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2. Subjects in English
Since the students might possibly use various forms of subjects when they write a sentence, in this section, the researcher presents some possible forms of a
subject in English language which deal with the focus of the research as well as the information whether the subject has singular or plural meaning.
a. Noun
According to Curme 1966, a noun is the name given for a living being or lifeless thing p. 11. Though there are various kinds of noun, in this part, the
researcher only presented the various kinds of noun which deal with the focus of the research. Those kinds of nouns are:
1 Proper and Common Nouns
According to Greenbaum 1989, nouns which belong to proper nouns category are the names of specific people, places, or occasions, and they usually
begin with a capital letter, such as Shakespeare, Chicago, January, Christmas p. 107. In, addition, names sometimes may also consist of more than a word, such
as The Hague, New York Times, Kennedy Airport, Captain Andrews, Mount Everest. Greenbaum 1989 futher states that proper nouns sometimes are
converted into common nouns. Common nouns are nouns that are not names, such as capital in the sentence: The capital of the Netherlands is the Hague p. 107.
According to Greenbaum 1989, besides the proper nouns and common nouns, nouns can also be further subclassified in two ways, namely type of
referent and grammatical form p. 108. Type of referent consists of concrete and abstract nouns, whereas grammatical form consists of count and noncount nouns.
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2 Concrete and Abstract Nouns
Greenbaum 1989 states that concrete nouns refer to people, places, or things, such as girl, kicthen, car p. 108. Then, abstract nouns can be used to
show qualities, states, or actions, such as humor, belief, action Greenbaum, 1989, p. 108. However, some nouns may be either concrete or abstract, depending on
their meaning. Some of them are: [21]
Desta can kick a football 52 yards. [22]
Desta often plays football on Sundays. The noun, a football, which shows a concrete noun, can be seen in sentence [21],
while the noun, football, which functions as an abstract noun, can be seen in sentence [22]. For further information, according to Greenbaum 1989, there is a
tendency that abstract nouns are considered noncount p. 108.
3 Count and Noncount Nouns
According to Greenbaum 1989, count nouns can be said as entities that are viewed as countable p. 108. Greenbaum 1989 adds that count nouns,
therefore, may have both a singular and a plural form and they can be accompanied by determiners that refer to distinctions in number p. 108, e.g.,
singular meanings: a student, one player, every teacher, plural meanings: ten students, many players, those teachers.
Then, noncount nouns can be said as entities that are viewed as a mass that cannot be counted, such as bread, furniture, music, rice, water Greenbaum, 1989,
p. 108. Greenbaum 1989 further states that noncount nouns are considered singular and can be accompanied only by determiners that do not refer to
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21 distinctions in number p. 108, such as much information, your information, that
information. Then, in this part, the researcher presented typical lists of noncount nouns that are commonly used as noncount nouns and put it in Table 2.3.
Table 2.3 List of Uncountable Nouns Azar, 1989, p. 206
No Noncount Nouns Category
Lists of Noncount Nouns
1 Whole groups made up of
similar items baggage, clothing, equipment, food, fruit, furniture, garbage,
hardware, jewelry, junk, luggage, marchinery, mail, makeup, moneycashchange, postage, scenery, traffic.
2
Fluids
water, coffee, tea, milk, oil, soup, gasoline, blood. 3
Solids ice, bread, butter, cheese, meat, gold, iron, silver, glass, paper,
wood, cotton, wool. 4
Gases steam, air, oxygen, nitrogen, smoke, pollution.
5 Particles
rice, chalk, corn, dirt, dust, flour, grass, hair, pepper, salt, sand, sugar, wheat.
6 Abstractions
beauty, confidence, courage, education, enjoyment, fun, happiness, health, help, honesty, hospitality, importance,
intelligence, justice, knowledge, laughter, luck, music, patience, peace, pride, progress, advice, information, news, evidence,
proof, time, space, energy, homework, work, grammar, slang, vocabulary.
7 Languages
Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish. 8
Fields of Study chemistry, engineering, history, literature, mathematics,
psychology. 9
Recreation baseball, soccer, tennis, chess, bridge, poker.
10 General Activities
driving, studying, swimming, travelling, walking and other gerunds
11 Natural Phenomena
weather, dew, fog, hail, heat, humidity, lightning, rain, sleet, snow, thunder, wind, darkness, light, sunshine, electricity, fire,
gravity.
In addition, there are some nouns which are exceptional or require special comment, such as singular nouns ending in –s Leech Svartvik, 1994, p. 317.
According to Leech and Svartvik 1994, news has singular meaning p. 318. It can be seen in sentence [23].
[23] That is good news.
Then, Leech and Svartvik 1994 mention that subject names in –ics are always considered singular p. 318. They are classics, linguistics, mathematics,
phonetics, statistics. The example is: [24]
Mathematics is not as difficult as people think.
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22 Names of games ending in –s, such as billiards, darts, dominoes have singular
meaning Leech Svartvik, 1994, p. 318. The example is: [25]
Billiards is my favourite game. Besides, Leech and Svartvik 1994 state that the names of some diseases ending
in –s, such as measles, mumps, rickets, shingles are usually considered singular p. 318. In addition, there are also some nouns which occur only in the plural, such
as people, police, and trousers Leech Svartvik, 1994, p. 318. [26]
Many young people are not going to the cinema. [27]
The police have closed the case. In addition, Leech and Svartvik 1994 add that people is the plural form of
person p. 318.
b. Pronoun
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