|1| The Story of the English Language > Level 1 > Dynamic Key 2 - grammar
 
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To talk about people and countries you need four kinds of nationality words
 

1  Words (nouns) for the names of countries

bullet England
bullet Scotland
bullet Wales
bullet Indonesia
bullet the United States of America 

Rule : geographical names in the plural generally take the definite article (the)

Spelling : always begin a nationality word with a CAPITAL letter

Examples:

France, China, Russia, Israel, Italy
the Maldives, the Philippines

2  Words (nouns) for individuals

bullet an / the Englishman
bullet a / the Scot (Scotsman)
bullet a / the Welshman
bullet an / the Indonesian
bullet an / the American

Examples :

"Don't tell a Scot that he is an Englishman."
"The Indonesian I met in Hong Kong is a businessman."
"Those (three) Americans are from Virginia."

3  Words (adjectives used as nouns) to talk about (groups of) people in general

bullet the English
bullet the Scots
bullet the Welsh
bullet the Indonesians
bullet the Americans

Rule : use the plural form and the definite article

Rule : countries in -ese, -ch, -s, and -sh take no plural ending

Examples :

"The English are said to be conservative."
"The Normans spoke French, and the Romans spoke Latin."
"The French are said to be a wine-loving people."
"The Dutch are known for their early explorations."

4  Words (adjectives) to talk about  languages, culture, things, ...

bullet English
bullet Scottish (Scotch)
bullet Welsh
bullet Indonesian
bullet American

Rule : names of countries ending in a vowel (a, e, i, o, u, y) get the adjective ending -an

Examples :

America American
Angola Angolan
Chile Chilean
Italy Italian
Morocco Moroccan
Norway Norwegian
Russia Russian

Examples :

"Ken speaks English, French, Spanish, and Russian."
"My Spanish teacher comes from Venezuela."
"I prefer Scotch to Irish whisky."
"This is Danish bacon."
"Is New Zealand wool as good as Australian?"

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