IX BEOGRADSKA GIMNAZIJA Mihailo Petrovi - Alas

MATURSKI

IZ ENGLESKOG JEZIKA

RAD

Tema/Topic:

IMENICE/NOUNS

Mentor: Slobodan Jovanovi Uenik/Student: Jelena Radivojevi, IV

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Beograd, jun 2005.

Maturski rad: Nouns

CONTENTS

Introduction.........................................................................................................................3 Origin of Nouns in English Language................................................................................4 Forming of Nouns (suffixes and prefixes) .........................................................................6 The Kinds of Nouns............................................................................................................9 The Use of Capital Letters................................................................................................10 Gender of Nouns...............................................................................................................11 Number of Nouns ............................................................................................................14 Count and Non-count Nouns ...........................................................................................19 Cases of Nouns Genitive ..............................................................................................23 Compound Nouns ............................................................................................................27 The use of nouns...............................................................................................................30 Bibliography.....................................................................................................................32

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Introduction
English is widespread and it is most likely that it is going to be considered a world language in the sense of being universal. It is estimated that there are 300 million native speakers and 300 million who use English as a second language and a further 100 million who use it as a foreign language. There is only one language ahead of English in the number of people who use it. It is becoming very clear that without an extensive vocabulary, communication in English just cannot occur in a meaningful way. The vocabulary itself, with its most important part the class of nouns, is very complex and diverse and consists of several hundred thousand words. This is due to many influences of other languages and to constant increase in number of words, including slang or words derived from proper names. Respectively the number of nouns increases as well. In English, but also in any other language nouns are very important. It is important to maintain as many nouns in the language as possible because nouns mostly refer to people, places and things, and are therefore real, tangible and necessary. Besides naming something tangible they can also stand for something abstract. Nouns are used according to some grammatical categories, like those of gender, number, case They can also be made of more than one word. A noun can be used in numerous ways within a sentence. This emphasizes their importance even more. The rules and ways of using this tremendously important wordclass are discussed in this work.

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Origin of Nouns in English Language

Ever since it came into use, English language was under influence of other languages. In fact that is how English developed in time from Old to Middle and finally to modern English. This process took more than 1400 years and it is not over. The origin of most words (nouns, too) in English comes from French and Latin. Latin actually came to influence through French since it was used in France for a long time before French became an official language. Also there are words originating from Old and Middle English, Old Norse and Dutch and these take up a big part of English language today. Words of Greek origin are also common. Other languages like Italian, Spanish, and many others played a small role in the development of English, thus there is a small percentage of words that were taken from them and have their origin. The percentage ratio between them is given in the table below:

French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28 % Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28 % Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Dutch: 24% Greek: 17% All other languages contributed less than 3%

Nouns of French and Latin Origin The French influence was so great that it affected around 60 percent of the English vocabulary. This included words which are Latinderived (mostly from Norman French but some borrowed directly from

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Latin). Therefore the origins of many of these words can be traced further back, most frequently to Latin; however it was from the French that English gained these words. Some of these words are: activity age ambition caf catalogue hotel marriage mask money peace people table

Words that come directly from Latin (from modern scientific and technical Latin): abdomen equation eternity fate Germany Greece minimum maximum military placebo republic religion

Nouns of Old and Middle English, Old Norse and Dutch Origin These make up an important part of English. Among them are: bridge cottage island lake brother friend answer apple arrow cookie snack home

Nouns of Greek Origin

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These came to English firstly through their Latin derivates and later on through scientific studies. They include the following: atom dogma diploma echo galaxy gymnastics hemisphere narcotic oxygen paradox planet stigma.

Forming of Nouns (suffixes and prefixes)

Nouns can be formed by adding a prefix or a suffix. I. Some Anglo-Saxon Prefixes and Suffixes Prefixes: mis- misfortune, mistake, misplace. ununtruth, uncertainty, unrest.

Suffixes: -er, -or, -ar ---- a liar. (added to a noun or a verb to name the one that is the doer of the action) -ie, -let, -ling dog ---- a doggie. (added to a noun to form diminutive) -hood false ---- falsehood. 6 a brother ---- brotherhood, a child ---- childhood, a star ---- a starlet, a duck ---- a duckling, a to dance ---- a dancer, to act ---- an actor, a lie

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(added to a noun or adjective to form abstract nouns) -ship -dom wisdom. (added to a noun or adjective also to form abstract nouns) -ness kind ----kindness, dark ---- darkness, conscience ---(added to an adjective again to form abstract nouns) -th long ---- length, wide ---- width, to grow ---- growth. (added to an adjective or a verb) -ful mouth ---- mouthful, hand ---- handful. (added to nouns to show quantity) consciousness. a relation ---- relationship, a leader ---- leadership. a king ---- kingdom, free ---- freedom, wise ----

