Introduction
Number is the grammatical category of the noun which shows whether we speak of one thing or of more than one. The categoryof number is expressed by the opposition of the plural form of the noun to its singular form.
Accordingly, there are two numbers: the singular and the plural.
The problem of category of number of nouns is very essential nowadays. Russian and English languages have different grammatical, syntactical and phonetic forms of expression. These languages have nouns which are used only in the singular, only in the plural and both in singular and plural. A lot of people in the process of communication make mistakes because they don’t know rules and laws necessary for exact case.
The goal of the present work is to study the category of number of English nouns and compare it with the Russian ones.
Objectives of the present work:
1. To consider the category of number of nouns
2. To study different types of number
3. To analyze the formation and meaning of number
4. To study different cases of usage of category of number of nouns
5. To consider the development of plural forms in connection with a change of meaning of the noun
6. To study Russian category of number of nouns, different cases of usage
Practical significance of this work is that it can be used in educational establishments, at classes on theoretical and practical grammar. This work can be useful for students, studying English language.
The term-paper consists of content, introduction, three main chapters, conclusion, bibliography and appendix.
1. The Problem of Category of Number in Modern English
1.1 The Category of Number of Nouns
The categoryof number is expressed by the opposition of the plural form of the noun to its singular form. The semantic difference of the oppositional members of the categoryof number in many linguistic works is treated traditionally: the meaning of the singular is interpretation as «one» and the meaning of the plural as «many» (more than one).
As the traditional interpretation of the singular and the plural members does not work in many cases, recently the categorical meaning of the plural has been reconsidered and now it is interpreted as the denotation of «the potentially dismembering reflection of the structure of the referent».
The categoricaloppositionof number is subjected to the process of oppositional reduction. Neutralization takes place when countable nouns begin to function as Singularia Tantum nouns, denoting in such cases either abstract ideas or some mass material, e.g. on my birthday we always have goose; or when countable nouns are used in the function of the Absolute Plural: the board are not unanimous on the question. A stylistically marked transposition is achieved by the use of the descriptive uncountableplural (the fruitsof the toil are not always visible) and the «repetition plural» (car after car rushed past me). In Modern English the form of the singular of nouns is a bare stem without any flexion or with zero inflexion. Nouns in plural are characterized by ending «-s (-es)».
The meaning of number expresses by grammatical forms is extremely generalized. Concrete meanings of nouns can be expressed lexically with the help of numerals and grammatically through grammatical meaning of inflexions. A zero inflexion indicates one thing and the grammatical form with an opposite inflexion indicates more than one things.
The presence in language of such ways of expressing a generalized meaning of number must be considered as a result of a process of abstraction formed by the human thought for a long period of time. [1]
Modern English like most other languages distinguishes two numbers: singular and plural. The meaning of singular and plural seems to be self-explanatory, that is the opposition: one – more than one. The essential meaning of the category (in nouns) is not that of quantity, but of discreteness. Concrete meanings of nouns can be expressed lexically with the help of numerals and grammatically through grammatical meaning of inflexions. A zero inflexion indicates one thing and the grammatical form with an opposite inflexion indicates more than one things.
In most languages, the singular is formally unmarked, whereas the plural is marked in some way. Other languages, most notably the Bantu languages, mark both the singular and the plural, for instance Swahili (see example above). The third logical possibility, rarely found in languages, is unmarked plural contrasting with marked singular.
Elements marking number may appear on nouns and pronouns in dependent-marking languages or on verbs and adjectives in head-marking languages.
There are several types of number: singular versus plural, collective versus singulativ, dual number, trial number and distributive plural. But Modern English like most other languages distinguishes only two numbers: singular and plural
1.3 Meaning and Formation of Number
1. In Modern English the singular form of the nouns is a bare stem with a zero-inflexion (нулеваяфлексия): book, boy, girl.
The plural is formed by the inflexion – (e) s [z, s, iz]: boy – boys, book – books, box – boxes.
Compare the Russian noun стол (столы) which also has a zero-inflexion in the nominative case of the singular, with the noun река (реки), which has a positive inflexion in the nominative case of the singular as well as of the plural.
