Easy Learning Grammar | Wörterbuch | Thesaurus | Übersetzer | Scrabble | Blog
  • Deutsch
  • Diese Seite in
    English
    American
    Italiano
    Español
    Português
    हिंदी
    简体中文
| Anmelden | Einloggen
 
Easy Learning
Menü
Wörterbuch Thesaurus Übersetzer Grammatik Scrabble Blog
  • Deutsch
  • Diese Seite in
    English
    American
    Italiano
    Español
    Português
    हिंदी
    简体中文
Anmelden Einloggen

Gender of nouns - Easy Learning Grammar

In some languages, nouns have gender. This means that a noun causes other words such as adjectives to change their spelling according to certain rules. Grammatical gender has little to do with biological gender. English does not have grammatical gender for nouns.On the other hand, the biological gender of the thing or person referred to does affect a few areas of English grammar.
a cow… she or ita bull… he or it
a girl… shea boy… he
Gender distinctions are relevant where personal pronouns (Personal pronouns) and possessive determiners (Determiners) have to be decided on. These distinctions are only noticeable in singular nouns.
  • He found his book.
  • He had been looking for it.
  • She found her book.
  • She had been looking for it.
There are also special cases, such as the association of neuter gender with babies and small animals, or feminine gender with a vehicle.
  • I just saw a mouse. It was running across the room.
  • The spider was spinning its web.
  • The beetle crawled into its hole.
  • The baby threw down its rattle.
  • I’ve got a new boat; she’s a real beauty.
Nouns denoting male persons and animals are masculine in that they are used with the pronouns and possessive determiners he, him, his.Nouns denoting female persons and animals are feminine in that they are used with the pronouns and possessive determiners she, her, hers.
  • Barry saw Linda. He called out to her that he had found her book.
  • Marcia saw Paul. She called out to him that she had found his book.
  • Madeleine saw Kim. She said ‘Hello’ to her.
The pronouns and possessive determiners used to refer to common or neuter nouns are: it, its.
  • The truth will emerge. It always does.
Nouns denoting inanimate objects and abstract notions are also neuter.
  • Some nouns denoting people have the same form for masculine and feminine. Nouns used for a group, e.g. government or team, have common or neuter gender, even when we know that the group is made up exclusively of male or female members.
  • The government has changed its policy.
  • The team has won its first medal at a major championship.
With some nouns of common gender it might be possible to specify the gender if we had sufficient information. But if we do not have this knowledge, the choice of pronoun or possessive determiner becomes a problem.
  • a driver…he/she
  • the cook…he/she
  • doctor…he/she
As a way around this problem, in informal and spoken English, their is often used after a singular noun or an indefinite pronoun. See Pronouns. Some people consider this grammatically unacceptable, but it is widely used to avoid repetitions of his or her or him or her.
  • Each student must apply to his or her tutor for an extension.
  • Everyone must apply to their tutor for an extension.
  • Someone has left their coat in my room.
The specialized terms used to name male, female and neutered animals show a number of gender differences.
horse     mare     stallion     gelding     
–cowbullsteer
sheepeweram–
Gender differences are also shown in the nouns that indicate relationships.
parent     mother     father     
childdaughterson
  • Many nouns denoting an occupation have no explicit gender.
engineer     doctor     programmer     
mechaniclawyerdriver
Some occupations and professions have a special feminine form for the noun.
  • Call your bank manager today.
  • Sue is manageress of a hairdressing salon.
  • Actors from all over the UK attended the ceremony.
  • Here in the studio to talk about her new book is actress Mary Farrell.
Many people prefer to avoid these forms, regarding the distinction as unnecessary.
  • J.K. Rowling is a highly successful author.
  • Judi Dench is one of our finest actors.
  • Michelle Stewart has been promoted to Branch Manager.
