City is plural in English. Plural in English. Education, prime ministers. The rule for forming the plural of nouns in English

In order not to miss new useful materials,

But there are also special cases when a noun has only a singular form or only a plural form ( scissors– scissors, always plural; news– news, always singular). We will get acquainted with these nouns in this article.

1. We use plural nouns that come in pairs:

   Trousers– pants (two legs, we always speak in the plural), and also jeans- jeans, tights- tights, shorts- shorts, pants- underpants.

   Pajamas– pajamas (top and bottom).

   Glasses– glasses (2 lenses), as well as binoculars- binoculars.

   • These nouns are always plural, so they require the plural:
     

     My jeans don’t suit me at all. – My jeans don’t suit me at all. (not my jeans doesn’t)

   • If you need to say about these things in the singular, then you need to use a pair of+ these words:
     

     Those are fabulous trousers or that is a fabulous pair of trousers. (but not a fabulous trousers)

     I want some new glasses or I want a new pair of glasses.

2. There are nouns that end in -ics, and most often it is not plural. For example: economics, electronics, maths, politics, physics.
   

   Politics was his favorite subject in his school that is why he became a politician. (but not Politics were)

   • Word news– news is also not plural, despite how we translate it, it is always singular:
     

     What is the latest news you read in that newspaper? (But not What are the latest news)

   • Some words that end with -s, can be both singular and plural, no matter how paradoxical it may sound:
     
3. It also happens that some singular nouns are used together with the plural form. For example: audience- audience, committee- Committee, company- company, family- family, firm– company, government- state, staff- team, team- team. These are the so-called collective nouns or collective nouns. Have you noticed that all these words name one thing, but, as a rule, they consist of a group of people (family, group, team - all these phenomena cannot consist of one person). And we often think of these phenomena as a group of people ( they– they), which is why we use the verb in the plural form:
   

   The government (they) don’t want to decrease taxes. – The state does not want to reduce taxes.

   • We sometimes use the plural after names of companies and sports teams:
     

     Russia are playing Brazil next Monday. (in a football match) – Russia plays against Brazil next Monday. (meaning a football match)

   • But it is also possible with such words to use the singular form of the verb, it all depends on what meaning you put into it. If all members of a group, family, state act in unison, in the same way, do one thing all together, then, as a rule, we talk about them in the singular:
     

     The government wants to stop the war. – The state wants to stop the war.

   • We use the plural verb with the word police- police:
     

     The police have been investigating this crime for more than 6 months! – The police have been investigating this crime for more than 6 months! (but not has been)

   • But we can also talk about the singular if we use words like a police officer / a policeman / a policewoman.
4. Also, we usually do not use the word person– plural person ( persons). Most often said people- People.
   

   She is a great person. - She's a great person.

   They are great people. - They are great people. (but not persons)

   Many people don’t know where to work. (but not Many people doesn’t know)

5. We think about the amount of money ( a sum of money), time period ( a period of time), distance ( a distance) as one thing, so we use the singular form of the verb:
   

   Ten million dollars was stolen from the bank. (not were stolen)

   Five years is a very long time, anything can happen at this period of time. (not five years are)

It can be difficult, of course, to immediately remember all these rules, but if you constantly repeat these rules, you will soon not even notice how and where you need to put the singular or plural.

Execute Using nouns only in the plural and only in the singular

According to the basic rule, the plural of nouns in English is formed by adding the ending to the end of the word –s or –es(if the noun ends in -s, -sh, -ch, -x, as well as for a number of nouns of Spanish origin ending in -o, such as tomato, mosquito, potato, hero, veto: tomato - tomatoes).

In nouns ending with a letter -y with a preceding consonant, y changes to i and adds -es: lady - ladies, party - parties. If the letter -y is preceded by a vowel, then simply add -s: boy - boys.

In the words calf, half, knife, leaf, life, loaf, self, sheaf, shelf, thief, wife, wolf, f in the plural changes to v+(e)s: shelf – shelves.

Some nouns, for historical reasons, have other ways of constructing the plural: man – men, woman – women, tooth – teeth, foot – feet, goose – geese, mouse – mice, louse – lice, child – children, ox – oxen, brother – brethren(brethren).

Now let's look at some special cases. You can practice using them and learn more during individual lessons with your teacher.

