count nouns
Count nouns have two forms: singular and plural.
The singular form refers to one person or thing:
a book; a teacher; a wish; an idea
The plural form refers to more than one person or thing:
books; teachers; wishes; ideas
Singular count nouns
Singular count nouns cannot be used alone. They must have a determiner:
the book; that English teacher; a wish; my latest idea
or a quantifier:
some new books; a few teachers; lots of good ideas
or a numeral:
two new books; three wishes
Plural forms:
We usually add –s to make a plural noun:
book > books; school > schools; friend > friends
We add -es to nouns ending in –ss; -ch; -s; -sh; -x
class > classes; watch > watches; gas > gases; wish > wishes; box > boxes
When a noun ends in a consonant and -y we make the plural in -ies...
lady > ladies; country > countries; party > parties
…but if a noun ends in a vowel and -y we simply add -s:
boy > boys; day > days; play > plays
Some common nouns have irregular plurals:
Man > men; woman > women; child > children; foot > feet;
person > people
Plural count nouns do not have a determiner when they refer to people or things as a group:
Computers are very expensive.
Do you sell old books?
搜索
Tags for teachers
- No terms applicable.
A - Z of Content
Grammar Support
Read more about these areas of grammar:
Comments
can we use ''angry'' as an abstract noun, showing state of some person
team
Hello DiVva.
Anger is the noun form of angry. Try looking it up in our Cambridge Dictionaries Online search box, on the right of this page, for some examples of its use.
Regards,
Stephen Jones
The LearnEnglish Team
That very nice!!!
whats up man!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi,would u please tell me that why (, where the nounun ends with the consonant n vowel) eg: play n party is a noun or a plural noun, where as they describes an action so they hav to be adverb.please clarify my doubts.
hello everyone i really apeciate this great work .i'm at university this year i found it easy to learn becouse of this web sit thank you very much
Hello team
i have some question of noun.these are about types of noun.
river, personality, a litre of milk, honesty,plz cassify these words into noun category
team
Hello,
What categories do you mean? Do you want to know whether they are countable or uncountable?
You can find whether a noun is countable or uncountable by looking it up in a dictionary. Try using the dictionary on LearnEnglish and you should get your answers there.
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi,
Can any one tell me why the answer for question no. 2 of above exercise is children instead of child.
The explanation given above for singular count noun states that singular count noun must have a determiner.
Accordling, a determiner "her" is there and the expected answer is child.
Thank you
team
Hello Passang
Yes, a singular count noun must have a determiner. But plural count nouns sometimes have a determiner and sometimes not.
Examples with a determiner: her books, the people, any wishes, our classes
For Question 2 the answer is children because the verb form is plural: watch (not singular: watches).
Notice the difference between: I think her children watch too much television.
and I think her child watches too much television.
Does this help to make it clearer?
All the best
helen
The LearnEnglish Team