Question

Identify the feminine form of the noun:
Gentleman
(a)gentlewoman
(b)gentlelady
(c)woman
(d)lady

Answer 1

Hint: The noun in the given question has an assigned gender in the English language, which has a feminine counterpart. Go through the given words, understand what they mean and point out for which gender they are generally used.

Complete answer:
Gender is defined as the classifying of a noun or pronoun is feminine in gender, masculine in gender, or neuter in gender. An example of gender is the word ‘man’ which is a masculine noun, and its feminine noun is ‘woman’. There are pre-assigned genders in English, meaning that it is not subject to change. They cannot be changed under any circumstances. However, there is a third gender in English called ‘neuter gender’ which is assigned to inanimate objects that do not possess gender or do not classify to be gendered.

Now, we know what gender refers to in English grammar. Let’s look at the given options
one by one:
(a)gentlewoman - This word is grammatically correct, but this word is not used in the English language and therefore, is not the feminine form of the word ‘gentleman’. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(b)gentlelady - This word is grammatically correct, but this word is not used in the English language and therefore, is not the feminine form of the word ‘gentleman’. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(c)woman - This word is grammatically correct, but this word is not used in the English language and therefore, is not the feminine form of the word ‘gentleman’. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(d)lady - This word is grammatically correct. This word is the correct feminine form of the word ‘gentleman’. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.

Note: Many nouns that refer to people's roles and jobs can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject, like for example cousin, teenager, teacher, doctor, student, friend, colleague. Nouns that end in -ess and -ress often belong to the feminine gender.