Gender has the same relation to nouns that sex has to individuals. There are only two sexes, however, there are four genders, viz., masculine, feminine, neuter and common.
The masculine gender denotes all those of the male kind, the feminine gender all those of the female kind, the neuter gender denotes inanimate things or whatever is without life, and common gender is applied to animate beings, the sex of which, properly speaking, belong to the neuter gender, are, by a figure of speech called Personification, changed into either the masculine or famine gender, as, for instance, we say of the sun, He is rising; of the moon, She is setting. http://www.npc.edu.hk/staff/~ngtungying/english_grammar/lessons/lesson25.htm 每個英文名詞總具備以下其中一種屬性： 陽性 Masculine Gender 陰性 Feminine Gender 通性 Common Gender 中性 Neuter Gender
如果名詞所指稱的事物屬雄性生物，則該名詞屬陽性；
如果名詞所指稱的事物屬雌性生物，則該名詞屬陰性；
如果名詞所指稱的事物包括雄性和雌性生物，則該名詞屬通性；
如果名詞所指稱的事物無分雄性和雌性，則該名詞屬中性。
例如：
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性
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例子
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陽性
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father, brother, man, boy, gentleman, king, prince, emperor, ox, cock
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陰性
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mother, sister, woman, girl, lady, queen, princess, empress, cow, hen
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通性
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child, friend, pupil, student, doctor, nurse, teacher, driver, tiger, lion
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中性
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pen, desk, book, water, stone, river, tree, mountain, flower, grass
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當我們要知道某英文名詞的屬性時，隻要著眼於該名詞所指稱的
事物，便可以了，而無需死記該名詞的屬性。比起某些歐洲語文
例如法文、德文來說，英文就方便得多了。
* 就法文來說，「書」、「紙」屬陽性，而「筆」、「墨」屬陰性。
就德文來說，「書」、「紙」屬中性，但「筆」、「墨」卻屬陰性，
而「帽」、「鞋」則屬陽性。當某名詞屬陽性時，加在該名詞前後的
冠詞、形容詞以及代替該名詞的代名詞一律要取陽性形式；當某名詞
屬陰性時，加在該名詞前後的冠詞、形容詞以及代替該名詞的代名詞
一律要取陰性形式。
