English/Parts of Speech/Nouns/Gender

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English Wikibook (edit)
General: Introduction - Grammar
Parts of speech: Nouns - Verbs - Adjectives - Adverbs - Pronouns - Conjunctions - Prepositions - Interjections
Parts of the sentence: Subjects - Predicates
Word functions: Subjects - Predicates - Direct Objects - Indirect Objects - Objects of the Preposition
Types of sentences: Simple Sentences - Complex Sentences
Types of Phrases: Adjective - Adverb - Noun
Types of Clauses: Adjective - Adverb - Noun
Other English topics: Gerunds - Idiomatic Phrases - Spelling - Vocabulary - Punctuation - Syntax - Appositives - Phonics - Pronunciation

The good thing about English is there is usually no gender (masculine and feminine nouns). Most European languages have gender which means you have to understand if a word is masculine and feminine so that the grammar is the same. There are a few nouns of gender in English:

  • Man
  • Woman
  • Boy
  • Girl
  • Husband
  • Wife
  • Uncle
  • Aunt

There are some other words of gender usually connected with jobs and positions:

  • Actor (masculine) - Actress (feminine) - only 'actor' is usually used today
  • Waiter (masculine) - Waitress (feminine) - only 'waiter' is often used today

Gender is also used in pronouns. He and his are both masculine, while she and her are feminine.

In English, we do not need to change an article or possesive adjectives. For example, the word the is always the, unlike the French le, la and les.

You may go back to countability or go on to the next page about verbs.