PLURAL

THE PLURAL OF NOUNS

THE PLURAL OF NOUNS

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es.

Examples

Singular	Plural
boat	boats
hat	hats
house	houses
river	rivers

A noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant makes the plural with -ies.

Examples

Singular	Plural
a cry	cries
a fly	flies
a nappy	nappies
a poppy	poppies
a city	cities
a lady	ladies
a baby	babies

There are some irregular formations for noun plurals. Some of the most common ones are listed below.

Examples of irregular plurals

Singular	Plural
woman	women
man	men
child	children
tooth	teeth
foot	feet
person	people
leaf	leaves
half	halves
knife	knives
wife	wives
life	lives
loaf	loaves
potato	potatoes
cactus	cacti
focus	foci
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
syllabus	syllabi/syllabuses
analysis	analyses
diagnosis	diagnoses
oasis	oases
thesis	theses
crisis	crises
phenomenon	phenomena
criterion	criteria
datum	data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

Examples

Singular	Plural
sheep	sheep
fish	fish
species	species
aircraft	aircraft

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Examples

• news The news is on at 6.30 p.m.
• athletics Athletics is good for young people.
• linguistics Linguistics is the study of language.
• darts Darts is a popular game in England.
• billiards Billiards is played all over the world.

Some nouns have a plural form and take a plural verb.

Examples

• trousers My trousers are too tight.
• jeans Her jeans are black.
• glasses Those glasses are his.

others include:

• savings, thanks, steps, stair, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Countable nouns are for things we can count

Examples

dog, horse, man, shop, idea.

They usually have a singular and plural form.

Examples

two dogs, ten horses, a man, six men, the shops, a few ideas.

Uncountable nouns are for the things that we cannot count

Examples

tea, sugar, water, air, rice.

They are often the names for abstract ideas or qualities.

Examples

knowledge, beauty, anger, fear, love.

They are used with a singular verb. They usually do not have a plural form. We cannot say sugars, angers, knowledges.

Examples of common uncountable nouns:

• money, furniture, happiness, sadness, research, evidence, safety, beauty, knowledge.

We cannot use a/an with these nouns. To express a quantity of one of these nouns, use a word or expression like:
some, a lot of, a piece of, a bit of, a great deal of...

Examples

• There has been a lot of research into the causes of this disease.
• He gave me a great deal of advice before my interview.
• They've got a lot of furniture.
• Can you give me some information about uncountable nouns?

Some nouns are countable in other languages but uncountable in English. Some of the most common of these are:

accommodation advice baggage behaviour bread furniture information luggage

news progress traffic travel trouble weather work

BE CAREFUL with the noun 'hair' which is normally uncountable in English:

• She has long blonde hair

It can also be countable when referring to individual hairs:

• My father's getting a few grey hairs now

See also Adjectives - Comparisons of quantity

COMPOUND NOUNS

COMPOUND NOUNS

Formation

Words can be combined to form compound nouns. These are very common, and new combinations are invented almost daily. They normally have two parts. The second part identifies the object or person in question (man, friend, tank, table, room). The first part tells us what kind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is (police, boy, water, dining, bed):

What type / what purpose	What or who
police	man
boy	friend
water	tank
dining	table
bed	room

The two parts may be written in a number of ways :

1. as one word.
Example: policeman, boyfriend

2. as two words joined with a hyphen.
Example: dining-table

3. as two separate words.
Example: fish tank.

There are no clear rules about this - so write the common compounds that you know well as one word, and the others as two words.

The two parts may be:	Examples:
noun + noun	bedroom water tank motorcycle printer cartridge
noun + verb	rainfall haircut train-spotting
noun + adverb	hanger-on passer-by
verb + noun	washing machine driving licence swimming pool
verb + adverb*	lookout take-off drawback
adjective + noun	greenhouse software redhead
adjective + verb	dry-cleaning public speaking
adverb + noun	onlooker bystander
adverb + verb*	output overthrow upturn input

Compound nouns often have a meaning that is different from the two separate words.

Stress is important in pronunciation, as it distinguishes between a compound noun (e.g. greenhouse) and an adjective with a noun (e.g. green house).

In compound nouns, the stress usually falls on the first syllable:

a 'greenhouse = place where we grow plants (compound noun)
a green 'house = house painted green (adjective and noun)
a 'bluebird = type of bird (compound noun)
a blue 'bird = any bird with blue feathers (adjective and noun)

* Many common compound nouns are formed from phrasal verbs (verb + adverb or adverb + verb).