1. Collective nouns. They can be considered as a single indivisible whole or as a collection of individuals and objects. These include words such as class, team, crew, staff, group, army, team, committee, audience, family etc. If collective nouns denote a group as a single collective, then the predicate verb is used in the singular form, for example: His family was large. If collective nouns denote individual representatives that make up a group, then the predicate verb is used in the plural form, for example: My family are early risers. (My family members get up early).

Among collective nouns there are words that are always perceived as a set - nouns of Multitude. This: people, police, militia, clothes, cattle, poultry. They are used with plural verbs ( e.g. The police were on duty).

Noun people in the meaning of “people” it has the meaning of plural person: People are so mean here. However, in the meaning of “people” it can be used in both singular and plural: UNO helps all peoples of the world.

2. Uncountable nouns agree with the singular predicate. These are the nouns: meat, tea, butter, bread, juice, weather, accommodation, advice, permission, behavior, chaos, damage, furniture, luggage, baggage, news, knowledge, scenery, traffic, work, luck, research, progress, information etc.

3. Nouns that have the same singular and plural forms. Some of them end in -s: species, series, means (e.g. That species is rare. Those species are common). The other part never ends in -s: sheep, deer, fish (e.g. That deer is young. Those deer are old).

4. Nouns that do not have a plural form. This:
- names of sciences and sports: mathematics, physics, economics, statistics, ethics, gymnastics ( e.g. Physics was his favorite subject);
- some abstract nouns: news, politics ( e.g. What is the news?);
- names of diseases: measles, mumps, herpes.

5. B compound nouns Usually only the second element takes a plural form: housewives, schoolchildren.
In compound nouns with the first element man/woman in the plural, both parts are changed: women-writers, gentlemen-farmers.
In words with the component -man it changes to -men: policeman – policemen.
If parts of a compound word are written with a hyphen, then the key component in meaning is placed in the plural form: man-of-war – men-of-war; hotel-keeper – hotel-keepers.
If a compound word does not have a noun element, then to form the plural you need to add -s to the last element: forget-me-nots, drop-outs.

6. Nouns denoting objects two-part, are used only in the plural form, for example: scissors, trousers, jeans, shorts, pajamas, spectacles, scales. Similar words are often used in the phrase a pair of -s, for example: a pair of scissors, a pair of trousers etc.

7. Only in the singular form are used the nouns hair, money, knowledge, information, progress ( e.g. His hair was grey. The money is on the table).

8. Expression a number of agrees with the plural verb, and the number of requires a singular verb ( e.g. The number of people we need to hire is thirteen. A number of people have written in about this subject).

9. Nouns Latin and Greek origin:

Is > -es (Greek) basis, crisis, hypothesis, analysis, thesis, axis ( e.g. The hypothesis was supported by the data)
-on > -a (Greek) criterion, phenomenon ( e.g. These phenomena follow the Newton Law)
-us > -i (lat.) radius, alumnus, nucleus, genius
-a > -ae (lat.) formula, vita
-um > -a (lat.) datum, medium, bacterium
-ix /-ex > -ices (lat.) index, appendix

10. Words like dozen, score (ten), couple, pair, stone (measure of weight stone), head (cattle head) have both number forms, but if they are used together with a specific numeral, they remain singular: e.g. four dozen eggs, two score tables. If they are used to mean “many,” they take the plural form: e.g. scores of people, dozens of boxes.

Most languages ​​are characterized by dividing things according to their quantity. But the designation of each specific number is a much rarer case, found only in a couple of languages. The most common option is one form of a noun for an object in a single copy, and another, to designate several up to infinity.

It is necessary to learn this part of the grammar, since the designation of a quantitative parameter is a daily necessity in speech. There are general rules for English, albeit with a fair number of exceptions.

Plural

Almost every noun in the English language can be converted to plural. Exceptions to this rule will be discussed below.

