Gender

1. General Grant captured Vicksburg.

2. Clara Barton cared for the wounded soldiers.

3. The harvest moon is very beautiful.

In these sentences we notice General Grant is the name of a man, Clara Barton the name of a woman, the moon is the name of something neither male nor female.

Nouns denoting that males are meant are masculine nouns, or are said to be in the masculine gender.

Nouns denoting that females are meant are feminine nouns, or are said to be in the feminine gender.

Nouns that denote either male or female or both male and female are said to be in the common gender.

Nouns that denote neither male nor female are said to be in the neuter gender.

Gender is that property of the noun or pronoun that distinguishes sex.

1. The uncle who had just arrived asked the man-servant to summon his niece and his three nephews.

2. He had brought them many beautiful gifts from their grandfather, the duke, and from their grandmother, the duchess.

These sentences teach us that the gender of nouns is shown in three ways:

1. By using different words for the masculine and feminine.

boy girl brother sister father mother gander goose horse mare husband wife son daughter uncle aunt nephew niece lord lady king queen wizard witch

2. By using different suffixes.

baron baroness heir heiress host hostess lion lioness abbott abbess duke duchess governor governess master mistress executor executrix testator testatrix

3. By using different prefixes or words.

he-bear she-bear he-goat she-goat man-servant maid-servant cock-sparrow hen-sparrow Mr. Smith Mrs. Smith Mr. Jones Miss Jones

Write three sentences using each gender; other sentences using the different ways of forming gender.