The inflexion – (e) s is a modification of the Old English plural inflexion – as. In Old English there were several ways of forming the plural; the – as inflexion which was used only with masculine nouns, later on in its modified form (-as>-es>-s) became the general inflexion of the plural of nouns.
The plural inflexion is pronounced [iz] after voiced consonants and vowels: cabs, raids, tables, pens, factories, tractors; [s] after voiceless consonants: books, pilots, pipes; [iz] after sibilants: classes, bushes, branches, boxes.
Note. – Nouns ending in a mute – e preceded by a sibilant, in spelling – se, ce, – ze, – (d) ge, add the inflexion – s [iz] horse – horses; price – prices; size – sizes; bridge – bridges: village – villages.
2. With some nouns the final voiceless consonant is changed into a corresponding voiced consonant before the inflexion – es [z] is added. To this group belong:
a) Nouns ending in – fe or – f [f]. The f is changed into v (consonant interchange), and the inflexion – es [z] is added: knife–knives; shelf – shelves; wife – wives.
Note. – Some nouns ending in – f or – ff, simply add – s [s] in the plural: roof – roofs; chief – chiefs; handkerchief – handkerchiefs; cliff – cliffs; cuff – cuffs; muff – muffs.
The following nouns have double forms: hoof – hoofs, hooves; scarf – scarfs, scarves.
b) Some nouns ending in – th [θ], change the θinto [3]: mouth [mauθ] – mouths [mauθz]; path [pa:θ] – paths [pa:θz]; bath [ba:θ] – baths [ba:3z].
c) The noun house [haus] – houses ['hauziz].
Peculiarities of Spelling. Notice the following:
a) When a noun ends in – y preceded by a consonantis replaced by – i and the ending – es [iz] is added: city – cities; country – countries; penny – pennies (when a sum of money and not separate coins is meant the plural form pence is used: It costs five pence.But: Five pennieswere lying on the table).
b)When a noun ends in – o with a preceding consonant, – es [z] is usually added: hero – heroes; Negro–Negroes; potato – potatoes; tomato – tomatoes. But: piano – pianos; photo – photos; zero – zeros.
c) The plural of proper names and other parts of speech, figures, letters, etc. when substantivized, are sometimes written in the ordinary way, sometimes with an 's added:
The two Mary's or the two Marys(y remains unchanged). Mind your P's and Q's. Cross your t's and dot your i's. Don't use so many buts.
Oh, no, no, a thousand no's.[17]»… Mr. Copperfield objected to my threesand fivesbeing too much alike each other, or to my putting curly tails to my sevens and nines,» resumed my mother. [10]
3. Some nouns are survivals of Old English plural forms; they form the plural:
a) By changing the root-vowel (vowel interchange): man – men, woman – women, foot – feet, tooth – teeth, goose – geese, mouse – mice;
b) By changing the root-vowel (vowel interchange) and adding the inflexion [en], in spelling – en: child – children; brother – brethren.1
4. Plural of Compound Nouns.
a)In compound nouns usually the head-noun takes the plural form: fellow-worker – fellow-workers; school-mate – school-mates; air-raid – air-raids; editor-in-chief – editors-in-chief; brother-in-law – brothers-in-law.
b)Compounds ending in – man change – man into – men in spelling, but in pronunciation there is no difference between the singular and the plural: postman ['poustman] – postmen ['poustman].
Such nouns as German, Roman, and Norman are not compounds. They form their plural in the usual way: Germans, Romans, Normans.
c)When the compound does not contain any noun, the plural is formed by adding – s to the last word: forget-me-not – forget-me-nots; merry-go-round (карусель) – merry-go-rounds; hold-all (портплед) – hold-alls; overall – overalls.
d)Compounds in – fut add – s to the end: handful – handfuls; spoonful – spoonfuls; but also: columns-full (in newspapers).
e)If a proper noun is preceded by a title, the sign of the plural is added either to the title or to the proper noun itself; in colloquial speech it is usual to add the – s to the proper noun; in official speech the title is pluralized.
