English Noun Inflections

English noun inflections alter the noun to convey a more specific meaning and give more information about that noun. Noun inflections include additional or altered letters to convey a plural, and adding apostrophes to indicate possession.

Read on to find out more about English noun inflections and improve your use and understanding of nouns in the English language.

 

Noun Paradigms

Noun paradigms are essential structures within linguistics that illustrate the various forms a noun can take based on grammatical factors, such as number, case and gender.

These noun paradigms can help us understand the inflectional patterns that nouns follow. They typically encompass singular and plural forms, as well as different cases such as nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and vocative.

In languages with a grammatical gender, noun paradigms also account for variations in form based on gender categories.

Studying noun paradigms helps us to understand how nouns function within sentences. Where the verb stem may stand alone as an infinitive (e.g. ‘to pull’) imperative (e.g. ‘pull!’), or general present form (e.g. ‘I/you pull’), the noun stem may only stand alone as a singular noun.

Noun paradigms have two forms: a stem form, which is normally the singular, and a plural form, which normally adds an ‘s’.

 

Declension

Inflection of nouns in English is called declension. Noun paradigms in the English language inflect for number, but not for gender or case. For example, the singular ‘chair’ takes the suffix ‘s’ to become ‘chairs’: the number of chairs has clearly increased.

If the speaker wants to talk about the leg of the chair, the word ‘of’ should be used to avoid adding an apostrophe ‘s’ (the possessive suffix) i.e. ‘the ‘chair’s leg’. This is because possessives should preferably not be used for inanimate objects.

Declension is a fundamental concept in linguistics, particularly in languages with rich inflectional systems like Latin, Russian and German. Through declension, words undergo changes in form to reflect their role within a sentence, such as whether they are the subject, object, possessive or part of a prepositional phrase.

Typically, declension involves organising words into different paradigms or groups, based on their endings and inflectional patterns.

 

Possession and the Genitive Case

Possession in English is often indicated through the use of the genitive case, which adds an apostrophe followed by an “s” (‘s) to the noun.

This construction shows that something belongs to or is associated with the noun. For example, “the woman’s coat” indicates that the coat belongs to the woman.

However, the genitive case isn’t limited to nouns; it can also apply to pronouns, such as “its” or “hers.” Additionally, when the noun is plural and ends in “s,” only an apostrophe is added after the “s” to indicate possession, as in “the teachers’ lounge,” showing that the lounge belongs to multiple teachers.

The possession can also be indicated by the ‘‘s’ being attached to another word but still in relation grammatically to the subject. For example, ‘the woman over there’s coat’. The coat belongs to the woman, yet the word ‘there’ in this instance takes the suffix. However, this is very informal usage and should be avoided in formal contexts.

Be aware that when we use possessive pronouns that take an ‘s’, we do not use an apostrophe. For example, yours, theirs, ours and hers:  ‘The decision is ours’, ‘The coat is hers’ and ‘The house is theirs’.

The genitive case is essential for expressing possession in English, providing clarity and precision in communication.

Apostrophes

Apostrophes play a crucial role in indicating ownership or association and in forming contractions (i.e. shortenings) – they are used to indicate the omitted letters in a shortened word. For example, the words “can’t” (can not), “don’t” (do not), “isn’t” (is not) and won’t (will not – note this is irregular).

Apostrophes are essential for clarity in written communication, helping to distinguish between possessive forms and plurals and helping us form concise and natural-sounding contractions. Note that contractions are informal and should not be used in highly formal writing.

Its and It’s – possessive and contraction

It’s important to remember if a possessive is used with the word ‘it’, then there is no apostrophe. For example, ‘The dog knew its own name’, ‘Justice is its own reward’, ‘The door came off its hinges’.

If an apostrophe is used with ‘it’, this becomes a contraction of ‘it is’. For example, ‘It’s time to go out’, ‘The computer won’t start because it’s broken’.

Irregular Inflections

Some noun stems take different inflectional affixes or none at all. For example:

• The word ‘mouse’ becomes ‘mice’ in the plural and does not take the suffix ‘s’
• The word ‘sheep’ stays the same in the plural without taking any affix
• The word ‘medium’ becomes ‘media’ in the plural, here losing the ‘um’ ending and replacing it with ‘a’ (because this word is derived from Latin)
• The word ‘fungus’ becomes ‘fungi’ and the word ‘cactus’ becomes ‘cacti’ in the plural (but strangely, ‘octopus’ changes to the regular ‘octopuses’)

Nouns ending with ‘y’ often lose the ‘y’ and take ‘ies’ to make a plural. For example, ‘charity’ becomes ‘charities’. (Be careful not to confuse this with the possessive ‘charity’s’).

