GENDER - Nouns

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 GENDER - Nouns

Definition: A grammatical category in which a noun, pronoun, article and adjective is masculine, feminine or neuter. Genders in English are extremely simple, and in any case the gender of a noun only affects its pronoun and possessive adjective.

For example:

"Mary is a doctor. She is a doctor."
"Peter is a doctor. He is a doctor."

In nouns
In general there is no distinction between masculine, feminine and neuter in English nouns. However, gender is sometimes shown by different forms or different words.

Different words:
Masculine
- man
- father
- uncle
- boy
- husband

Feminine
- woman
- mother
- aunt
- girl
- wife

Different forms:
Masculine
- actor
- prince
- hero
- waiter
- widower

Feminine
- actress
- princess
- heroine
- waitress
- widow

Some nouns can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject:

- cousin
- teenager
- teacher
- doctor
- cook
- student
- parent
- friend
- relation
- colleague
- partner
- leader

For example:

"Arthur is my teacher. He is my teacher."
"Jane is my teacher. She is my teacher."

It is possible to make the distinction by adding the words "male" or "female".

For example:

a male teacher, a female teacher, etc.