The Noun: Gender
Lesson-7
INTRODUCTION
Nouns in the language world have gender identities! Depending on what or who they represent, some people dress in "feminine" or "masculine" suits. Others, like concepts and items, maintain their neutrality by dressing comfortably in "neuter" attire. Play this gender game to help pronouns, such as "he" and "she," choose which nouns to pair with in a phrase. Let's explore how nouns keep proper grammar flow and change their attire!
There are different Kinds of Classifications of Nouns, among which the gender noun is also one of then. The word Gender has its origin from Latin. language word genus which means kind, sort or genus. Let's check it out.
The Noun: Gender
The noun gender refers to the gender of the person object. We Know that every living beings are of either male or female.
1) A noun that refers to a male is said to be of the Masculine Gender. (Male Gender) Nouns like, Man, boy, father, Nephew, king etc. are examples of the Masculine gender.
2) A noun that refers to a female is said to be of the feminine Gender (Female Gender) Nouns like Woman, girl, Mother, niece, queen etc. are examples of the feminine gender.
NOTE:- Objects without life are often personified, that is, spoken of as if they then were living beings. We then denotes them as males and females.
The Masculine Gender is often applied to the objects remarkable for violence and strength:
For example :- The Sun, Summer, Time, Death.
The feminine Gender is sometimes applied to objects. remarkable for beauty, gentleness and gracefulness.
For example:-The Earth, Spring, Nature, Liberty, Mercy, justice, Peace, Charity
3) A noun that can denote both a male and female is said to be of the Common Gender. Nouns like Parent, thief, servant, person, neighbour, doctor, teacher, bird etc. are examples of the common gender.
The following nouns are of the common gender:
anchor
announcer
baby
child
companion
parent
reporter
cousin
person
student
friend
organiser
player
teacher
pupil
tutor
4) A noun that denotes a non-living thing or a thing that is neither a male or a female said to be of the Neuter Gender. (Neuter means neither).
For example:- Nouns like Chair, car, pen, tree, gold, school etc. are of the neuter gender.
Note:-Collective nouns even when they are denote living beings, are thought to be of the Neuter gender
Now Let's learn the ways of forming the feminine of Nouns.
There are three ways of forming the feminine of Nouns.
1) By adding a syllable (-ess, -ine,-brix, -a etc). a
a) by adding -ess
Masculine- Feminine
1) Author- authoress
2) Host- hostess
3) Lion-lioness
4) Poet-poetess
5) Priest- priestess
6) Mayor - mayoress
7) Count -countess.
8) Heir- heiress
9) Shepherd-shepherdess
10) Manager-manageress.
Notes:- Sometimes the spellings of the words may have to be altered Slightly by dropping the vowel of the masculine ending .
Masculine- Feminine
1) Actor-actress
2) Hunter-huntress
3) Governor -governess.
4) Emperor - empress
5) Duke-duchess.
6) Waiter -waitress
7) God -goddess
8) Master-mistress
9) Conductor- conductress
10) Instructor -instructress
b) by adding -ine, -trix, -a.
1) Hero -Heroine
2) Executor- Executix.
3) Prosecuter - Prosecutrix
4)Administrator-Administratrix
5)Testator -Testator
6) Czar- Czarina
7) Signor -Signora
8) Sultan -Sultana.
2. By using an entirely different word.
Masculine - Feminine
1) Father-Mother
2) Husband-Wife
3) Lord/ Gentlemen-Lady
4) Monk-Nun
5) Boy - Girl
6) Nephew- Niece
7) King -Queen
8)Drake- Duck
9) Wizard-Witch
10)Horse-Mare
11)Gander-Goose
12)Drone-Bee
13)Buck-Doe
14)Bull/ox- Cow
15)Cock-Hen.
16)Stag- Hind
3) See how we form the feminine of nouns that are compound words by placing a word before or after.
For example:-
Masculine feminine.
1)Grandfather-Grandmother
2) Fisherman -Fisherwoman
3)Washerman -Washerwoman
4) Landlord- landlady
5) Peacock - Peahen
6) Stepfather-Stepmother
7) Milkman-Milkmaid/Milkwoman
8) Salesman - Saleswoman
9) He bear- She bear
10) He-goat- She goat
Points to remember
4) Remember the masculine and feminine forms of these nouns:
1)Bridegroom - bride
2) Lad-lass
3) Mr-Mrs.
4) Widower-Widow
5) The following words have gone out of use
Authoress, Poetess, actress
The words author, poet and actor are now supposed to be of the common gender.
6) It is now Common to refer to Pet animals and domestic animals like, Cat, dog, cow etc as
he or she.
For example:-
Tommy was little Aryan's pet dog. He slept in the same bed as Aryan .
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