So, the English noun has only two inflected forms: inflection due to number (plural) and inflection due to possession (the genitive case). Noun inflections do not occur in any other instances.

Gender in English Nouns

Gender in English nouns differs from languages with grammatical gender, such as Spanish or French, where nouns are always masculine or feminine, or sometimes neuter, such as in German.

In English, gender is largely absent in noun morphology. There a few exceptions, such as the words “waiter” and “waitress”, where gender is specified to denote a man or a woman, although these words can sometimes be seen as old fashioned and people often prefer “server” instead, as a gender-neural term.

Similarly, the word “actor” is often used for both male and female individuals in modern usage, instead of “actor” and “actress”.

Despite nouns being generally non-gendered in English grammar, the third person singular pronouns can indicate gender. So, the words ‘he’ and ‘she’ are gendered, although ‘it’ is not. Because of this, the gender of a person is nearly always communicated when using a pronoun.

For example, the sentence, ‘the chef cooked the meal; she did a good job’, tells us that the gender of the chef is female, by the use of the word ‘she’.

However, the plural pronouns, such as ‘everybody’, ‘somebody’, ‘the public’, ‘the children’ are not gendered.

 

His, Her or Their? Debating gender neutral pronouns

In modern usage, some people like to use “they” as a gender-neutral pronoun instead of “he” or “she”. Some linguists say this is incorrect usage, as the word “they” should only be used for plurals. This is an area of discussion today, as people debate gender-neutral language.

There is some controversy over which word to use for the pronoun’s antecedent in sentence where the third person singular is needed but is of indeterminate gender.

For example, ‘Did everybody set … alarm today?’ where the dots indicate a missing word.

In traditional formal usage, the pronoun chosen is usually ‘his’ when gender is irrelevant or unknown. However, the receiver could be female in 50% of cases, so this feels wrong to modern ears.

The use of ‘his’ in the place of a non-gendered pronoun is simply a result of patriarchal influence on language, which has created a preference for the masculine pronoun.

Indeed, assuming the social gender or biological sex of a person or group of people today may be seen as offensive.

In order to imply gender neutrality in pronoun usage, many people use the word ‘their’ or sometimes ‘his / her’ in writing. In speech, using ‘their’ is most common, while you can also say ‘his or her’.

In recent year, there have been some interesting alternatives suggested for non-gendered pronouns, with ‘xe’ and ‘ze’ popular choices. Although embraced by many young people, these new pronouns have yet to enter mainstream usage.

 

Gendered Nouns

Nouns can be gendered, but not by use of noun inflections. Different words are used instead. For example: mother, father, uncle, niece, actress, heroine, Lord, Dame, doe, bull, witch.

We know the gender of the people and animals here by the words themselves and not by the use of any inflectional affixes.

Gender-neutral nouns

Gender-neutral nouns play a significant role in promoting inclusivity and equality in language. They also allow the communication to focus on the activity, professional or relationship, without any focus on gender.

Some examples of gender-neutral nouns include: child, parent, friend, partner, sibling, teacher, chef, driver, politician, runner, climber, doctor, pianist, assistant, student, writer, basketball player, mouse, friend.

Possession and the Genitive Case

Possession in English is often indicated through the use of the genitive case, which adds an apostrophe followed by an “s” (‘s) to the noun.

This construction shows that something belongs to or is associated with the noun. For example, “the woman’s coat” indicates that the coat belongs to the woman.

However, the genitive case isn’t limited to nouns; it can also apply to pronouns, such as “its” or “hers.” Additionally, when the noun is plural and ends in “s,” only an apostrophe is added after the “s” to indicate possession, as in “the teachers’ lounge,” showing that the lounge belongs to multiple teachers.

The possession can also be indicated by the ‘‘s’ being attached to another word but still in relation grammatically to the subject. For example, ‘the woman over there’s coat’. The coat belongs to the woman, yet the word ‘there’ in this instance takes the suffix. However, this is very informal usage and should be avoided in formal contexts.

Be aware that when we use possessive pronouns that take an ‘s’, we do not use an apostrophe. For example, yours, theirs, ours and hers:  ‘The decision is ours’, ‘The coat is hers’ and ‘The house is theirs’.

The genitive case is essential for expressing possession in English, providing clarity and precision in communication.

Share your thoughts about noun inflections

Are there any particular noun inflections you find difficult to understand or have trouble remembering? Let us know your experiences by leaving a reply in the comments box.