The forms authoress and poetess are now considered patronising and are rarely used.Some speakers prefer to use a different form of the word or an entirely different word in order to avoid a gender-marked noun.
the chairman     the chairperson     the chair
If necessary, the gender of a common noun can be made clear by adding a descriptive term such as woman or male/female.
  • Would you prefer to see a woman doctor?
  • Male staff should use locker room B.
If we are discussing a country from an emotional, economic, or political viewpoint we sometimes use feminine gender.
  • Poland has made steady progress restructuring her economy.
PreviousNext
Inhaltsverzeichnis
  • Parts of speech
  • Parts of the sentence
  • Direct and indirect objects
  • Verbs
  • Tense
  • The verb phrase
    • Types of main verb
    • The forms of main verbs
    • Irregular verbs
    • Auxiliary verbs
    • Be
    • Have
    • Do
    • Modal verbs
    • Can and could
    • May and might
    • Must
    • Shall and will
    • Should
    • Would
    • Ought to
    • Dare and need
    • Used to
    • Phrasal verbs
    • Tense
    • Aspect
    • Compound tenses
    • The present simple tense
    • The past simple tense
    • The present continuous tense
    • The past continuous tense
    • The present perfect tense
    • The past perfect tense
    • The present perfect continuous tense
    • The past perfect continuous tense
    • Future reference
    • Active and passive
    • Finite and non-finite verbs
    • The non-finite parts of the verb
    • The to infinitive
    • The to infinitive and the -ing form
  • The noun phrase
    • The noun phrase
    • Types of noun
    • Gender of nouns
    • Showing possession through nouns
    • Compound nouns
    • Number in nouns
    • Verbal nouns
  • Determiners and adjectives
    • Determiners
    • The indefinite article
    • The definite article
    • Nouns used without a determiner
    • Demonstratives
    • Possessives
    • Quantifiers
    • Numbers
    • Distributives
    • Exclamatives
    • Noun phrases with several determiners
    • Adjectives
    • Comparison
  • Adverbials
    • Adverbs and adverbials
    • Form of adverbs
  • Pronouns
    • Pronouns
    • Personal pronouns
    • Reflexive pronouns
    • Possessive pronouns
    • The demonstrative pronouns
    • Relative pronouns
    • Interrogative pronouns
    • Indefinite pronouns
  • Prepositions
  • Word order; declarative, interrogative and imperative statements
    • Word order in sentences
    • Declarative, interrogative, and imperative statements
    • The declarative
    • Complements
    • Word order in negative statements
    • The interrogative
    • WH- words
    • Sentence tags
    • The imperative
    • The vocative
    • The subjunctive
    • Exclamations
    • Responses
  • Clauses
    • Sentences and clauses
    • Joining clauses
    • Subordination
    • Adverbial clauses
    • Relative clauses
    • Conditional clauses
    • Reporting speech
    • Reported speech
  • Punctuation
    • The apostrophe ( ’ )
    • The comma ( , )
    • Quotation marks (‘ ’) or (“ ”)
    • Capital letters
    • The full stop ( . )
    • The question mark ( ? )
    • The exclamation mark ( ! )
    • The colon ( : )
    • The semicolon ( ; )
    • Brackets ( )
    • Square brackets [ ]
    • The hyphen ( - )
    • The dash ( – )
    • The slash ( / )
    • Punctuation in numbers
Die letzten Wortvorschläge
courioglot 25 Apr 2018
breakout [sense] 25 Apr 2018
upscale [sense] 25 Apr 2018
Roblox 23 Apr 2018
kill em with kind... 23 Apr 2018
Einreichen Mehr sehen
Im Easy Learning Grammar blättern
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • M
  • N
  • O
  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • S
  • T
  • U
  • V
  • W
Alle Wörterbücher anzeigen
  • Mehr
  • API
  • B2B-Partnerschaften
  • Werbung
  • Wörterbanken
  • Collins COBUILD
  • Collins ELT
  • Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen
  • Kontaktieren Sie uns
  • Sprachen
  • Englisch
  • Thesaurus
  • Grammatik
  • Französisch
  • Deutsch
  • Spanisch
  • Italienisch
  • Chinesisch
  • Portugiesisch
  • Hindi
  • Wortlisten
  • WotY
  • Scrabble
  • Promotion
© Collins 2018