Examples

breakdown, outbreak, outcome, cutback, drive-in, drop-out, feedback, flyover, hold-up, hangover, outlay, outlet, inlet, makeup, output, set-back, stand-in, takeaway, walkover.

USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS WITH NOUNS

Capital letters are used with:

Names and titles of people

• Winston Churchill
• Marilyn Monroe
• the Queen of England
• the President of the United States
• the Headmaster of Eton
• Doctor Mathews
• Professor Samuels.

Note: The personal pronoun 'I' is always written with a capital letter.

Titles of works, books etc.

• War and Peace
• The Merchant of Venice
• Crime and Punishment
• Tristan and Isolde

Months of the year

January	July
February	August
March	September
April	October
May	November
June	December

Days of the week

Monday	Friday
Tuesday	Saturday
Wednesday	Sunday
Thursday

Seasons

Seasons

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Holidays

Christmas	Easter	New Year's Day
Boxing Day	May Day	Thanksgiving Day

Geographical names...
Names of countries and continents

America	England	Scotland
China	Peru	Albania
Africa	Europe	Asia

Names of regions, states, districts etc.

Sussex	California	Queensland
Provence	Tuscany	Vaud
Florida	Costa Brava	Tyrol

Names of cities, towns, villages etc.

London	Cape Town	Rome
Florence	Bath	Wagga Wagga
Vancouver	Wellington	Peking

Names of rivers, oceans, seas, lakes etc.

the Atlantic	the Dead Sea	the Pacific
Lake Leman	Lake Victoria	Lake Michigan
the Rhine	the Thames	the Nile

Names of geographical formations

the Himalayas

the Alps

the Sahara

Adjectives relating to nationality nouns

France - French music

Australia - Australian animals

Germany - German literature

Arabia - Arabic writing

Indonesia - Indonesian poetry

China - Chinese food

Names of streets, buildings, parks etc.

Park Lane	Central Avenue	Pall Mall
George Street	Sydney Opera House	Central Park
Hyde Park	the Empire State Building	Wall Street

NATIONALITIES

NATIONALITIES

1. Country: I live in England.
2. Adjective: He reads English literature.
3. Noun: She is an Englishwoman.

COUNTRY	ADJECTIVE	NOUN
Africa	African	an African
America	American	an American
Argentina	Argentinian	an Argentinian
Austria	Austrian	an Austrian
Autralia	Australian	an Australian
Bangladesh	Bangladesh(i)	a Bangladeshi
Belgium	Belgian	a Belgian
Brazil	Brazilian	a Brazilian
Britain	British	a Briton/Britisher
Cambodia	Cambodian	a Cambodian
Chile	Chilean	a Chilean
China	Chinese	a Chinese
Colombia	Colombian	a Colombian
Croatia	Croatian	a Croat
the Czech Republic	Czech	a Czech
Denmark	Danish	a Dane
England	English	an Englishman/Englishwoman
Finland	Finnish	a Finn
France	French	a Frenchman/Frenchwoman
Germany	German	a German
Greece	Greek	a Greek
Holland	Dutch	a Dutchman/Dutchwoman
Hungary	Hungarian	a Hungarian
Iceland	Icelandic	an Icelander
India	Indian	an Indian
Indonesia	Indonesian	an Indonesian
Iran	Iranian	an Iranian
Iraq	Iraqi	an Iraqi
Ireland	Irish	an Irishman/Irishwoman
Israel	Israeli	an Israeli
Jamaica	Jamaican	a Jamaican
Japan	Japanese	a Japanese
Mexico	Mexican	a Mexican
Morocco	Moroccan	a Moroccan
Norway	Norwegian	a Norwegian
Peru	Peruvian	a Peruvian
the Philippines	Philippine	a Filipino
Poland	Polish	a Pole
Portugal	Portuguese	a Portuguese
Rumania	Rumanian	a Rumanian
Russia	Russian	a Russian
Saudi Arabia	Saudi, Saudi Arabian	a Saudi, a Saudi Arabian
Scotland	Scottish	a Scot
Serbia	Serbian	a Serb
the Slovak Republic	Slovak	a Slovak
Sweden	Swedish	a Swede
Switzerland	Swiss	a Swiss
Thailand	Thai	a Thai
The USA	American	an American
Tunisia	Tunisian	a Tunisian
Turkey	Turkish	a Turk
Vietnam	Vietnamese	a Vietnamese
Wales	Welsh	a Welshman/Welshwoman
Yugoslavia	Yugoslav	a Yugoslav

Note: We use the + nationality adjective ending in -ese or -ish with a plural verb, to refer to all people of that nationality:

The Chinese are very hard-working.
The Spanish often go to sleep in the afternoon.