First we need to explain the general concept:

1. The most common plural ending in English is letter "s» . It is added to the end of the word, thus not changing its stem. It can be read in two different ways, depending on the ending letter:
2. If a word ends with a vowel or a voiced consonant, then the sound will be pronounced as [z]. As an example, you can use the following words: shoe-shoes, hen-hens, etc.
3. In the case when the ending consists of a voiceless consonant, the phoneme will be pronounced as [s]. An example would be the word bat-bats, cat-cats, etc.
4. Also, when the ending of a word is a sibilant or even hissing sound, the added plural ending will look like "es". The pronunciation here, in any case, depends on the combination of letters itself, so phonetically everything will sound like . There are quite a few examples of such endings - fox-foxes, class-classes, leash-leashes, bass-basses, etc.
5. Words with the letter “y” at the end will have a separate plural ending for nouns. True, everything here only works for those words where there is a consonant sound in front of it. The ending itself will look like “y” replaced by “i”, as well as “es”. That is, everything will look like sky-skies, butterfly-butterflies, etc.
6. Exceptions to this rule are proper nouns and compound nouns. The latter will be discussed separately, but as an example of the former, we can cite such pairs as Germany-Germanys, Gatsby-Gatsbys, etc.
7. When the letter “u” at the end of a word comes before a vowel, it works general rule , which means the sound “s” is simply added. Everything will end up sounding like day-days, bay-bays, etc.
8. For nouns that end in the letter “o”, you should add the familiar ending “es”. It will look like, for example, potato-potatoes, hero-heroes, etc.

   There are almost two dozen exceptions here - bamboo, kangaroo, studio, zoo, Filipino, kilo, photo, piano, dynamo, tobacco, folio, tango, concerto, embryo, pro, solo, Eskimo, radio. In these cases, use the usual ending for plural forms of nouns.

9. There is a separate rule for words ending with the letter « f». In this case, substitution will also occur following a phonetic change. For example, as in the words thief-thieves, half-halves, wife-wives, etc.
10. There are exceptions to this rule. Words like proof, chief, safe, cliff, gulf, reef. For the above, the usual plural rule will work, which means you just need to add the letter “s”

Exceptions when forming the plural

The English language has developed over centuries, and the forms of constructing grammatical structures have changed. Some are still used in modern speech.

You need to remember examples such as:

In addition, some words borrowed from other languages ​​have retained their original grammar, which means they differ from the rules adopted in English.

Examples here include pairs such as:

• Basis-bases;
• Crisis-crises;
• Phenomenon-phenomena;
• Stimulus-stimuli;
• Datum-data;
• Formula-formulae;
• Index-indices;
• Bureau-bureaux.

A couple of the above words have been adapted to existing rules. They can be used in one or another form. For example, formulas and formulae, or focuses and foci.

Plurals in compound nouns

Nouns used in the plural only

1. Paired items that simply cannot be used in the singular– scissors, pants, trousers, scales, etc.
2. Several place names– the Netherlands, the East Indies, etc.

In English, there are forms that are different from the Russian language, which simply need to be memorized as exceptions - for example, wages (salary), clothes (clothing), riches (wealth), contents (content), etc.

An interesting thing happens with the word people. If this is how the term “people” is meant, then there is no singular number. But when you call “people” that way, the plural form takes place and sounds like peoples.

Nouns used only in the singular

1. Things that cannot be counted have only this form in English. For example, gold, silver, oil, music, the Thames, etc.
2. There are nouns that have a plural form, but when used together with numerals they are placed only in the singular. These include dozen, couple, score, stone, head (as a cattle head).
3. Some words have only a plural form grammatically, but are used exclusively in the singular. This also includes the names of some sciences ending in “ics”. Examples include news, barracks, works (when a plant is meant), physics, mathematics, etc.
4. The words money and hair are used only in the singular.

Nouns that have the same form, both singular and plural

Some words in English have the same form to indicate both of these grammatical forms.

You can literally list them on your fingers:

• Sheep;
• Swine;
• Deer;
• Grouse;
• Series;
• Species.

In this lesson:
- Pronunciation English words
- Plural
- New words

Plural of nouns in English

In English there is a singular and a plural.
Singular - friend, book, park
Plural - two friends, books, parks
Formation of the plural
The most common rule! A noun can be made plural by adding the ending -s.
- s reads like [z] after vowels and voiced consonants
pen - pens (pen - pens)

Or like [s] after voiceless consonants:
map - maps (map - maps)

If a noun ends in s, ss, x, sh, ch, then the ending -es [iz] is added to it:
box – boxes (box - boxes)
- if a noun ends in the letter -y, preceded by a consonant, then in the plural -y changes to i and the ending -es is added to the word:
sky – skies (sky - heaven)
- if -y is a vowel, then the general rule is used, we add -s, and -y remains unchanged:
day – days
- if the noun ends in -o. the ending -es is added:
hero – heroes (hero - heroes)
- if a noun ends in the letters -f or -fe, then in the plural they change to -v-, and the ending -es is added to -v:
wolf – wolves (wolf - wolves)

There are exceptions! Some nouns do not follow the above rules. We will talk about them later.

