GRAMMAR REVIEW – WEEK 9
I. NOUNS
1) Irregular nouns:
Some common words have irregular plurals: men, women, children, the media …
Some words are commonly used in the plural form: glasses, jeans, scissors, …
Some singular nouns referring to a group of people are often used with a plural: audience, family, government, staff, team, the police
The staff are unhappy with their working conditions. The police have caught the criminal.
Some adjectives are used as nouns and are plural: the young, the rich, the elderly, the homeless, …
2) Uncountable nouns:
- They cannot be counted (incompatible with “a”) or put in the plural (no –s)!
Some common uncountable words: news, information, advice, furniture, work, progress, money, luck, damage, evidence, etc.
The news was bad. He gave me some advice.
To indicate a number, we usually use “a piece of”
The journalist presented five pieces of information to support his argument.
- For nationalities in the singular, you need to say a French person, and an Englishman (nationalities ending in –ch, -sh – you can’t add an –s) but you can say two Italians.
In the plural, we say: the French, the English are BUT Italians, Americans are.
II. ARTICLES
1) A/ an:
- A= used to introduce something, classify it
I just saw a friend. It’s a girl!
A + consonant sound (a university because « you »)
An + vowel sound (an unusual sight because « un »)
- In English, we use “a” in some situations contrary to French: Jobs: He is a doctor.
2) The :
- The + defined thing, in a specific situation or of common knowledge
Look at the dog! The moon is beautiful tonight.
ð I’m going to the bank. (a specific one) / Is there a bank in this area? (any)
ð He is in Ø prison. / I went to the prison to visit him.
- Usually, we use “the” when followed by an explanation that defines (“of …”, “that/which”…)
He is the president of the local football club (defined situation)
I bought a car. The car that I sold was too old for me to keep using it.
3) Ø :
- General things or people, concepts
I’m afraid of Ø dogs. Ø Life is difficult nowadays. I like Ø music. We want Ø freedom.
- Remember that we also use Ø for “des”
J’ai acheté des chaussures = I bought Ø shoes.
- Names of places and persons
We do not use the with names of places (Ø Africa, Ø France, Ø Canada, etc.) except for countries with Republic, Kingdom, States (The United Kingdom, The United States) and for plural countries (The Netherlands, the Philippines)
We usually do not use the for a street, avenue, park, palace, university, … (Wall Street, Hyde Park, Cambridge University, Buckingham Palace, …) BUT we use the for most other buildings (The Guggenheim Museum, the Empire State Building, the White House, ..)
We do not use the with a title followed by a proper noun or family name (President Obama, Queen Elizabeth, Doctor Smith, Sir Taylor, … BUT the president, the queen, the doctor…)
- Pay attention to specific words:
the environment, the earth, the sky BUT Ø space, Ø nature, Ø man (=humankind)
the cinema, the radio, the internet BUT Ø television
Careful! Some words generally used with Ø can be used with “the” when they are defined:
Life is difficult => A new movie has been made about the life of Mandela. (specific person)
We want freedom. => We are fighting for the freedom of our people. (specific freedom)
- Pay attention to different meanings of the same word:
We want to explore Ø space (the universe) ≠ The space between the two buildings is insufficient. (room, distance)
I love nature. (=the environment) ≠ We are investigating the nature of human relationships in this field. (=characteristics)
=> REVIEW EXERCISE: exercise Week9 NounsArticles
=> IF YOUR SCORE WAS LOWER THAN 90% ON THESE EXERCISES, READ MORE AND DO ADDITIONAL EXERCISES:
English grammar in use (with answers) [425 MUR] (+ CD-ROM in Centre de Langues Salle Multimedia)
Unit 69-79 (select appropriate chapters – nouns, articles)
Grammaire raisonnée 2 [425 PER] (livre + livret de corrigé des exercices)
Chapitre 8 (noms), Chapitre 9 (articles)