This night class, one of the grammar's group in my class had to present about noun & article. They teach us and give some explanation about it.
It's not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are "things" (and verbs are "actions"). Like food. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb). Or happiness. Happiness (noun) is something you want (verb). Or human being. A human being (noun) is something you are (verb).
Noun can be divided into common nouns, abstract nouns, proper noun, collective noun and possessive nouns.
- Common noun is noun of all things with the same kind or class.
- Proper noun is name of one particular person or things.
- Abstract nouns is things we can only think of and feel. It can be formed from adjectives or from common nouns or from verbs.
- Possessive noun is adding 's or ' to show possession.
An article is a word that combine with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by noun.
We often use a or an :
- In descriptions
Eg : She is an interesting person.
He got a loud voice.
- When we say what something is, or what somebody’s job is
Eg : This is a return ticket.
I am an engineer.
- We use a before a consonant sound ( b, c, d, g, j, m)
Eg : A book
A coat
- We use an before a vowel sound ( a, e, i, o, u)
Eg : An addres
An egg
- We choose a or an because of pronounciation, not spelling
Eg : an hour ( h is silent, so hour is like our )
a university ( pronounced ‘ you-niversity’ )
a one-pound stamp ( pronounced ‘ wun……’)
a European ( pronounced ‘ you-ropean’)
