Sabtu, 24 April 2010

Common Nouns

A common noun is a word that names people, places, things, or ideas. They are not the names of a single person, place or thing.

A common noun begins with a lowercase letter unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.

For example:-
People:-

man, girl, boy, mother, father, child, person, teacher, student
Animals:-

cat, dog, fish, ant, snake
Things:-

book, table, chair, phone
Places:-

school, city, building, shop
Ideas:-

love, hate, idea, pride

Countable / Uncountable Nouns

A noun can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be "counted", they have a singular and plural form .

For example:

* A book, two books, three books .....
* An apple, two apples, three apples ....

Uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns or noncount nouns) cannot be counted, they are not seperate objects. This means you cannot make them plural by adding -s, because they only have a singular form. It also means that they do not take a/an or a number in front of them.

For example:

* Water
* Work
* Information
* Coffee
* Sand

Countable
(use a/an or a number in front of countable nouns) Uncountable
(there is no a/an or number with uncountable nouns)
An Apple / 1 Apple Rice
I eat an apple every day. I eat rice every day. (not I eat a rice every day.)
Add (s) to make a countable noun plural There is no plural form for an uncountable noun
apples rice
I eat an apple every day. Apples are good for you. I eat rice every day. Rice is good for you.
A computer= Computers are fun. To make uncountable nouns countable add a counting word, such as a unit of measurement, or the general word piece. We use the form "a ....... of ......."
An elephant=Elephants are large. Rice=a grain of rice
Water=a glass of water
Rain=a drop of rain
Music=a piece of music
You can use some and any with countable nouns.
Some dogs can be dangerous.
I don't use any computers at work. You can use some and any with uncountable nouns.
I usually drink some wine with my meal.
I don't usually drink any water with my wine.
You only use many and few with plural countable nouns.
So many elephants have been hunted that they are an endangered species.
There are few elephants in England. You only use much and little with uncountable nouns.
I don't usually drink much coffee.
Little wine is undrinkable though.
You can use a lot of and no with plural countable nouns.
No computers were bought last week.
A lot of computers were reported broken the week before. You can use a lot of and no with uncountable nouns.
A lot of wine is drunk in France.
No wine is drunk in Iran.
Making uncountable nouns countable

You can make most uncountable noun countable by putting a countable expression in front of the noun.

For example:-

* A piece of information.
* 2 glasses of water.
* 10 litres of coffee.
* Three grains of sand.
* A pane of glass.

Sources of confusion with countable and uncountable nouns

The notion of countable and uncountable can be confusing.

Some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on their meaning. Usually a noun is uncountable when used in a general, abstract meaning (when you don't think of it as a separate object) and countable when used in a particular meaning (when you can think of it as a separate object).

For example:-

glass - A glass of water. (Countable) | A window made of glass. (Uncountable)

Some supposedly uncountable nouns can behave like countable nouns if we think of them as being in containers, or one of several types.

This is because 'containers' and 'types' can be counted.

Believe it or not each of these sentences is correct:-

Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two coffees a day.
(Here coffees refers to the number of cups of coffee)
You could write; "Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two cups of coffee a day."

The coffees I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian.
(Here coffees refers to different types of coffee)
You could write; "The types of coffee I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian."

!Note - In good monolingual dictionaries, uncountable nouns are identified by [U] and countable nouns by [C].

collective nouns

A collective noun is a noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of people or things.

Sometimes they refer to a group of specific things:-

For example:-

Tables, chairs, cupboards etc. are grouped under the collective noun furniture.
Plates, saucers, cups and bowls are grouped under the collective noun crockery.

These collective nouns are often uncountable.

Sometimes they are more general:-

For example:-

Groups of people - army, audience, band, choir, class, committee, crew, family, gang, jury, orchestra, police, staff, team, trio

Groups of animals - colony, flock, herd, pack, pod, school, swarm

Groups of things - bunch, bundle, clump, pair, set, stack

When such a group is considered as a single unit, the collective noun is used with a singular verb and singular pronouns.

For example - The committee has reached its decision.

But when the focus is on the individual members of the group, British English uses a plural verb and plural pronouns.

For example - "The committee have been arguing all morning." This is the same as saying "The people in the committe have been ...."

A determiner in front of a singular collective noun is always singular: this committee , never these committee (but of course when the collective noun is pluralized, it takes a plural determiner: these committees ).

concrete noun

A concrete noun is the name of something or someone that we experience through our senses, sight, hearing, smell, touch or taste. Most nouns are concrete nouns. The opposite of a concrete noun is an abstract noun.

For example:-

Cats, dogs, tables, chairs, buses, and teachers are all concrete nouns.

Jumat, 29 Januari 2010

Simple past tense

In this post we would learning simple past tense.
Simple past tense often used on the text like
narative text
recaount
and so on.
Bellow is shape of simple past tense
s+verb2+o+time phrase
for example
my father bought a new car last week
my father=s
bought=verb2(secound shape from buy)
anew car=o
last week=time pharase.

Okey it for positive shape,
for negative shaped
s+not+v1+time phrase
for example
my mother not buy apple yesterday..
And last for introgative
did/does+s+v1+o+time

okey? Good luck