Categories of the Noun

THE NUMBER

Singular and Plural. –When you speak of one thing at a time, the noun that you use is in the Singularnumber; as “a cow”.

When you speak of more than onething at a time, the noun that you use is in the Pluralnumber; as “cows”.

How Plurals are formed. –The main rules are:

1) Add “s” to the Singular. This is the general rule.

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Cow cows Town towns

Boy boys Star stars

Bird birds Flea fleas

But there are some specific rules:

2) Add “es” to the Singular, if you find that you cannot pronounce the “s” without the help of “e”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Glass glass-es Brush brush-es

Box box-es Branch branch-es

Kiss kiss-es Porch porch-es

Note. – If the Singular ends with a silent “e”, the e is dropped before the “es” of the Plural:

Singular. Plural. Singular.Plural.

House hous-es Size siz-es

Page pag-es Bridge bridg-es

Face fac-es Nose nos-es

Cause caus-es Horse hors-es

3) Nouns ending in “-y”:

a) If the Singular ends in “-y”, and the “-у” is preceded by a consonant, change “у” into “ies”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Fly flies Army armies

Cry cries Penny pennies, pence

b) If the Singular ends in “ay”, “ey”, or “oy” (i.e. if the “у” is preceded by a vowel, and not by a consonant), simply add “s” and make no change in the “у”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Day days Ray rays

Boy boys Monkey monkey

c) Proper nouns in “-y” never change their form:

Singular. Plural

Mary Marys

4) Nouns ending in “-f / fe”:

a) If the Singular ends in “f / fe”, change the “f / fe” into “ves”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Wife wives Loaf loaves

Wolf wolves Thief thieves

b)But there are at least fourteen Singular nouns ending in “f / fe”, which form the Plural by simply adding “s” to the Singular.

Singular. PluralSingular. Plural.

Chief chiefs Proof proofs

Roof roofs Strife strifes

Reef reefs Dwarf dwarfs

Gulf gulfs Grief griefs

c) Some of these, however, for example, hoof, staff, scarf, turf, and wharf, sometimes form the Plural in “ves”.

Singular. PluralSingular. Plural.

Chief chiefs Proof proofs

Roof roofs Strife strifes

Hoof hoofs, hooves Fife fifes

Turf turfs, turves Reef reefs

Dwarf dwarfs Scarf scarfs, scarves

Gulf gulfs Wharf wharfs, wharves

Grief griefs Staff staffs, staves

5) Nouns ending in “-o”:

a) If the Singular ends in “o”, and the “о” is preceded by a consonant, add “es”, not “s”, to the Singular:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Cargo cargoes Volcano volcanoes

Hero heroes Potato potatoes

Buffalo buffaloes Echo echoes

Motto mottoes Negro negroes

b) The following are exceptions: grotto, grottos; halo, halos; memento, mementos; proviso, provisos; tiro, tiros; piano, pianos; canto, cantos; solo, solos. No reason can be given to justify this troublesome distinction.

c) If the “о” is preceded by a vowel, the Plural is formed by simply adding “s” to the singular, as: folio, folios; cameo, cameos.

6) Compound nouns:

a) “s / es” is added to the noun in Singular (to the last element):

Singular. Plural.

Girlfriend girlfriends

Step-son step-sons

Maid-servant maid-servants

Foot-man foot-men

b) Some nouns add “s” to the head element:

Singular. Plural.

Son-in-law sons-in-law

Man-of-war men-of-war

Court-martial courts-martial

Commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief

Hanger-on hangers-on

Maid-of- honour maids-of-honour

c) Nouns in which is difficult to define the stem, add “s” in the plural form at the end (to the final element)

Singular. Plural.

Forget-me-not forget-me-nots

Merry-go-round merry-go-rounds

d) The formation of nouns ending in “full / ful”:

Singular. Plural.

