Word-Classes in English for Veterinary Medicine 1. NOUNS · (see the handout 1/2020, unit 2) ² countable and/or uncountable èè see “Features of Nouns in English for EVM”, part

Single Cycle Degree Programme in Veterinary Medicine October 22, 2020

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Word-Classes in English for Veterinary Medicine

1. NOUNS

Features of Nouns in English for EVM **** part 1 ****

² noun or name? (see the handout 1/2020, unit 2) ² countable and/or uncountable èè see “Features of

Nouns in English for EVM”, part 2 ² standard plural formation with the ending -(e)s plus:

• a set of nouns of classical (Greek or Latin) origin (see the handout 2/2020, unit 2);

• a small group of nouns maintaining a Germanic plural formation (e.g. child ð children; foot ð feet; goose ð geese; louse ð lice; man ð men; mouse ð mice; ox ð oxen; tooth ð teeth; woman ð women);

• a small group of lexical items with a double spelling adaptation – both in the final “f” of the word changing into “v” and in the ending itself where a euphonic “e” goes before final “s” (e.g. knife ð knives; wolf ð wolves, etc.). However, such adaptation is not a permanent feature: in fact, pay attention to chief ð chiefs, roof ð roofs;

• a set of nouns of classical origin ending in -x such as appendix, index, matrix with a double chance of plural formation: respectively, appendices and appendixes; indices and indexes; matrices and matrixes (see the handout 2/2020, unit 2). Anyway, pay attention to cervix ð cervices; cortex ð cortices; phalanx ð phalanges; thorax ð thoraces as well as to box ð boxes; fax ð faxes; fox ð foxes, etc.;

• a set of nouns ending in -sis such as analysis, crisis,




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diagnosis, meiosis, prognosis whose plural forms are respectively analyses, crises, diagnoses; meioses and prognoses, etc.;

• a set of countable nouns where singular and plural form are the same1: e.g. deer ð deer2; offspring ð offspring3; salmon ð salmon4; sheep ð sheep; species ð species; status ð status, etc.;

Pay attention to the following table:

(excerpt from ROMICH Janet A., 2005: An Illustrated Guide To Veterinary

Medical Terminology, Delmar)

1 Anyway, be careful to any variations you may find in scientific texts, which not always are reported in dictionaries such as the www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com, www.macmillandictionary.com, https://www.merriam-webster.com/, or http://www.wordreference.com/ 2 Also deers (less common). 3 Also offsprings (rare). 4 Also salmons (less common).




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² no gender, but pay attention to some particular cases in Veterinary English in particular (see the handout 3/2020, unit 25) …

² compound nouns ➩ ➩ see unit 6

² word-clusters / collocations ➩ ➩ see unit 1

² false friends

5 For further details and examples, see the Supplementary Worksheet a/2020, unit 2. Supplementary Worksheet = scheda di approfondimento

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Word-Classes in English for Veterinary Medicine 1. NOUNS · (see the handout 1/2020, unit 2) ² countable and/or uncountable èè see “Features of Nouns in English for EVM”, part