You know fifty English words. Try making small sentences out of them and you will see how much you can say. And you can do even more.

Correct pronunciation

Please study these tables carefully. They describe in detail how sounds are pronounced correctly in English.

New words
child |ˈtʃaɪld| - child
friend |ˈfriend| - Friend
please |ˈpliːz| - Please
hello |həˈloʊ| - Hello
goodbye |ˌɡʊdˈbaɪ| - Goodbye
smile |ˈsmaɪl| - smile
cost |ˈkɑːst| - cost
learn |lɜːn| - study
teach |tiːtʃ| - teach
write |ˈraɪt| - write

to write a book - write a book
to smile free - to smile unforcedly
to teach music - teach music
to learn a lesson - learn a lesson

Comments

In English, nouns vary in number, that is, they can have a singular or plural form (as, in fact, in the Russian language). As a general rule, most nouns in the plural in English end in –s. But there are certain nuances. This topic is one of the simplest in grammar, and is studied in initial stages language acquisition. So let's get started.

General rule for forming plurals with examples

The general scheme for forming the plural of nouns is given in this handy table:

Exception words

The following nouns have a special plural form, without adding the ending –s, that is, they do not follow the general rule:

manmen– man – men

woman –women- woman's woman

foot –feet – foot - feet

toothteeth – tooth teeth

goose – geese – goose - geese

mouse – mice– mouse – mice

sheep – sheep– sheep – sheep

deer – deer – deer - deer

fish – fish – fish - fish

ox-oxen– bull – bulls

trout – trout– trout – trout

child – children – children

louse – lice – louse - lice

means – means – way - ways

species –species – species - species

These nouns need to be remembered.

Plural formation of compound nouns in English

The plural of compound nouns is formed according to the rules described above, but only one of the parts of the compound word takes on the plural form:

Nouns that are used only in the singular

There are quite a few such nouns, but I will give an example of the most common and used:

• advice- advice, tips
• information– information, information
• money- money
• furniture- furniture
• knowledge– knowledge
• weather– weather
• vacation- holidays
• news– news, news (note that given word has the form multiply. numbers, but is used in the singular sense. For example, What is the news today? - What's the news today? The verb to be is in singular form)
• progress- success, progress
• names of school subjects and sciences, for example, MathsPhysics, although they have a plural form, are used in the singular. For example, Maths is my favorite subject.

Nouns that are used only in the plural

These include items that are paired or have a plural meaning. For example:

scissors- scissors

glasses- glasses

trousers– trousers, trousers

clothes- cloth

stairs– stairs, stairs

goods– goods, goods

people- People

This group of nouns is used in the plural meaning. numbers, accordingly, requires the use of verbs for the plural form.

For example, His clothes are dirty. His clothes are dirty. The verb to be is used in plural form. numbers.

Exercises to practice the topic

If you want to practice, you can do the following exercises to reinforce the material.

Exercise 1. Form the plural form of the following nouns:

dog, book, table, goose, potato, book,pencil, bridge,boxfoot, match,rose,busparty, grape, watch,garlic,onion, shop, fish,press, day, fly,goal, lady, key,rate, clock,pet, lorry, zoo,office,owlcity, window,story, tummy, city, country, berry, dictionary, key, party, bay, tray, boy, knife, life, thief, loaf, wolf, dish, dress, glass, match, fox, potato, tax, bus, tomato, piano, woman-doctor

Exercise 2. Form a unit shape. numbers:

oxen, children, leaves, roses, berries, cities, snails, mother-in-law, cats, rulers, men, photos, roofs, drop-outs, fish, eagles, birds, lice, deer, trees, seas, trout, wives, ties, vases, flats

Exercise 3. Correct errors in the formation of the plural of nouns, if any:

teeth, dogs, pens, deer, erasers, radioes, potatos, keys, leave, tables, torches, glasses, advices, moneys, scissors, newses, shelves, handkerchieves, oxes, lice

That's all for today. Good luck in learning English.