PLURAL

singular + -s

singular plurala car two carsa cassette two cassettesa lamp two lampsa hat two hatsa cup two cups

Add -es after sibilants:

singular plurala box two boxesa sandwich two sandwichesa suitcase two suitcasesa rose two rosesa garage two garages

Substitute y after consonant with -ies:

singular plurala city two cities

a lady two ladies

Add -s after vowel + y:

singular plurala boy two boysa day two days

There are two forms of the plural of the word penny:pennies -> You refer to the coins.pence -> You refer to the price (how much sth. is).

Nouns on -f or -fe:

add -s substitute with -vessingular plural singular plural

a roof two roofs a thief two thieves1

a cliff two cliffs a wife two wivesa sheriff two sheriffs a shelf two shelves

There are two forms possible:

scarf - scarfs/scarveshoof - hoofs/hooves

Add -s for words ending in -ff.

Always use a dictionary if you are not sure.

Nouns on -o form the plural by adding -s or -es.

add -s substitute with -vessingular plural singular plural

a disco two discos a tomato two tomatoesa piano two pianos a potato two potatoesa photo two photos a hero two heroes

Some nouns can have two plural forms:

buffalo - buffalos/buffaloesmosquito - mosquitos/mosquitoestornado - tornados/tornadoes

There is no rule when to use -s or -es. We often add -s with technical words.

Irregular plural forms:

singular plurala man two mena woman two womena child two childrena mouse two micea tooth two teetha goose two geesea foot two feetan ox two oxen

NOUNS ONLY IN THE PLURAL

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In English there are nouns which are used only in the plural.

1) Pair nouns

noun sentencejeans Where are my jeans?glasses She has lost her glasses.scissors These scissors don't cut well.

If you want to refer to an exact number, use a/one pair of, like in the following example.I have bought a/one pair of jeans.I have bought two pairs of jeans.

other nouns: binoculars, headphones, pyjamas, scales, shorts, tights, trousers

2) Nouns not used in the singular (headwords)

noun sentencecattle Male cattle are called bulls.clothes He bought some new clothes yesterday.stairs The children ran down the stairs.wages The wages are paid on the last day of the month.people* Three people were killed in the car crash last Friday evening.police Look! The police are coming.

* The word people can be used in the singular with another meaning:They are a friendly people.The native peoples of Africa often have black skins.

3) Nationalities

The following nationalities (no -s) are used in the pural:

the Dutch, the British, the English, the French, the Spanish, the Welsh

The singular of the English would be: the Englishman

NOUNS ONLY IN THE SINGULAR

In English there are nouns which are used only in the singular.

1) Collections

noun sentence3

furniture She bought new furniture last week.fruit Would you like some fruit?hair* Your hair looks lovely.

more nouns: luggage, jewellry

2) some nouns ending in -s

noun sentencenews Good evening. Here is the news.physics Physics is our first lesson on Monday morning.progress Progress was made in developing new technologies.The United States The United States is a country with 50 federal states.

more nouns: athletics, billards, crossroads, darts, economics, gymnastics, maths, mumps, politics, series

3) special nouns

noun sentencehomework My Maths homework was not easy.information For further information on the hotel, phone us at ....knowledge His knowledge of English is excellent.

more nouns: advice, damage, work

FOREIGN PLURALS

These nouns have irregular plural forms. They often make their plurals according to the rules of the language they were taken from (e.g. Latin or Greek). Sometimes there is more than one plural form possible or these forms have different meanings. Always use a good dictionary when using foreign plurals. Here are some examples.

singular pluralanalysis analysesappendix appendixes/appendicesaxis axesbasis basescactus cactuses/cacticriterion criteriadatum datadiagnosis diagnosesindex indexes/indices

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medium mediums/mediaoasis oasesoctopus octopuses/octopiphenomenon phenomenasyllabus syllabuses/syllabithesis theses

SINGULAR OR PLURAL FOR GROUPS OF PEOPLE

Which phrase is correct - the class was or the class were? Is the word class a singular noun or a plural noun? This question cannot be answered with Yes or No. Use the singular if you see the class as a group of students. Use the plural if you see the class as single students.

In British English the plural is used more often than in American English.

sentence explanationThe family is on holiday. I see the family as a group.

The family are packing their suitcases.I see the single members of the family packing their suitcases.

sentence explanationClass 9 was terribly loud today. I see class 9 as a group.

Class 9 were terribly loud today.I see the single members of class 9. Everybody was loud. I could also say: The kids in class 9 were terribly loud.

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

here are countable and uncountable nouns in English.

Countable nouns:

Most of the nouns are countable. You can combine them with numbers, e.g one, two or three. Here is an example:

one penciltwo pencils

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three pencilsetc.

Uncountable nouns:

These nouns can't be combined with numbers. Here is an example:

water

If you want to express a quantity, you have to use a special phrase e.g. a glass of water.

NOTE:Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable. We recommend to use a good dictionary. Here is an example, too. hair - hairs

You've got some hairs on your T-shirt. (There might be 5 or 6 of them.)Your hair looks lovely. (Here you think of the hairstyle.)

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