NOUN GENDER

Nouns answer the questions "What is it?" and "Who is it?"
They give names to things, people and qualities.

Examples

dog, bicycle, man, girl, beauty, truth, world.

NOUN GENDER

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.

Examples

Different words:

Masculine	Feminine
man father uncle boy husband	woman mother aunt girl wife

Different forms:

Masculine	Feminine
actor prince hero waiter widower	actress princess heroine waitress widow

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

Examples

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

• Mary is a doctor. She is a doctor
• Peter is a doctor. He is a doctor.
• Arthur is my cousin. He is my cousin.
• Jane is my cousin. She is my cousin.

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

• a female student; a male cousin

For professions, we can add the word 'woman'

• a woman doctor; a woman journalist.

In some cases nouns describing things are given gender.

• I love my car. She (the car) is my greatest passion.
• France is popular with her (France's) neighbours at the moment.
  
• I travelled from England to New York on the Queen Elizabeth, she (the Queen Elizabeth) is a great ship.