II. Some Prefixes and Suffixes That Originate From Other Languages. Prefixes: com- compassion con- confederation dis- distrust ininaction hemirehemisphere

remake

auto-automobile sub- submarine

Suffixes: -ian pedestrian -ance -ence -cy endurance preference -ism criticism -ice malice -ment -ry 7 punishment bakery

frequency

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-tion demonstration

-sion expansion

When a suffix is added to a noun it can also form verbal nouns (also known as gerunds). This is achieved by adding ing. The verbal nouns are used with an article, demonstrative and possessive adjective, descriptive adjective and other. Verbal nouns are frequently used to form compound nouns. Examples of verbal nouns: smoking, acting, playing. Smoking is bad for your health! Compound nouns are created from two or more nouns and sometimes from other parts of speech. Compound nouns can be one word, two (or even three) word or they can be hyphenated (-). Examples of compound nouns: six-pack. Compound nouns will be thoroughly discussed later on. shipbuilding, tea leaves,

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The Kinds of Nouns

There are five kinds of nouns: common, proper, material, collective and abstract nouns. Common The basic division of nouns Proper Common nouns are names which we give to people, animals and things that belong to the same species. Some common nouns are: boy, horse, street

Proper nouns are in reality names by which we distinguish specific people, places or institutions. They can be single-word nouns or they can be lengthily phrases usually accompanied by a definite article. Proper nouns also include days, seasons and holidays. Some proper nouns are: people) London, Serbia, Malta The Royal Academy Yugoslavia The New York Times Friday, spring, Easter and holidays) (places) (institutions) (single-word) (phrases) (days, seasons George W. Bush (specific

There are also material, collective and abstract nouns. 9

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Material nouns are the names of different kind of materials. (milk, air, dust, ice, wine.) They do not form plurals. Collective nouns are the names of any collection of beings or objects. (class, team, flock) Abstract nouns are the names that represent nonmaterial things. (thought, fear, grace)

The Use of Capital Letters

We use capital letters for: I. II. III. Proper nouns and adjectives derived from them: Norah Jones, Alexander the Great... Names of holidays, months of the year and days of the week: Christmas, February, Monday... Names of cities, countries, continents, rivers, seas, mountains, Washington, Germany, Asia, Mississippi River, Venus... IV. Names of buildings, monuments, parks, street, hotels, ships, Buckingham Palace, the White House, the Eiffel Tower, Central Park, Fifth Avenue, the Ritz, Queen Mary, the Orient Express... V. Names of countries, nations, languages and nationalities: North Carolina, the United States, the French nation, Spanish, Serbian (north is not capitalized but exceptions are made if it is a part of a name) VI. Names of religions, gods and religious books: trains, etc.: planets, etc.

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Buddhism, Christianity, God, Allah, the Bible... VII. Title that stands with a name and the titles of important Dr. Jones, Senator Taylor, the Prime Minister... VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. Names of companies and organizations: Coca-Cola, Motorola, the United Nations... Historical events and eras: World War II, the Middle Ages... Titles of books, movies, articles (for more important words)... War and Peace, The Old Man and the Sea... Family title as a part of a name: Aunt Grace, Uncle Joe... Family title instead of a name: Mother, Father (Father was very upset.) officials:

Gender of Nouns
In English nouns can be of masculine, feminine, neuter or common gender. I. Nouns that are masculine are those that represent male William, boy, father, step-brother... II. Nouns that are feminine are those that represent female Jane, wife, sister, mother... III. IV. Nouns that are of neuter gender are almost all things: shoe, apple, pencil, house... Nouns that are of common gender are those that serve as both female and male: beings:

beings:

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friend, child, cousin, baby... Making of The Gender Nouns of feminine gender are made out of the masculine in several ways. I. By adding -ess to the masculine: prince ---- princess,
NOTE:

lion ---- lioness, actor ---- actress...

