|1| The Story of the English Language > Level 2 > Dynamic Key 2 - grammar
| 7 | To talk about people and countries you need four kinds of nationality words

1  Words (nouns) for the names of countries

England Scotland Wales Indonesia 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

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

the English the Scots the Welsh the Indonesians 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, ...

English Scottish (Scotch) Welsh Indonesian 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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