nouns in englishenglish grammar

The four properties of nouns
The four formal properties of nouns
are case, gender, number, and person. Thus, how each noun will
function depends on which property the noun is exhibiting. Consider
the following examples for each of the four properties:
Case
Case defines the role of the noun in the sentence—as the subject or
object or to show possession. Nouns in the subject and object role
appear identical in form; nouns that show possession, however, are
slightly different as they usually require an apostrophe.
The French player (subject) is especially tall.
The manager chose the French player (object).
The French player's (possessive) skill is famous.
Gender
Gender classifies nouns into masculine and feminine, for example,
king, queen, boyfriend, and girlfriend. In the past, many nouns
changed their form according to their gender, for example, author and
authoress. However, these days, the use of gender-specific nouns is
rare. Many common nouns, such as engineer or teacher, can refer to
men or women.
Number
Number shows whether one or more objects are being referred to.
Most nouns change their form when they become plural, by adding –s
or –es, for example, cloud/clouds or church/churches. A noun ending
in –y, preceded by a consonant, becomes plural with –ies, as in
fly/flies, cry/cries, or city/cities. But forming plurals is not always
straightforward. There are many irregular forms of noun plurals, such
as woman/women or crisis/crises. When in doubt, consult your
dictionary, or submit your paper to one of Scribendi.com's English
editing services.
Person

Person shows whether someone is speaking (first person, I and we), is
being spoken to (second person or addressee, you), or is being spoken
about (third person, he, she, it, and they).
We, the leaders, will decide. The noun "leaders" is in the first person.
Class, pay attention! The noun "class" is in the second person.
A launch carried all the passengers. The nouns "launch" and
"passengers" are in the third person.
Number, Gender, and Case
When we use a noun, we have to take into consideration three things:
• Its number–singular or plural
• Its gender–masculine, feminine or neuter
• Its case–how it’s used in the sentence
Here’s the definite article “the” in all its numbers, cases, and genders.
the
Singular Plural
Masc. Fem. Neuter Masc. Fem. Neuter
Nominative
Case
Genitive
Case
Accusative
Case
But wait–there’s more! Not only does the article change with case, so
does the noun that goes with it. Here’s an example on the next page: