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
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