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.
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:
| Masculine |
Feminine |
|
man
father
uncle
boy
husband
|
woman
mother
aunt
girl
wife
|
Different forms:
| Masculine |
Feminine |
|
actor
prince
hero
waiter
widower
|
actress
princess
heroine
waitress
widow
|
Some nouns can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject:
Examples
|
cousin
|
teenager
|
teacher
|
doctor
|
|
cook
|
student
|
parent
|
friend
|
|
relation
|
colleague
|
partner
|
leader
|
- 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.
Neuter Gender
A noun in English is neuter by default. Here are two noteworthy points related to gender:
- Large machines. Large machines such as ships and trains, which - by default - are neuter, are sometimes affectionately given a female gender (i.e., referred to as "she" or "her").
- Animals. An animal is referred to as "it." It is only referred to as "he" or "she" when the sex is known.
There's no apostrophe in the neuter possessive determiner "its." (its, not it's)
- A shark and its prey ("Its" is the possessive determiner for something of neuter gender.)
Finding an alternative to "his/her."
In English, there is no singular, neuter possessive determiner for people. In other words, the singular possessive determiner "its" cannot be used for a person whose gender is unknown.
When we are not sure about the gender, we use they/them:
Each student must ensure its guest signs the registry. ("Its" cannot be used for people.)- Each student must ensure their guest signs the registry.