Morphological composition of nouns.

According to their morphological composition we distinguish simple, derivative and compound nouns.

Simple nouns are nouns which have neither prefixes nor suffixes. They are indecomposable: chair; table, room, map, fish, work.

Derivative nouns are nouns which have derivative elements (prefixes or suffixes or both): reader, sailor, blackness, childhood, mis­conduct, inexperience.

Productive noun-forming suffixes are:

-er: reader, teacher, worker

-ist: communist, telegraphist, dramatist

-ess: heiress, hostess, actress

 

 

-ness: carelessness, madness, blackness

-ism: socialism, nationalism, imperialism

Unproductive suffixes are:

-hood: childhood, manhood

-dom: freedom

-ship: friendship, relationship

-merit: development

-ance: importance

-ence: dependence

-ty: cruelty

-ity: generosity

3. Compound nouns are nouns built from two or more stems. Com­pound nouns often have one stress. The meaning of a compound often differs from the meanings of its elements.

The main types of compound nouns are as follows:

а) noun-stem + noun-stem: appletree, snowball;

b)adjective-stem + noun-stem: blackbird, bluebell;

c)verb-stem + noun-stem: pickpocket; the stem of a gerund or of a participle may be the first component of a compound noun: dining- room, reading-hall, dancing-girl.

The class of compound nouns also includes phrasal compounds: forget-me-not, commander-in-chief