Gender | English Grammar

• Gender is a system of noun classification that reflects the sex or lack of sex of a person, animal, or object.
• 1. Types of Gender : 4 
  • Masculine Gender (पुल्लिंग)
    • Nouns that denote male persons or animals.
    • Examples: Boy, Father, Hero, Bull, King, Actor, Tiger.
  • Feminine Gender (स्त्रीलिंग)
    • Nouns that denote female persons or animals.
    • Examples: Girl, Mother, Heroine, Cow, Queen, Actress, Tigress.
  • Common Gender (उभयलिंग)
    • Nouns that can be used for both males and females. These do not specify a fixed sex.
    • Examples: Student, Teacher, Doctor, Child, Parent, Servant, Candidate, Friend.
  • Neuter Gender (नपुंसक लिंग)
    • Nouns that denote non-living things, objects without life, or very small creatures where sex is not distinguished.
    • Examples: Pen, Chair, Table, Book, Tree, Ant, Fly.

Rules for Changing Masculine to Feminine

• Rule 1: By using an entirely different word

• Rule 2: By adding a suffix “-ess”
  • Direct addition:
    • Author → Authoress
    • Host → Hostess.
  • After dropping the last vowel:
    • Actor → Actress,
    • Tiger → Tigress
    • Waiter → Waitress.
• Rule 3: By changing a word in Compound Nouns

• A. Personification
  • कभी-कभी, निर्जीव वस्तुओं के साथ सजीव प्राणियों जैसा व्यवहार किया जाता है (मानवीकरण)।
  • Masculine (Strength/Violence): The Sun, Summer, Winter, Time, Death, War.
    • Example: Death lays his icy hands on kings.
  • Feminine (Beauty/Grace/Peace): The Moon, Earth, Spring, Nature, Mercy, Hope, Charity, Justice.
    • Example: The Moon has hidden her face.
• B. Collective Nouns
  • समूहवाचक संज्ञाएँ (Collective nouns) , भले ही वे जीवित प्राणियों का उल्लेख करती हों, आमतौर पर नपुंसक लिंग (Neuter Gender) मानी जाती हैं।
  • Example: The army is moving towards its destination. (Not his or her).
• C. Lower Animals & Infants
  • Small animals, insects, and infants are often treated as Neuter Gender unless we want to emphasize their sex.
  • Example: The child is crying for its toy.
• D. Pronoun Usage for Common Gender
  • When a common gender noun (like Doctor or Teacher) is used in a singular sense and the sex is not specified, traditional grammar uses the Masculine pronoun (he/his/him) as a generic form.
  • Example: Every student should bring his own pen.