1. NOUN - PLURALS
There are 4 kinds of noun in English:
- Common nouns: dog, man, table
- Proper nouns: France, Madrid, Mrs Smith, Tom
- Abstract nouns: beauty, charity, courage, fear, joy
- Collective nouns: crowd, flock, group, swarm, team
A noun can function as:
- The subject of a VERB: Tom arrived.
- The complement of the verbs be, become, seem: Tom is an actor.
- The object of a verb: I saw Tom.
- The object of a preposition: I spoke to Tom.
A noun can also be in the possessive case: Tom’s books
NOUN
Countable
Uncountable
few
several
a couple
(too)many
both
a/an/the (always!)
car à a cars
dog à a dogs
table à a tables
etc.
lots of
a lot
hardly any
some
little
(too)much
a great
names of substances abstract nouns
hair
money
information
advice
evidence
furniture
toast (pieces of bread)
homework
examples
My hair becomes greasy. I must dye them it.
These This money are is yours. Take it.
Only with numbers
An information
3 pieces of advice
4 pieces of toast
7 items of news
Making a Plurals (countable nouns):
a) usually add –s:
day – days dog – dogs house – houses
b) nouns ending in –o, -ch, -sh, -ss, -x – form their plural by adding –es
tomato – tomatoes brush – brushes box – boxes church – churches kiss- kisses
but words of foreign origin or abbreviated words ending in –o add –s only
dynamo – dynamos kimono – kimonos piano – pianos kilo – kilos soprano – sopranom
c) nouns ending in –y following a consonant form their plural by dropping the –y and adding –ies
baby – babies country – countries fly – flies lady ladies
nouns ending in –y following a vowel form their plural by adding -s
boy – boys day – days donkey – donkeys guy – guys
d) twelve nouns ending in –f or –fe drop the –f or –fe and add –ves
calf – calves half – halves knife – knives leaf – leaves life – lives loaf – loaves
self – selves sheaf – sheaves shelf – shelves thief – thieves wife – wives wolf – wolves
other words ending in –f or –fe add –s in the ordinary way
cliff – cliffs safe – safes handkerchief – handkerchiefs
e) a few nouns form their plural by a vowel change
foot – feet louse – lice mouse – mice woman – women goose – geese
man – men tooth – teeth
f) names of certain creatures do not change in the plural. Fish is normally unchanged. Fishes exist but is uncommon. Some types of fish do not normally change in the plural
carp pike salmon trout cod plaice squid turbot mackerel
but if used in plural sense they would take a plural verb.
In other cases add –s
crab – crabs herring – herrings sardine – sardines eel – eels shark – sharks
deer and sheep do not change – There is a sheep her. There are two sheep her. etc.
g) a few other words don’t change
aircraft, craft (boat/boats) quid (slang for £1) counsel (barristers working in court)
h) collective nouns like crew, family, team etc., can take a singular or plural verb.
- singular if we consider the word to mean a single group or unit - Our team is the best.
- plural if we take it to mean a number of individuals – Our team are wearing their new jerseys.
i) certain words are always plural and take a plural verb:
clothes police
garments consisting of two parts:
breeches pants pyjamas trousers etc.
tools and instruments consisting of two parts:
binoculars pliers scissors spectacles glasses scales
also certain other words including:
arms (weapons) damages (compensation) earrings goods/wares grounds
greens (vegetables) outskirts paints (trouble/effort) particulars premises/quarters
riches savings spirits ...
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