Nouns

Nouns are literally anything but are generally categorized into 4 origin types:

  • people
  • places
  • living things (e.g. animals, alien)
  • idea

To test whether a word is a noun, simply ask this question: Is it a people? a place? a living thing? an idea?

Some examples (bold are nouns):

  • This is Raul.
  • He is from Argentina.
  • He is a penguin.
  • Raul has big dreams.

In this section, we discuss words that describe a subject or an object.

Common vs. Proper

A common noun is generalized version of its origin. A proper noun is specific, like a name. They are both nouns.

Example (common noun | specific noun):

  • city | Chicago
  • frog | Kermit
  • river | Nile

Common noun only gets capitalized at the beginning of the sentence. Proper noun always get capitalized.

Concrete vs. Abstract

A concrete noun is a physical, measurable origin, like a living thing, place, and person. An abstract noun is not physical, not measurable origin, like an idea.

Example (concrete | abstract):

  • ball | roundness
  • Mallie | happiness
  • river | coldness

Abstract noun usually forms by using an adjective with -ness at the end to give an idea of its origin.

Singular vs. Plural

There are different forms of plural nouns depending on the word's history, origin, and exceptions. Generally, pluralized noun is determined through list of conversion patterns.

However, there is no structured system to governs these patterns. As a matter of fact, some of them has a lot of exceptions to handle. The best way is to learn up is through exposures over time (also known as growing your vocabulary).

Regular Plural

How:

adding -s at the end of the noun

Example:

  • dog → dogs
  • cat → cats
  • animal → animals

Affects:

  1. Most common and modern nouns (best guess if you can't figure other types)
  2. Standardized usage of plural method

Irregular Plural (Sounding f)

Conditions:

  • Words that end with -f, vocally (by sound) end with obvious f.
  • There are exceptions.

How:

replace f with -ves

Example:

  • leaf → leaves
  • loaf → loaves
  • calf → calves
  • wolf → wolves
  • wife → wives
  • bookshelf → bookshelves

Affects:

  1. Adopted words and vocal harmonization.

Irregular Plural (Classical/Old English)

Conditions:

  • Words that is adopted from Classical/Old English.
  • It is a completely exception list.

How:

Special words transformation OR adding en at the end.

Example:

  • child → children
  • ox → oxen
  • brother → brethren
  • sister → sistern

Affects:

  1. Old English words. You should only worry about them if you're writing classical English literature.
  2. Only 2 words you need to remember: children, oxen.

Irregular Plural (Base Plural)

Conditions:

  • Word that got into Standard English list.
  • There are exception:
    • if you're referring it as an identity (types, species etc), the other plural form applies.
    • Some nouns do not have the plural counterparts (e.g. set)

How:

As individual: No change in word. (many aircraft)
As identity: Apply other rules. (different types of aircrafts)

Example:

  • fish → fish (individual) / fishes (identity)
  • aircraft → aircraft (individual) / aircrafts (identities)
  • sheep → sheep
  • bison → bison
  • set → set
  • moose → moose

Affects:

  1. Standard English words.

Irregular Plural (Mutant)

Conditions:

  • TL; DR: history f**ked us up.
    • Word like foot undergo multiple (German, Dutch and English) languages vocal harmonization and landed up with a completely new word: feet.
  • Fortunately, only affects 7 words.

How:

Comply to their mutated word.

Example:

  • foot → feet
  • woman → women
  • man → men
  • tooth → teeth
  • goose → geese
  • mouse → mice
  • louse → lice

Affects:

  1. Those 7 words.

Irregular Plural (Foreign Origin)

Conditions:

  • Words adopted from other languages. The plural has both irregular and regular counterparts.
  • Most of them follows a pattern: origin and its conversion.
  • There are exceptions (some does not have regular counterparts).

How:

Latin ( a → ae)
    • larva → larvae (irregular) or larvas (regular)
Latin (us → i)
    • fungus → fungi (irregular) or funguses (regular)
    • cactus → cacti (irregular) or cactuses (regular)
    • radius → radii (irregular and regular)
Latin (um → a)
    • datum → data (irregular and regular)
Latin (ex → ices)
    • index → indices (irregular) or indexes (regular)
Greek (is → es)
    • thesis → theses (irregular) or thesises (regular)
Greek (on → a)
    • criterion → criteria (irregular and regular)

Affects:

  1. Words that has foreign origin (like Latin or Greek).
  2. If you can't figure one out, revert back to regular plural conversion method. Trust your instinct.