If the noun that is of masculine gender ends with -er or -or, then before adding the -ess the consonants e or o are omitted. waiter ---- waitress, emperor ---- empress.... II. Some nouns form the feminine gender irregularly: master ---- mistress, heroine... III. Sometimes the difference between the masculine and the feminine is made by putting a word that represents the gender: boyfriend ---- girlfriend, he-goat ---- she-goat, tom-cat ---- she-cat... IV. There are many nouns that have different words for male and feminine: man ---- woman father ---- mother brother ---- sister uncle ---- aunt son ---- daughter husband ---- wife sir ---- madam king ---- queen (bride) groom ---bride bull ---- cow horse ---- mare cock ---- hen duke ---- duchess, hero ----

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NOTE: *Animals

are usually considered to be of neuter gender with the

exception of farm animals and pets V. Some nouns do not have a common feminine equivalent: author, poet, supervisor...
NOTE:

*When sex is unknown it was common to express the noun in the masculine gender, however today this is avoided because it is considered sexist. Instead of the masculine (he) today we use they or he or she. If the employee is not satisfied he or she (they) can take legal actions. For the same reasons we switched from using terms like chairman to chairperson, spokesman to spokesperson, fireman to fire-fighter... VI. Inanimate things are all of the neuter gender with the exception of nouns like ship, car, plane and others which are feminine especially when talked about by its users. My ship hit a rock! She is sinking! VII. My car is great! She runs like the wind!

In poetic style some nouns of neuter gender become of feminine or masculine, like love, ocean, sun, wind, time... Also when personified the nouns that imply strength and power are masculine and those that imply beauty and gentleness are feminine. Among these are moon, nature, soul, city, charity...

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We cant stop time. He always passes. her beautiful face.

The moon hid

Number of Nouns
The Formation of Plural Most nouns in the English language form plural forms by adding s. The s is read as /s/ or /z/ depending on what letter stands before it: cat --- cats girl --- girls pea --- peas dog --- dogs brother --- brothers shop --- shops

Nouns that end with ce, -ge, -dge, -se, -ze also add an s but because of the e they are read /-iz/:

face --- faces horse --- horses edge --- edges --- ages

language --- languages breeze --- breezes age

Nouns that end with ch, -s, -ss, -sh, -x form plural with es and which is also read as /-iz/:

church --- churches boxes bus --- busses buzz --- buzzes

crash --- crashes glass --- glasses

box---

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Nouns that end with -th //, when plural (ths) are read like /z/: path --- paths truth ---

bath --- baths truths

When these nouns have a short vowel or a consonant or r, (ths) is read like -th //

cloth --- cloths months

myth --- myths

month ---

When a noun ends with y, with a consonant before it, plural is formed by changing y into i and adding es:

baby --- babies armies

body --- bodies

army ---

If a noun ending with y, is preceded by a vowel, the plural is formed just by adding s:

boy --- boys donkies

delay --- delays

donkey ---

Nouns ending with o form plurals by adding es: hero --- heroes tomato --- tomatoes motto --negro ---

echo --- echoes mottoes potato --- potatoes negroes

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Nouns ending in vowel + -o form plurals by adding s: photo --- photos kilo --- kilos piano --- pianos studio ---

Eskimo --- Eskimos logo --- logos studios

Nouns originally taken from Greek or Latin kept their original form:

appendix --- appendices --- nuclei formula --- formulae speech)

datum --- data

nucleus

(NOTE: forms like formulas are often used in

Irregular Plurals Noun plurals ves: elf --- elves life --- lives half --- halves loaf --- loafs self --wife --- wives

calf --- calves knife --- knifes leaf --- leaves selves

shelf --- shelves thief --- thieves wolf --- wolves

(other nouns ending in f are regular and s is just added: chiefs, roofs, dwarfs, cliffs...) Other irregular plurals:

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ox --- oxen --- women

foot --- feet tooth --- teeth

louse --- lice

man --- men woman

mouse --- mice child --- children

goose --- geese

Nouns That Have The Same Form of Singular and Plural species, series, means, fish, sheep, deer, crossroads, headquarters, barracks...
NOTE:

Nouns like fish have plurals (fishes) when we refer to different kinds of fish There are all kinds of fishes in our seas but All fish taste the same to me. Nouns for quantity and measures if used in front of nouns as adjectives or if they are used alongside a number. A dozen eggs --- Three dozen eggs hundred people --- Three hundred people One pound note --- A A

five pound note A three foot wall --- He is five foot seven

Nouns That Only Have a Plural Form

NOTE:

Scissors, trousers, breeches, scales, glasses (spectacles)... Material nouns do not form plurals (except when we refer to

different kinds of material --- There are cheeses of all kinds --- similar to the fish example in the prior NOTE)

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The plurals of compound nouns will be discussed in the Compound nouns section.

