular and plural verbs (e.g.:
bank, board, committee, firm, government, management,
staff, team, etc.);
4 to make countable quantities of uncountable nouns
you may use the formula “a/an … of …” as in the following
examples:
− five litres of water;
− twenty euros of fuel;
− a piece of information;
− a type of accommodation;
− an article / a piece of luggage;
− a bit of trouble;
− four items of reasearch;
− six processes of outsourcing;
− a source of finance;
− ten books of economics;
− three exercises of maths
−
è è è è see handout 2, unit 2
or use a synonym, as in:
© 2016 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
2
Faculty of Political Science
1st Cycle Degree Programme in Tourism Studies
March 10, 2016
− work è a job / a task;
− progress è a step forward;
− training è a training course;
− travel è a journey / a trip;
or a similar expression (that is, a compound expression), as
in:
− training è a training course.
Apart from “an item of …” and “a piece of …” that can be
used with almost all the U-nouns, each item needs an
adequate periphrasis.
² standard plural formation with the ending -(e)s plus:
♦ a set of nouns ending in -s, -x, -ch, -sh, -o, or -z where the
ending -es is added for euphonic reasons: e.g. class è
classes; fax è faxes; watch è watches; crash è crashes;
hero è heroes; buzz è buzzes;
♦ a set of nouns where the final consonant is followed by -y,
a double spelling adaptation occurs – both in the final “y” of
the word changing into “i” and in the ending itself where a
euphonic “e” goes before final “s”: company è companies;
delivery è deliveries; party è parties. However, such
adaptation does not occur when a vowel is in front of the
final -y: boy è boys; day è days;
♦ a small group of lexical items with a double spelling
adaptation – both in the final “f” of the word changing into
“v” and in the ending itself where a euphonic “e” goes
before final “s” (e.g. knife è knives; life è lives; shelf è
shelves). However, such adaptation is not a permanent
feature: in fact, pay attention to chief è chiefs, cliff è
cliffs; roof è roofs;
♦ a set of nouns of classical (Greek or Latin) origin
maintaining a classical plural formation, sometimes
together with a standard plural formation in -s (e.g.
criterion è criteria; formula è formulae / formulas;
memorandum è memoranda / memorandums; referendum
è referenda / referendums);
© 2016 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
3
Faculty of Political Science
1st Cycle Degree Programme in Tourism Studies
March 10, 2016
♦ a set of nouns of classical origin ending in -x such as
appendix, index, matrix with a double chance of plural
formation: respectively, appendices and appendixes;
indices and indexes; matrices and matrixes.
♦ a set of nouns ending in -sis such as analysis, basis, crisis,
thesis whose plural forms are respectively analyses, bases,
crises, and theses;
♦ a small group of nouns maintaining a Germanic plural
formation (e.g. child è children; goose è geese; foot è
feet; louse è lice; man è men; mouse è mice; ox è
oxen; tooth è teeth; woman è women);
♦ a set of countable nouns which only occur in the plural and
generally take a plural verb: e.g. amenities, clothes,
earnings, facilities, glasses, goods, headquarters, outskirts,
overheads, premises, savings, trousers, valuables, works;
² no gender
² compound nouns (forthcoming)
² collocations (forthcoming)
² false friends (forthcoming)
© 2016 Rosati F. and F. Vaccarelli
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