Gender of nouns

A. Masculine: men, boys, male animals (pronouns he/they)

Feminine: women, girls, female animals (pronouns she/they)

Neuter: inanimate things, animals whose sex we don’t know

and babies if we don’t know their sex (pronouns it/they).

As you see there are no problems of grammatical gender in English but one or two points can cause difficulty.

1. Pet animals are called he or she by their owners.

Tim, find the cat and put her out.

2. Some people use she for cars, motorbikes and other kinds of vehicles; sailors use she for ships.

Getting out of the car at the petrol station he said, ‘Fill her up, please’.

She is the ship on which any young man would be proud to sail.

3. Countries are often referred to as if they were female.

France has decided to increase her wine export.

B. Masculine/feminine nouns denoting people

1. Different forms:

a) boy, girl gentleman, lady son, daughter

bachelor, spinster husband, wife uncle, aunt

bridegroom, bride man, woman widower, widow

father, mother nephew, niece

Main exceptions:

baby, child, cousin, infant, parent, relative, spouse, teenager

b) duke, duchess lord, lady

earl, countess prince, princess

king, queen

2. The majority of nouns indicating occupation have the same form:

artist, assistant, cook, dancer, driver, doctor, guide etc.

Main exceptions:

actor, actress host, hostess

conductor, conductress manager, manageress

heir, heiress steward, stewardess

hero, heroine waiter, waitress

also salesman, saleswoman, postman, postwoman, etc., but sometimes
person is used instead of -man, -woman: salesperson.

C. Domestic animals and many of the larger wild animals have different forms:

bull, cow lion, lioness

cock, hen stallion, mare

dog, bitch tiger, tigress

Exercise 11. Read and translate the sentences. Explain how the gender of nouns is expressed in the following sentences.

A. 1. What a fine yacht! See how sweetly she moves through the water! 2. I patted the dog and she wagged her tail. 3. Britain has lost much of the former political power, so she is a poor nation now. 4. Alexander bought a new car. She's great. 5. This film is about the Empress of Russia – Catherine the Great. 6. My neighbour is always telling me about her problems. 7. The Mayor studied her programme for the day. 8. Britain! She is our Motherland! 9. France is proud of her history. 10. A man has his duties, a woman has hers and the child has its own.

B. 1. My cat Trixie was such a funny little animal; she always brought a smile to my face and made me laugh. 2. The New Year brought more disastrous news for Britain and her allies. 3. Mine is a fine car. She has never let me down. 4. You can take a horse to the water but you can't make him drink. 5. – What a fine yacht! – Yes, and she cost me a fortune. 6. I can't guarantee at all that this plane will get down on the field. She's just as likely to pan down or overshoot. We'll probably try to bring her in from the east. I want you to unlock the autopilot, it will hold her straight and level. 7. I reached for my little dog and picked her up. 8. The novel is about Japan's major problems, the adoption of Western style and the preservation of her own. 9. He called her "Beautiful Dreamer". She was one of the most magnificent oceangoing yachts ever designed by the best naval architects.

Exercise 12. Give the nouns of the opposite gender.

A. a boy, a husband, a brother, a father, a nephew, an uncle, a son, a king, a gentleman, a lad, a bridegroom, a monk, a headmaster, a bachelor, Mr., a cock, a bull, a man;

B. an actor, a count, a duke, an emperor, a mayor, a god, a host, a heir, a manager, a millionaire, a prince, a poet, a waiter, a widow, a lion, a tiger, a hero, a czar, a giant, a businessman.

Exercise 13. Explain whether the nouns below denote male or female people; translate them into Russian / Ukrainian.

An agent, a client, a cousin, a doctor, a mermaid, a friend, a foreigner, a guest, a client, a lawyer, a neighbour, a parent, a journalist, a person, a scientist, a stranger, a student, a visitor, a teacher, a witch, a magician, a clown, a fairy, an amazon, a brunette, a sailor, a spy, a ballet dancer, a ballerina, an angel, a wizard.

