NOUNS

Nouns answer the questions “What is it?” and “Who is it?”
They give names to things, people and qualities.

Examples

dog
bicycle

man

girl

beauty

truth

world
Peter
Mohamed
Andrea
doctor
book
tree

What are nouns? 1

NOUN GENDER

In general there is no distinction between masculine, feminine and neuter in English nouns. However, gender is sometimes shown by different forms or different words.

Examples

Different words:

MasculineFeminine
man
father
uncle
boy
husband
woman
mother
aunt
girl
wife

Different forms:

MasculineFeminine
actor
prince
hero
waiter
widower
actress
princess
heroine
waitress
widow

Some nouns can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject:

Examples

cousinteenagerteacherdoctor
cookstudentparentfriend
relationcolleaguepartnerleader
    • Mary is a doctor. She is a doctor
    • Peter is a doctor. He is a doctor.
    • Arthur is my cousin. He is my cousin.
    • Jane is my cousin. She is my cousin.

It is possible to make the distinction by adding the words ‘male’ or ‘female’.

  • a female student; a male cousin

For professions, we can add the word ‘woman’

  • a woman
    doctor; a woman journalist.

In some cases nouns describing things are given gender.

  • I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion.
  • France is popular with her (France’s) neighbours at the moment.
  • I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth, she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship.