Grammatical Categories of the Noun

Grammatical categories of Noun:

1) Gender

2) Number

3) Case

THE GENDER

The Genders. – A noun that denotes a male is of the Masculine gender; one that denotes a female is of the Feminine gender; one that denotes either sex is of the Common gender; one that denotes neither sex, that is, something without life, is of the Neater gender. So the genders of Nouns are four in number:

1. Masculine – males. 3. Common – either sex.

2. Feminine – females. 4. Neuter – neither sex.

The Category of Gender is a grammatical form denoting sex.

Note. – In Old English the gender of a noun was indicated by its form. In Modem English it has become entirely a matter of sex or the absence of sex. This is not gender in the grammatical sense of the term.

The existence of this category is disputable. Some grammarians accept it, others reject it because there are very few grammatical forms to express it: only two suffixes -ine and -ess: hero-heroine; steward-stewardess. It expressed grammatically

(-ess, -ine) and lexically.

Gender is disputable: there are very few grammatical forms to express the idea of sex, there are only two suffixes “ess” (acter – actress) and “ine” (he-ro – heroine), but there are a number of ways to express it lexically.

Masculine and Feminine. – These are distinguished in three different ways:

By a Change of Word

Masc. Fem. Masc. Fem.

Bachelor spinster, maid Gander (гусак) goose

Boar (хряк) sow (свинья) Gentleman lady

Boy girl Hartroe, hind

Brother sister (самец оленя) (самка оленя)

Buck doe Horse mare

(самец(оленя,зайца)) (кобыла)

Bull cow Husband wife

Bullock,Steer heifer (телка) King queen

(вол)(бычок) Lord lady