GRADE 9 English INCOME-GENERATING ACTIVITIES – GRAMMAR IN USE:WORLD CLASSES - NOUNS Notes
GRAMMAR IN USE: WORLD CLASSES — NOUNS
Topic: Income‑Generating Activities (Kenyan context) — Subject: English — Age: 14
What is a noun?
A noun names a person, place, thing, idea or activity. In Income‑Generating Activities (IGAs) we meet many nouns: farmer, market, coffee, trading.
Quick icons: 🧑🌾 (farmer), 🛵 (boda‑boda), 🧵 (tailoring), 🏪 (kiosk), 🌾 (farm)
Main types of nouns (with Kenyan IGA examples)
- Common nouns — general names: farmer, trader, market, shop. (Countable)
- Proper nouns — names of specific places/people: Kericho, Mombasa Market, Amina. Always capitalised.
- Concrete nouns — things you can see/touch: matatu, coffee beans, sewing machine.
- Abstract nouns — ideas or feelings: profit, skill, experience, trust.
- Collective nouns — groups: team of workers, crew, flock of goats.
- Countable nouns — can be counted: plantations, stalls, farmers. Use numbers: two stalls.
- Uncountable nouns — not counted without a unit: money, maize, rice, sugar, equipment. Use measures: a bag of maize.
Plural forms — quick rules
- Most nouns: add -s: stall → stalls, farmer → farmers, coffee → coffees (as types).
- Nouns ending in -s, -x, -ch, -sh: add -es: bus → buses, box → boxes.
- Nouns ending in consonant + y: change y → -ies: company → companies. If vowel + y, just add -s: boy → boys.
- Some words are unchanged in plural: fish (one fish, many fish), sheep. For people/machines we usually add -s: boda‑boda → boda‑bodas or say boda‑boda riders.
- Uncountable nouns usually have no plural: money, rice, equipment.
Possessive nouns
Show ownership:
- Singular: add 's → the farmer's crops, the trader's profits.
- Plural (regular) add ' after s → the farmers' meeting (meeting of many farmers).
- If plural is irregular (men, children): the children's tools.
Compound nouns
Two or more words acting as one noun. Forms: one word, hyphen, or two words.
- One word: farmhouse → plurals: farmhouses.
- Hyphen: posho‑mill, tea‑estate → plurals: posho‑mills, tea‑estates.
- Two words: market stall, boda boda, coffee farmer → plural usually on main noun: market stalls, boda boda riders, coffee farmers.
Noun phrases
A noun phrase gives more information. It often follows this order: determiner + adjective(s) + noun + (of phrase).
Examples:
- a small roadside kiosk
- the experienced coffee farmer
- bags of maize
Gerunds and nominalisation
Gerunds are verbs + -ing used as nouns. They talk about activities:
- farming, fishing, trading, tailoring, selling — these are nouns (subjects or objects):
- Examples: Farming requires hard work. — Farming is a noun (subject).
- Nominalisation: some verbs change to nouns: to sell → a sale; to employ → employment.
Articles with nouns (a/an/the)
- Use a / an with singular countable nouns: a farmer, an agent.
- Use the for specific nouns: the market, the coffee plantation we visited.
- No article for plural or uncountable when speaking generally: Farmers sell coffee. Rice is expensive.
Short exercises
- Write the plural: 1) stall → ______ 2) box → ______ 3) company → ______
- Choose article: (a/an/the/—) farmworker works hard. → ______ farmworker
- Identify the noun type: "profit" → ______ (concrete / abstract / collective)
- Make possessive: the profits of the traders → ______
- Turn the verb into a gerund: to sell → ______ (use as a noun in a sentence)
Answers (check yourself)
- 1) stalls 2) boxes 3) companies
- Answer: a farmworker (use "a" because singular countable and 'farmworker' starts with consonant sound).
- Answer: abstract (profit is an idea/amount, not a physical object).
- Answer: the traders' profits
- Answer: selling — Example sentence: Selling maize helps many families earn money.
Tips for learners (quick)
- Look for the main noun in a phrase — it tells what the phrase is about.
- Use measure words with uncountable nouns: "a sack of rice", "two kilos of sugar".
- Remember gerunds (‑ing) can be subjects: "Fishing is hard work."
- When in doubt about plurals, say the phrase aloud: where does the -s sound natural?