Colloquial: The two doctor Thompsons.The Miss SmithsOfficial: Messrs Jones. The MissesSmith.
The Miss Crumptons or to quote the authorities of the inscription on the garden-gate: The Misses Crumpton. [10]
f) An adjectivized noun in attributive function is, as a rule, used in the singular even if the meaning is plural: a four-storey house, a five-act play, the printed-book section of a museum.
Itwas a three-milewalk along a dry white road, made whiter to-night by the light of the moon. [9]
There is, however, a growing tendency in recent times to use the plural form, especially in long official terms: a two-thirdsmajority; the food products department; the sportsgrounds; the United NationsOrganization; parcelspost.
Two powerful engines were pulling a goodstrain up the sharp incline… [4]
Streams of people were pouring out from the SportsGround… [4]
In many instances where the form in – s is used it may be understood either as the plural form of the common case or as the plural possessive. Accordingly, the use of the apostrophe wavers:
a) No apostrophe:
I enjoyed several hourssleep. There is twenty years difference in their age. I had only two shillingspocket money. A bridge of only two planks breadth.
b) An apostrophe:
A five years' child. The Seven Years’War. Atwo months' baby.
…it was a two-and-a half hours' drive. [21]
5. Plural Identical in Form With the Singular. – Some nouns have one form for both singular and plural (either always or in certain combinations).
Those nouns are partly survivals of the Old English and Latin uninflected plurals, partly forms which came to be used by the analogy of the old unchanged plurals.
The following nouns have one form for both singular and plural:
a) Names of some animals: sheep, deer, swine:
… The sheep on the Downs lay quiet as stones. [21] 'Oh, Elizabeth, look, look! The deer!''…Oh yes! How funny the little ones are! But how graceful!' [20]
b) The noun fish and nouns denoting some sorts of fish, such as trout,cod, pike, salmon:
One day he caught a beautiful big fish…[11] In the water tiny fish swam between the olive growths of seaweed… [8] I know where trout are rising and where the salmonleap. [24]
To denote kinds of fish the form fishes is used:
There were many fishesin the net. She has bought a large book on our freshwater fishes. These pools swarm with a great variety of fishes.
c) Names indicating number such as dozen, pair, couple, and score (двадцать), when they are preceded by a numeral: two pairof gloves; five scoreof eggs; three dozen of shirts.
But the plural is also used:
Hehad… two pairs of stockings in his bundle. [10]
Note.– After many and few both formsare found: so many pairof wings, a great many pairsof gloves; a few score(s)of heads.
d) We have survivals of the old uninflected plural in kind, sort, and manner. The usual construction is now to keep kind, sort, and manner unchanged, but to use the plural these (those) if the word following of is plural (these kindof tools). But this construction is by many considered grammatically incorrect and therefore in careful literary speech books of that kindare preferred to the colloquial those kindof books:
These kindsof pens. Such kind of duties. Those sort of speeches.
e) The noun foot (measure of length) is feetin the plural. The plural foot is used when followed by a number indicating inches:
…I'm five footeleven in my socks. [2] And was she tall enough? Only five foot five. [21]
f) The noun pound (indicating money) has usually the s-plural except when followed by a numeral indicating shillings: two pounds, but: two poundten.
g) The nouns species and series borrowed from the Latin have also one form for both singular and plural:
A seriesof very, interesting experiments has been made in our laboratory. Two admirable seriesof the masters of Russian literature have been published recently. What a pretty species of roses! Many beautiful speciesof roses are cultivated in our garden.
6. Foreign Plurals. – Some nouns keep the plural form of the language (Latin, French or Greek) from which they have been borrowed:
Memorandum [am] – memoranda [э]; datum [am] – data [3]; phenomenon [an] – phenomena [aj; crisis [iz] – crises [i:zj; nucleus [ias] – nuclei [iai]; terminus [as] – termini [ai]; stimulus [as] – stimuli [at]; formula [a] – formulae [i:J; index – indices [i:z].