Rules for the formation of nouns in English

Word formation is one of the most important sections in the English language. As in Russian, there are many suffixes, prefixes, with which you can form a new word from an existing one. For example, take the simplest word, most likely, you already know, - hard (heavy, difficult). From it one can form the adverb hardly (hardly, hardly) with the suffix of adverbs -ly, and in this case the meaning of the word changes dramatically.

English noun

The Noun - a noun - refers to an object, phenomenon, abstract concept or person and always answers the questions "Who?" So what?". As in Russian, in English there are some classifications, groups by which nouns can be divided. In terms of education, nouns in English are divided into the following three groups:

• Simple - those words from which other nouns are produced. Usually they have only one single root: cat (cat), weather (weather), day (day), rain (rain) and so on.
• Derived - nouns that are formed from simple with the help of prefixes, suffixes and so on. Usually they consist of several morphemes: friendship (friendship), brotherhood (brotherhood), introduction (introduction), whiteness (whiteness).
• Complex or compound (Compound Nouns) - nouns that have two different bases. They can be written both through a hyphen and together: toothbrush (toothbrush), armchair (chair), passer-by (passer-by).

English nouns

As already mentioned, nouns can be formed in a variety of ways. We will analyze the most common options that will help you understand the education of nouns and morphemes. This topic is very important to attach importance and take some time: word formation is not in vain considered one of the most important sections in the English language.

The rules for the formation of nouns in English as such do not exist.

However, there are no specific rules in word formation: here everything comes only with practice.

Plural nouns in English

The plural in English is formed quite simply. To do this, you need to substitute the ending -s to the noun. It can be read in different ways.

• Multiple endings are read loudly ([z]) after vowels and voiced consonants: shoe - shoes (boot - shoes), day - days (day - days), pen - pens (pen-pens), dog - dogs (dog - dogs) .
• And after the muffled consonants, the ending is read as a muffled sound [s]: cat - cats (cat - cats), parent - parents (parent - parents), look - looks (look - sights).

There is another kind of plural ending - the ending -es is used with nouns ending in the hissing sounds s, ss, x, sh, ch. In this case, the endings of the words read as [iz]:

• brush - brushes (brush - brushes), match - matches (match - matches), beach - beaches (beach - beaches).

If the singular noun ends in -y, then in the plural y changes to i, and the ending -es is added to the word.

• hobby - hobbies (hobby - hobbies), baby - babies (baby - toddlers), lady - ladies (lady (one) - lady (several)).

However, there are exceptions. For proper names, as well as for verbs, y does not change to i.

However, if the vowel is before the singular -y, then it does not change, and the plural is formed according to general rules:

• boy - boys (boy - boys), toy - toys (toy - toys).

A noun can have the ending -o, then -es is added to it:

• tomato - tomatoes (tomato - tomatoes), hero - heroes (hero - heroes).

Nouns ending in -f or -fe are formed by their own rule. In their case, these endings change to v and the ending -es is added:

• wife - wives (wife - wives), wolf - wolves (wolf - wolves).

Addition is one way of education

Compound nouns, which were already mentioned at the beginning of the article, contain different bases from different (sometimes in meaning) words. By adding new words are formed with an already new meaning. Addition can be called one of the easiest ways to form nouns in the English language.

• butterfly (butter ("oil") + fly ("flight")) - butterfly;
• snowman (snow ("snow") + man ("man")) - a snowman;
• lipstick (lip ("lip") + stick ("stick")) - lipstick;
• voice-over (voice ("voice") + over ("over")) - voice-overs;
• haircut (hair ("hair") + cut ("cut off")) - haircut.

Conversion - the transition from one part of speech to another

In the Russian language there are often words that were formed by the transition from one part of speech to another. And in English there are also such nouns.

• to play (play) - a play (game);
• to post (send by mail) - a post (mail);
• to set (install) - a set (installation);
• to work - work.

An even simpler way of forming nouns, which is also widespread in English.

Morpheme way of education

However, the morphemic way of education using various prefixes and suffixes is still the most common. Morphemes occur and the formation of adjectives from nouns in the English language, and the creation of other new words.

Prefixes

Prefixes or prefixes occupy an important place in the English language. There are many of them, but in the table below we tried to collect the most common and common. The formation of nouns in the English language often occurs with the help of prefixes.

Suffixes

English nouns are hard to imagine without suffixes. In English there are a huge number of suffixes, the most common of them along with their meanings and specific examples are given below.

Forming nouns in English is not so difficult. Morphemes are of particular difficulty, because there are no exact rules by which nouns are formed. However, everything comes with practice.