Nouns and Adjectives: Types, Formation, and Usage

Posted on Mar 15, 2025 in English

Nouns and Adjectives: Types and Formation

Abstract and Concrete Nouns

Abstract nouns refer to intangible concepts, ideas, or psychological states. Concrete nouns refer to physical things that can be perceived through the senses.

Individual and Collective Nouns

Individual nouns represent single elements (e.g., tree). Collective nouns represent a group of people or things, grammatically treated as singular (e.g., forest, crowd).

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns can be pluralized (e.g., dog/dogs). Uncountable nouns are typically used in the singular and require quantifiers to indicate quantity (e.g., sugar – much sugar, a lot of sugar, a spoonful of sugar). Abstract nouns are usually uncountable. Some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on context (e.g., “I need *a* beer” vs. “I don’t drink *much* beer”). Some nouns are always plural, such as glasses and shorts.

Quantifiers

Quantifiers are used with both count and non-count nouns:

  • Non-count: much, a little, a lot of, some, any, a liter of (milk)
  • Count: many, few, a lot of, some, any, a pack of (tissues)
  • Examples: a liter of milk, a pack of tissues, one pound of bread, a carton of eggs.

Animate and Inanimate Nouns

Animate nouns refer to living beings (real or unreal), like “unicorn.” Inanimate nouns refer to objects, like “book.”

Common and Proper Nouns

Common nouns refer to general beings or things (e.g., flight attendant). Proper nouns refer to unique entities or specific names (e.g., countries, cities, trademarks). Proper nouns generally do not take articles or pluralization, except for some cases like family names (e.g., The Simpsons).

Case, Number, and Gender in Nouns

Case indicates grammatical function, showing:

  • Number (singular, plural): dog/dogs
  • Gender (female, male): Indicated by compound nouns (policeman, supergirl), suffixes (count/countess), prefixes (“she-“), or gender-specific terms (king/queen, dog/bitch).
  • Possession: Peter’s car

Simple and Complex Nouns

Simple nouns consist of a single root word. Complex nouns consist of a root plus affixes or are compound words.

Compounding in Nouns

Compounding is the process of combining two free lexemes (words) to create a new concept. Common combinations include:

  • N-N: (wall)paper
  • N-Adj: (green)house
  • N-V: (play)boy
  • N-N: dog-food box
  • N-N-N: Stone Age caveman

Noun phrases involve at least two nouns. The rightmost noun is the nucleus, and the left noun modifies it (acting as an adjective): *dog food* (noun phrase).

Examples:

  • N+N: motorcycle, silver paper
  • Adj+N: happy land, bluebird, blue jeans
  • V+N: ring bell, workbook
  • Prep.+N: on-screen, outbreak
  • Adv+Adj: evergreen
  • N+N+N: remote control car, seafood chef

Other Types of Compounding

  1. Reduplication: so-so, bye-bye
  2. Blending: Combining two words (smog = smoke + fog; brunch = breakfast + lunch)
  3. Clipping: Separating two lexemes (sci-fi)
  4. Acronyms: UFO

Forming Adjectives

  • Adj + N: (nation)al, (snow)y
  • Adj + Adj: (red)hot
  • Adj + P: (over)ripe, (out)spoken

Past participles can function as adjectives (a *written* exam). Anything preceding a noun can function as an adjective.

Reduplication, Eponyms, Coining, and Onomatopoeia

  • Reduplication: Full or partial repetition of a free morpheme, sometimes with variation. Full reduplication: *so-so*. Partial reduplication: *see-saw*.
  • Eponyms: Proper nouns that become common nouns due to frequent use (e.g., Kleenex, Band-Aid).
  • Coining: Creating a completely new term (e.g., ketchup, nylon, phishing).
  • Onomatopoeia: Words imitating natural sounds (e.g., bang, ka-boom, splash, glug).

Adjective Formation: Derivation, Inflection, and Composition

Adjectives can be formed by:

  • Derivation: Adding a bound morpheme (e.g., loveLY)
  • Inflection: lovely, lovelIER
  • Composition: left-handed, hard-working

ED participles as adjectives show a person or thing being affected (e.g., “He is *bored*”). ING forms as adjectives show a characteristic (e.g., “He is *boring*”).

Composition of Adjectives

  • Adj + Noun: (hard)core
  • Adv + Adj: (ever)green
  • Adj + Gerund: (hard)working
  • Adj + Adj: (light)green

Form is the word type; function is the role in the sentence. Thus, -ing forms can function as:

  • Nouns: *Running* is good for you. / I love *running*.
  • Adjectives: *running* shoes
  • Verbs: She’s *running*.