Exercise 14. Complete the table, using the appropriate male / female nouns.

brother ________ duke ________

________ mother emperor ________

________ wife ________ countess (2 possibilities)

uncle ________ ________ niece

son ________ hero ________

________ spinster waiter ________

________ queen lord ________

usher ________ manager ________

________ lass Dear Sir, ________

________ widow baron ________

________ conductress bridegroom ________

boy scout ________ ________ barmaid

________ policewoman air steward ________

________ headmistress actor ________

________ nun ________ princess

host ________ landlord ________

heir ________ lion ________

Exercise 15. Translate the following male nouns into Russian / Ukrainian and give the corresponding female ones.

1. гусь; 2. тигр; 3. лорд; 4. барон; 5. племянник; 6. бог; 7. кабан; 8. император; 9. официант; 10. управляющий; 11. жених; 12. поэт; 13. герцог; 14. полицейский; 15. жеребец; 16. мистер Смит; 17. холостяк; 18. хозяин дома; 19. дядя; 20. петух; 21. муж; 22. актер; 23. монах; 24. селезень; 25. билетер; 26. граф; 27. принц; 28. олень; 29. наследник; 30. вдовец; 31. герой; 32. помещик, землевладелец; 33. лис; 34. король; 35. директор школы; 36. бык; 37. парень; 38. лев; 39. кот; 40. баран.

Exercise 16. Match the pairs (male and female) of these ten kinds of animal:

Male: bull, boar, buck, stag, fox, dog, gander, drake, stallion, cock

Female: hind, goose, cow, mare, hen, vixen, sow, bitch, duck, doe

Exercise 17. For each animal from the previous exercise give the name of its young from the following list:

fawn, piglet, cub, chick, calf, foal, duckling, puppy, fawn, gosling.

Exercise 18. Use the corresponding female / male noun in each sentence.

1. The coсk crows at dawn and wakes up all the ______. 2. The stallion is in a separate stable from the ______. 3. We call the boar Henry and we call the______ Jemima. 4. The ewes look quiet enough, but I don't like the look of that ______. 5. Tony is an actor and his wife is an ______. 6. John and Jane work in a restaurant – he is a waiter and she is a ______. 7. In fairy tales the handsome ______ usually marries the beauliful princess. 8. We went to a wildlife park and saw a lot of lions and ______. 9. In mythology, Mars is the god of war; Diana is the ______of hunting. 10. Katerina is the ______ to her father's fortune. 11. Why does everyone expect the hero of the story to marry the ______? 12. A widow can often manage much better on her own than a ______. 13. A______won the award for most sales this month; a salesman came second. 14. When you look at fish, it's often difficult to distinguish between male and ______. 15. Very few people know the names of the kings and ______ of England. 16. I took a photo of the bride and ______ at the wedding. 17. The Smiths have a son called Robert and a ______ called Jill.

Exercise 19. Translate into English.

1. На приеме в посольстве присутствовало несколько лордов, герцог и две графини. 2. Я до смерти боюсь нашего управляющего. Это ужасная женщина. 3. Джейн очень повезло: она стала наследницей огромного состояния. 4. – Чем заканчивается твоя сказка? – Против ожиданий, герой не женится на героине. Они остаются добрыми друзьями. 5. – Ты не помнишь, кто был богом войны в греческой мифологии: Марс или Арес? – Мое знание мифологии оставляет желать лучшего (leaves much to be desired). В отличие от тебя, я не знаю имен ни греческих богов, ни богинь, не говоря уже о римских. 6. Эта фотография жениха и невесты особенно красива. 7. Мой босс сейчас в отпуске, и мне приходится беседовать со всеми начинающими актерами и актрисами вместо него. Какое утомительное занятие! 8. Я хорошо помню свое первое посещение зоопарка. Мне было 6 лет. Я выросла на ферме, и конечно видела многих животных и птиц на ферме, но это были домашние животные и птицы: петухи, куры, утки и селезни, быки и коровы, кони, овцы, козы и ослик. У меня даже была ручная гусыня. А в маленьком пруду за домом водились карпы и щука. А однажды я видела живую лисицу и олениху с олененком. В зоопарке были настоящие дикие животные: слоны, львы и львицы, медведи, волки. Но больше всего мне запомнились черепахи. Помню, что был очень удивлена, когда узнала, что эти животные живут по 300 лет. Я даже сначала не поверила в это!

Exercise 20. Read the text and translate it into Russian / Ukrainian.