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Count and Non-count Nouns

Countable All nouns can be divided in two groups: Uncountable

The countable nouns are those that form plurals. They include separate objects, people, ideas and other things that can be counted. We use articles a/an, numbers or other modifiers like many. Some examples of countable nouns are: a car, a boy, many children... The uncountable nouns are those that only have the singular form. They are also known as mass nouns. These nouns are the names of materials, liquids, abstract and all other things which we do not see as separate objects. We use modifiers like much and others Some uncountable nouns are: money... Many nouns have both countable and uncountable uses. These are mixed uses. Nouns that stand for materials are uncountable but we can use them as countable when we talk about something made out of the material or depending on the sense in which we use it Can I borrow some coffee? please? Life is very short. A cat has nine lives. Could I have two coffees music, wool, much

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Using Articles and Adjectives With Countable and Uncountable A countable noun, when singular always goes with the indefinite (a,an) or the definite article (the). When plural it will be used with a definite article if it refers to something specific or without an article when stating something general. She is the guest of honor. Once a guest, now shes like a part of the family. The guests were snobbish and talked only of money and power. Guests are welcome at anytime. Uncountable nouns are never used with the indefinite article. They are used with the definite only when we refer to something specific. Sugar is turning out to be very expensive. Could you please pass me the sugar? The quantity adjectives that go with both countable and uncountable nouns are some, any, enough, plenty of... Do you mind if I put some music on? napkins. Do you have enough money? enough t-shirts. You should bring I need some clean

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Many is used only with countable nouns, while much is its equivalent that is used only with uncountable nouns. Their informal substitutes are a lot of (for countable nouns) and lots of (for uncountable nouns) He wrote many books. take? Other modifiers used with countable nouns are few and quite a few. Some other that are used with uncountable nouns are little, quite a little, a little bit of, quite a bit of. Few politicians are honest nowadays. I put quite a little sugar in your tea. Partitive Constructions Both countable and uncountable nouns can enter constructions to state a part of a whole. Partitive constructions can refer to quantity or quality. In case of quantity as in the case of quality we have singular and plural. By this we can give a number to uncountable nouns. The partition is expressed by a countable noun of partitive meaning (such as piece) followed by an of- phrase. I. Quantity partition: Of uncountable nouns (piece of, bit of, item of...): A piece of bread An item of clothing Three pieces of bread Several items of clothing How much money did you

Some specific partitives of plural countable nouns: 21

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A flock of pigeons A series of concerts Of singular countable nouns: A peace of a cookie

Two flocks of pigeons Two series of concerts

A page of a book

II.

Quality partition (kind, sort and also variety, blend, type) Countable nouns (kind and sort): A new kind of software A sort of drink Uncountable nouns (kind and sort): A tasty kind of bread A strong sort of liqueur Some tasty kinds of bread Strong sorts of liqueur Several kinds of cookies Two sorts of drinks

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Cases of Nouns Genitive

English nouns have only two cases, the unmarked COMMON and the marked GENITIVE. The genitive is also known as possessive.

The formation of genitive I. Almost all nouns in singular and the ones that when plural do

not end with s, form genitive by adding s. They are then read according to the rules of reading plurals. The cats paw /kts/ bosss dog /bosiz/ II. When used with foreign names that end with s, we only add The boys mother /boiz/ My

the apostrophe Socrates philosophy III. Euripides tragedies

Nouns that when plural end with s, when used as possessive

only an apostrophe is added The students workbook The Jones yacht.

The genitive of compound nouns will be discussed in the Compound nouns section.

The usage of the s genitive.

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The s genitive is formed with nouns that denote living beings and are then used as attributes. Johns sister Mr. Browns car

This genitive can be used with other nouns such as: I. With nouns that state time, distance and measure: A miles distance. dollars worth
NOTE:

An hours exercise

These can also be used: Six-mile walk, A two-hour

debate... II. With nouns that state the names of countries and cities: Serbias national team III. Europes strict rules.

With seasons, months, days, and nouns like: sun, moon, earth The moons surface is not smooth. We have a

months supply of coal. IV. With nouns like: ship, boat, plane, train: The ships crew consisted of a few young sailors.
NOTE:

If the genitive is used as an attribute with a noun that is commonly used, like: shop, park, house, church, hospital: Ill be at my sisters. (house) I got the medicine at the chemists. (shop)

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The kinds of genitive Most commonly genitive is supposed to represent possession (possessive genitive). The womans baby. girls locket. Other kinds of genitive include: I. Subjective genitive: an action) II. III. work)
NOTE:

The masters chair.

The

My brothers marriage. (The noun in genitive shows the doer of

Objective genitive: Genitive of origin:

Caesars murder (The noun in genitive is an object) Bacons essays (This genitive shows the origin of a

The following genitive can have 3 meanings: My brothers picture was hung in the living room.

