Count nouns have two forms: singular and plural.
Singular count nouns refer to one person or thing:
| a teacher | a book | a wish | an idea |
Plural count nouns refer to more than one person or thing:
| teachers | books | wishes | ideas |
Singular count nouns
Singular count nouns cannot be used alone. They must have a determiner:
| the English teacher | that book | a wish | my latest idea |
- Singular count nouns 1
- Singular count nouns 2
Plural count nouns
We usually add –s to make a plural noun:
| book | > | books |
| school | > | schools |
| friend | > | friends |
We add –es to nouns ending in –s, –ch, –sh, –ss, –x and –o:
| class | > | classes |
| watch | > | watches |
| gas | > | gases |
| wish | > | wishes |
| box | > | boxes |
| potato | > | potatoes |
When a noun ends in a consonant and –y, we make the plural with –ies:
| lady | > | ladies |
| country | > | countries |
| party | > | parties |
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 |
| person | > | people |
| foot | > | feet |
- Plural count nouns 1
- Plural count nouns 2
Plural count nouns do not have a general determiner when they refer to people or things in general:
Computers are very expensive.
Do you sell old books?
But they may have a specific determiner:
Those computers are very expensive.
The books in that shop are very expensive.
Her sisters live there.
or a quantifier:
| some new books | a few teachers | lots of good ideas |
or a numeral:
| two new books | three wishes |
- Plural count nouns 3
- Plural count nouns 4
- Plural count nouns 5
Comments
Hello.
do you have any suggestion or suggestions?
any can be used before a singular countable noun with the meaning of it doesn’t matter who/which/what.
Hello amirfd,
As you say, it is possible to use 'any' before a singular countable noun when we want to particularly emphasise that any item is acceptable:
> Pass me a book, would you? Any book - it doesn't matter which.
However, when we are asking a question like in your example, we usually either use 'a' (asking for a single item) or 'any' with a plural noun:
> Do you have a suggestion?
> Do you have any suggestions?
We might use 'any' with a singular noun for emphasis after this:
> Do you have a suggestion? Any suggestion at all?
~
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you for the complete answer.
Hi Sir,
I'd like to ask this phrase.
'ratings period' n 'rating period'. Why the first phrase uses 's' in word rating? Is it allowed to use s (plural noun)?
Thank you for the answer
Hi Risa warysha,
As you say, the word 'ratings' here is plural. We can use 'rating' as a singular noun when we are talking about a particular score:
"This product has a very high rating on the website."
However, when we are talking about the system we always use the plural form:
"We use a ratings system to monitor customer satisfaction."
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Sir
This question is under count nouns. For e.g. Those books are for sale. These computers are expensive.
Are those sentences correct? I have used determiners 'those and these' with plural nouns.
Please let me know.
Thank you.
Regards
Lal
Hello Lal
Yes, both of those sentences are grammatically correct. Whether they are correct for a specific context or not depends on the specific situation.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Can we say: The baby was in her stomach?
Or 'womb' is necessary to put in here?
Secondly, is the word 'baby' suitable for the fetus?
Hello Zeeshan Siddiqii,
You can say this. Obviously, it's not a medically correct description and a doctor would be unlikely to describe a pregnancy in such terms, but we often say this kind of thing to children, for example, or say in her tummy.
Baby is used very widely for an unborn child at any stage of a pregnancy. Obviously, the scientific terms are more specific: zygote, embryo and fetus.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
I would like to ask about the following. When we use the word character and when we use the word personality?
Do they have the same meaning? or there is any different?
Can we say
That person has a good personality AND/OR
That person has a good character
Thank you in advance
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