Singular and Plural Nouns for intermediate learners

grammatical number

Anything that is just one in quantity is singular. But what if there is more than one? Nouns that are two or more are called plurals! Simple, yes? Let's see!

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"Singular and Plural Nouns" in English Grammar

What Are Singular and Plural Nouns?

In English, we use different forms of nouns to refer to one or more things. They are categorized as listed below:

Singular Nouns
Plural Nouns

Singular Nouns

When referring to a single item or person, we use a singular noun, which can be used with either an indefinite article or a definite article. Look at the following examples:

She gave me a single black rose the other day.

As you can see, the sentence is about one item.

Julie wanted to wear a t-shirt.

Plural Nouns

When referring to two or more objects, things, or people, plural nouns are used. However, regular and irregular nouns have different ways of forming their plural forms.

Regular Nouns

Regular nouns typically form their plural by adding "-s" to the end of the word.

She reads 3 books every week.

When a noun ends in "-y", the plural form is created by replacing the "-y" with "-ies".

He took care of the babies himself.

When a singular noun ends in "-s", "-ch", "-sh", "-x", or "-o", the plural form is typically created by adding "-es" to the end of the word.

The tomatoes are on the table.

Please note that not all nouns with '-o' at the end will become plural like this.

Irregular Nouns

Some nouns have irregular plural forms and undergo significant changes. Let's explore a few examples:

Shape-Shifters

Certain English nouns undergo significant changes when they become plural and can be memorized from a dictionary. Take a look at the table below:

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Man	Men
Mouse	Mice
Woman	Women
Person	People
Foot	Feet
Child	Children

Unchanged Nouns

Some nouns have the same form in both singular and plural, with no change in spelling. Take a look at the examples below:

There is too many fish here.

As you can see, the sentence is about a large number of fish but the noun is singular.

Do you like to see sheep on the way?

Warning!

It's important to note that when using a singular noun as subject, the verb should also be in singular form. Similarly, when the subject is a plural noun, the verb should be changed to its plural form accordingly.

The children are at the park.

( Not the children is ...)

The cat eats meat every day.

( Not the cat ~~eat~~ meat... )

Comments

- Singular Nouns

Nouns

Nouns are among the first lessons when studying a new language. In other words, we have to be able to name things first, then make sentences with them.

Compound Nouns

Compound nouns are formed when two or more words are joined together to create a new word that has an entirely new meaning.

Proper and Common Nouns

Did you know there are two kinds of noun: common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns refer to general nouns and proper nouns refer to specific nouns.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

It's important to know if a noun is countable or uncountable. This is going to help us to use the correct article. Let's learn more.

Collective Nouns

If we want to represent certain individual nouns as one entity we can make use of collective nouns. In this lesson, you'll learn about their structure and uses.

Possessive Nouns

Possessive structures have many functions like showing ownership or belonging. With the help of apostrophe 's', we can make a possessive noun. Let's start!

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