(It can mean that my brother painted the picture - origin, it can mean that it is a picture my brother owns possessive, or it can mean that somebody made my brothers portrait) III. IV. Genitive of measure: Descriptive genitive: Its a miles walk from here. A childs play A doctors

degree

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NOTE:

Sometimes the noun does not change but it is still in genitive Our student days. The Cyprus problem.

case:

The of genitive Nouns that do not denote living beings form genitive with the preposition of. The parts of speech drawers of the desk. When genitive is used with nouns that name animals both s and of can be used. The horses tail --------- The tail of the horse With proper nouns both s and of can be used. Robert and Kellys father --------- The father of Robert and Kelly With collective nouns: With objective genitive: The opinion of the public The murder of Caesar ... The color of the sky The

NOTE: Instead of using two genitives we use one with the addition of the preposition of: Instead of: We say: My sisters husbands house The house of my sisters husband

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Compound Nouns
When we want to specify something we combine a noun in these forms: noun+noun, ing+noun, noun+ing, noun+s+noun (possessive genitive) or noun+preposition+ noun. When a particular combination is regularly used to make a new noun it is called a compound noun.

Noun+noun With the noun+noun combination, some compound nouns are written as one word, some as two separate words and some are written with a hyphen (-). Some examples are: a window-cleaner Some compound nouns can be written in more than one of these ways (a golf course or a golf-course). Some compound nouns are made out of more than two nouns (a milk chocolate bar). When a noun has a plural meaning, it is usually in singular form (a bottle bank, an address book), but there are several exceptions. When nouns are those that are either used only as plurals, or have different meaning when singular/plural or countable/uncountable: a glasses case communications network To make a compound noun plural we usually make the second noun plural: a savings account a a tablecloth, a language teacher,

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Coal mine --- coal mines, --- office-workers

Tea leaf --- tea leaves,

Office-worker

But if the two nouns are joined by of or in we make plural form by making the first noun plural Brothers-in-law, pray NOTE: We say: girl But can say: winner two-third(s) five-time(s) ten-minute speech a five year old Commanders-in-chief, Birds of

Ing+noun The ing form (sometimes called gerund) usually states what function the noun has. Some examples are: a turning-point a living room, drinking water,

Noun+ing Some examples are: life-saving film-making, sunbathing,

Noun+s+noun and noun+preposition+ noun

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Sometimes a noun+noun combination is not the most suitable. That is when we use noun+s+noun or noun+preposition+ noun. This is in cases when: I. The first noun is the user of the item (second noun): Childs bedroom womens clinic II. The item (second noun) is produced by the first (commonly students lounge

animals): Cows milk cheese III. When we talk about parts of body of people or animal. But hens eggs goats

when we talk about parts of things we use the noun+noun combination: A mans hand womans lips but: a window frame a pen top a giraffes neck a

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The use of nouns

In a sentence a noun can be used in several ways. It can be used:

I.

As a subject:

Hitchhikers live dangerously.

II.

As an object:

He broke three glasses last night.

Everyone heard his speech on the news. She gave Maria your note.

III.

As object complement:

They made him captain. They appointed him director.

IV.

As a predicative:

She is a wonderful child. He is a doctor.

V.

As an attribute:

We were all wearing summer dresses. Remembering my student days

VI.

Along with a preposition as noun complement, adjective Hes a boy of great talent . (object

complement or verb complement: complement) 30

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Shes good at housekeeping. (adjective complement) She broke the mirror to pieces. complement) (verb

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Bibliography
Books: Mihailovi, Ljiljana. (1958) Gramatika engleskog jezika. Beograd. Kolarev narodni univerzitet Brihta, J; Grgi, B. (1969) Engleska gramatika za svakoga. Zagreb. kolska knjiga iri, Goran. (1998) Gramatika engleskog jezika. Kruevac. Teatar ZA Greenbaum, S; Quirk, R. (1990) A Students Grammar of The English Language. Edinburgh Gate. AW Longman Eckersley, C.E; Macaulay, M; Swan, D.K. (1986) Brighter Grammar 1. Edinburgh Gate. Longman Group Swan, Michael. (1995) Practical English Usage. Oxford. Oxford University Press Hewings, Martin. (1999) Advanced Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press Dictionaries: Hornby, A.S. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. Oxford. Oxford University Press Web pages: http://www.krysstal.com/borrow.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_English_words_of_internatio nal_origin http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0907017.html

http://www.southampton.liunet.edu/academic/pau/course/webe sl.htm

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http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/compounds.htm http://www.english-zone.com/spelling/cap-names.html http://www.allianceeducation.com/eng/f_noun.php

http://userpages.burgoyne.com/bdespain/grammar/r_k_toc1.ht m

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