Collins Cobuild English Grammar (15 page)

But some nouns refer only to males and others only to females.

For example, some nouns indicating people’s family relationships, such as
father
,
brother
, and
son
, and some nouns indicating people’s jobs, such as
waiter
and
policeman
, are used only to refer to males.

In the same way
mother
,
sister
,
daughter
,
waitress
,
actress
, and
sportswoman
are used only to refer to females.

-ess
and
-woman

1.74
    Words that refer to women often end in
-ess
, for example
actress
,
waitress
, and
hostess
. Another ending is
-woman
, as in
policewoman
and
sportswoman
.

…his wife Susannah, a former
air stewardess
.
A policewoman
dragged me out of the crowd.
Steph Burton was named
sportswoman
of the year.

-man
and
-person

1.75
    Words ending in
-man
are either used to refer only to men or to both men and women. For example, a
postman
is a man, but a
spokesman
can be a man or a woman.

Some people now use words ending in
-person
, such as
chairperson
and
spokesperson
, instead of words ending in
-man
, in order to avoid appearing to refer specifically to a man.

USAGE NOTE

1.76
    Most names of animals are used to refer to both male and female animals, for example
cat
,
elephant
,
horse
,
monkey
, and
sheep
.

In some cases there are different words that refer specifically to male animals or female animals, for example a male horse is a
stallion
and a female horse is a
mare
.

In other cases the general name for the animal is also the specific word for males or females:
dog
also refers more specifically to male dogs,
duck
also refers more specifically to female ducks.

Many of these specific words are rarely used, or used mainly by people who have a special interest in animals, such as farmers or vets.

Here is a list of some common specific words for male and female animals:

stallion

mare

~

bull

cow

~

cock

hen

~

dog

bitch

~

drake

duck

~

fox

vixen

~

gander

goose

~

lion

lioness

~

ram

ewe

~

buck

hind

stag

doe

~

tiger

tigress

~

boar

sow

Referring to activities and processes:
-ing
nouns

1.77
    When you want to talk about an action, activity, or process in a general way, you can use a noun that has the same form as the
-ing
participle of a verb.

These nouns are called different things in different grammars: gerunds, verbal nouns, or
-ing
forms. In this grammar they are referred to as
-ing
nouns
.

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish an
-ing
noun
from an
-ing
participle
, and it is usually not necessary to do so. However, there are times when it is clearly a noun, for example when it is the subject of a verb, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition.

Swimming
is a great sport.
The emphasis was on
teaching
rather than
learning
.
The
closing
of so many mills left thousands unemployed.
Some people have never done any public
speaking
.

The spelling of
-ing
nouns is explained in the Reference Section. The use of
-ing
adjectives is explained in paragraphs
2.63
to
2.76
.

uncountable nouns

1.78
    Because
-ing
nouns refer to activities in a general way, they are usually
uncountable nouns
; that is, they have only one form, cannot be used with numbers, and do not usually have a determiner in front of them.

For more information on uncountable nouns, see paragraphs
1.23
to
1.33
.

1.79
    You often use an
-ing
noun because it is the only noun form available for certain verbs, such as
eat
,
hear
,
go
,
come
, and
bless
. Other verbs have related nouns that are not
-ing
nouns: for example
see
and
sight
,
arrive
and
arrival
,
depart
and
departure
.

Eating
is an important part of a cruise holiday.
…loss of
hearing
in one ear.
Only 6 per cent of children receive any further
training
when they leave school.

used with adjectives

1.80
    If you want to describe the action expressed by the noun, you use one or more adjectives or nouns in front of it.

He served a jail sentence for
reckless driving
.
The police need
better training
in dealing with the mentally ill.
He called for a national campaign against
under-age drinking
.

1.81
    A few
-ing
nouns, mostly words for sporting or leisure activities, are much more common than their related verbs. In some cases there is no verb, although it is always possible to invent one. For example, you are more likely to say
We went caravanning round France
than
We caravanned round France
.

Here is a list of the commonest of these nouns:

angling

boating

bowling

canoeing

caravanning

electioneering

hang-gliding

mountaineering

paragliding

shoplifting

shopping

sightseeing

skateboarding

snorkelling

snowboarding

surfing

weightlifting

window-shopping

windsurfing

yachting

Although these words are not always associated with a verb, most of them can be used as
-ing
participles.

I spent the afternoon
window-shopping
with Grandma.

countable nouns

1.82
    Some
-ing
nouns that are related to verbs are
countable nouns
. They generally refer to the result of an action or process, or to an individual instance of it. Sometimes their meaning is not closely related to that of the verb.

Here is a list of the commonest of these nouns:

beginning

being

building

drawing

feeling

finding

hearing

meaning

meeting

offering

painting

saying

setting

showing

sitting

suffering

turning

warning

For more information on countable nouns, see paragraphs
1.15
to
1.22
.

Compound nouns:
car park, mother-in-law, breakdown

1.83
    A single noun is often not enough to refer clearly to a person or thing. When this is the case, a
compound noun
can be used. A compound noun is a fixed expression that is made from more than one word, and that behaves as a noun.

Some people write out a new
address book
every January.
How would one actually choose a small
personal computer
?
Where did you hide the
can opener
?
…a private
swimming pool
.

Once it is clear what you are referring to, it is sometimes possible to use just the second word of a two-word compound noun. For example, after mentioning
a swimming pool
, you can just refer to
the pool
.