Handful handfuls

Spoonful spoonfuls

Columnful columnfuls

But also:

column-full columns-full

e) Adjectivized nouns are always singular, even though their meaning is plural: a three-storey building, a four-act play, a ten-year-old boy. But also: 20-years difference in age.

Exceptional Plurals

(7) There are eight nouns that form the Plural by changing the inside vowel of the Singular:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Man men Goose geese

Woman women Tooth teeth

Foot feet Mouse mice

Louse lice Dormouse dormice

(8) There are four nouns, that make the Plural terminate in “en” or “ne”:

Singular. Plural. Singular Plural.

Ox oxen Child children

Cow kine (or cows) Brother brethren (по духу)

brothers (по крови)

(9) There are a few nouns that have the same form for the Plural as for the Singular:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Deer deer Trout trout

Sheep sheep Cod cod

Fish fish Brace brace

Swine swine Dozen dozen

Grouse grouse Score score

Salmon salmon Stone stone

(weight)

(10) Some nouns have no Singular:

Annals Gallows Pincers Victuals

Bellows Statistics Scissors Tidings

Tongs Suds Shambles News

Shears Nuptials Thanks Means

In spite of the Plural form we say, “By this means”, “This news is not true”.

Note. – Nouns “earth”, “sun” etc., have no Plural, because in nature there is only one earth and only one sun.

Ex. I Write the plurals of the nouns and explain them.

Stimulus, Russian, Dutchman, Englishwoman, neucleus, fish, crisis, looker-on, on looker, cuff, rifleman, tooth, commander-in-chief, muff, foot, boot, mouth, sheep ship, cheese, Burmese, deer, goose, swine, analysis, criterion, series, corps, fruit, datum, thesis, radius, trout, phenomenon, room-mate, species, fellow-worker, basis, apparatus, tie, handkerchief, portfolio, zero, roof, enemy, solo, stimulus, leaf, youth, court-martial, ditto, merry-go-round, stratum, salmon, formula, memorandum, scarf, handful, Mary.

Ex. 2. Explain the difference of meaning of the following double plurals:

1. brothers 1. geniuses

brother genius

2. Brethren 2. genii

1. pennies 1. staffs

penny staff

2. pence 2. Staves

1. cloths 1. indexes

cloth index

2. clothes 2. indices

Ex. 3. In the following exercises – (1) pick out all the nouns; (2) say whether each noun is Singular or Plural as it stands; (3) change every Plural into a Singular, and every Singular into a Plural:

1. There are many cities in England, many smaller towns, and an immense number of villages.

2. A cat and a dog are seldom good friends.

3. The earth turns round once in one day and one night.

4. When the cat is away, the mice play.

5. The branch of that tree has leaves of a bright green colour.

6. The cries of animals are many and various: a horse neighs; a dog barks; a cat mews; a swine or pig grunts; an elephant trumpets; an ass brays; an ox lows; a monkey chatters; a goose cackles; a boy laughs or weeps; a fish is silent.

7. If we stop in this wood, we shall be lost. So let us get back into the public road, before night comes on.

8. The wolf living in that forest killed many calves.

9. Some thieves broke into the house of my friend.

10. The stars are seen through the leaves and branches of that oak-tree. He went out fishing for salmon, and caught two dozen and more in his net, besides some trout to the number of two or three score.

11. Sheep cannot run as fast as deer; and so the sheep were caught first by the wolves.

12. The cat has caught two mice and one rat today.

13. Oxen are of more value than deer to a farmer.

14. The feet of men are larger than those of women; but the teeth are about the same in size.

15. The sun’s light is brighter than the moon’s; but the moon’s rays are not so hot as those of the sun.

16. Joseph had eleven brethren who sold him as a slave to some merchants on their way to Egypt.

17. A valley is usually hotter than the top of a hill.

18. He is a big man, and weighs fourteen stone.

Дополнительный материал по теме “The category of number” изложен в учебном пособии “I Love English Grammar” Л.Д. Червяковой (раздел “Subject – verb agreement” пункты 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19).