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 team. Is it correct to say "jobs opportunities" as in the following example? I think it is 100% wrong and it must be " job opportunities", right?
- Being jobless and illiterate are the main factors of committing crimes, so it is necessary to create jobs opportunities for young people.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
Yes, you are right. 'job opportunities' is a noun-noun combination, and in noun-noun combinations of this type, the first word is always in the singular.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello. Is the following sentence correct? If so, could you please explain more about that?
- The projects carried out all over the country is the result of hard work.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
No, I'm afraid that is not correct. 'projects' is plural and so the verb 'is' should also be plural ('are').
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Sir, this is the comment my friend posted on the WhatsApp group on the occasion of Women's day : Happy Women's day to the spouses of my friends. Now I can very well understand the intended meaning of the message, and the reason he used the plural 'spouses' - each friend having one ! My question : Can the message also mean the spouses of each friend - as if each friend has more than one wife - as he has written 'spouses of friends', though he doesn't intend it. Thank you ! Regards !
Hello dipakrgandhi,
Yes, indeed, that sentence is ambiguous. It could refer to one or many.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Team.
I'm in a restaurant. Which one is correct?
- I'd like (a - no article) chicken, please. Not some.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
If you say 'I'd like a chicken' then you mean a whole chicken. You'd perhaps say this in a shop, but not a restaurant.
If you say 'I'd like chicken' then you are making a general statement about the kind of food you are interested in. The waiter might respond by showing you all the possible options which include chicken.
If you want to ask for a particular version of a dish which can have different ingredients then you would usually use 'the': 'I'd like the chicken' in the sense of 'not the beef or the fish options'.
If you are talking about particular dishes then you can use either 'the' or no article: 'I'd like (the) chicken in lemon sauce', 'I'd like (the) chicken tandoori' etc.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter. Please be patient with me.
You said, "If you say 'I'd like a chicken' then you mean a whole chicken. You'd perhaps say this in a shop, but not a restaurant."
When I'm to pay for the food I have had at a restaurant, I have to pay for the amount or number of things I have eaten. So how to talk about the amount of "chicken" or numbers of "chickens" I had?
I hope you get what I mean.
Thank you.
Hi I want to learn something.
I have been learning prepositional phrases act as an adjective.
For example,"book on the table."
But I am confused when I am trying to write following sentence
"I am going to school on Monday"
Is it also adjectival phrase? or different thing? Could you explain
Thanks a lot
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