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Information is plural in English. The plural form of nouns in English is the rules of education. Pronouns in singular and plural

Knowing a language without distinguishing between singular and plural is, of course, impossible. Fortunately, distinguishing and using the plural correctly in English is not as difficult as, for example, in French. Let's consider in more detail. Ready?

The plural in English is formed according to certain rules, which, of course, have their exceptions. It would seem that not everything is so difficult, but when learning a language, beginners often have difficulties, since the rules have their own peculiarities. Let's start simple.

Plural of nouns

• There was a fruit on the plate. / There were some fruit on the plate.

It should also be borne in mind that there are uncountable nouns. In this case, we use only a single form of the verb to be.

• There is some money in the valley.

Some nouns, on the contrary, can only be used in the plural: scissors, glasses, trousers, tweezers,pyjamas etc. For example:

• Where are my favorite jeans? They must be on the chair.

Singular words

Uncountable nouns are used only in the singular. Pronouns each, either, neither, another and all compound words with a component - one, -body or - thing always refer to the only one number.

Everybody was surprised when they saw him.

There is a lot of controversy about the plural form of words ending in - us... Historically, words ending in -us are of Latin origin. In the plural, they get the ending - i instead of -us. However, not all such words are of Latin origin, hence the controversy. For example:

Plural of virus - viruses rather than viri.

Some Latin loanwords take the regular English ending - es: campus - campus es; bonus - bonus es.

Some Latin borrowings take the ending -i: radius - radii, stimulus - stimuli.

Plural rules in English

Summing up, we can safely say that in order to be well versed in the singular and plural nouns in the English language, it is necessary first of all to study the main exceptions. There are not so many such words. You can use all your favorite method with stickers - paste these with a list of words in the most visible places, and from time to time return to repetition. The table will also help to study the plural in English.

After examining the exceptions, go back to the rules on which everything is built. There are not many of them. The main thing is to feel, and you can use them intuitively on the subconscious, as if English is your native language. If you doubt that you can cope on your own, you can always contact a teacher who will advise and test you. There is nothing difficult and impossible, the main thing is faith and desire.

Conclusion

Plural education in English is the basics from which one starts back in school, so this topic should be given special attention. It doesn't matter how old you are, this topic should always be among the starting topics for study. Whether you are using structured, high-quality study materials for learning English, or working with a teacher individually, you will definitely be guided in the right direction. If you are doing it yourself, be sure to take care not to bypass this topic.

Enjoy your learning curve!

Big and friendly family EnglishDom

In Russian, a noun can be singular or plural. In this aspect, English grammar is no different from Russian.

However, the use of the singular or plural of English nouns has its own characteristics that you need to know, otherwise your speech will be illiterate. All the most important subtleties of using the plural in English are presented in the following tables.

Table 1. Formation of the plural.

Table 2. Nouns, the plural of which is not formed according to the general rule.

Table 3. Nouns used only in the singular.

Table 4. Nouns used only in the plural.

In order not to miss new useful materials,

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

1. We use plural nouns that go in pairs:

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

   Pajamas- pajamas (top and bottom).

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

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

     My jeans don’t suit me at all. - My jeans don't fit me at all. (not my jeans doesn’t)

   • If you need to say in the singular about these things, 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 some nouns that end in -ics, and more often than not 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 a singular number:
     

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

   • Some words that end in -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- a family, firm- firm, government- state, staff- team, team- command. These are the so-called collective nouns or collective nouns. You noticed that all these words refer to one thing, however, they usually 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 plural verb:
   

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

   • We sometimes use the plural after the 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 and the use of the verb form for the singular, it all depends on what meaning you put into. If all members of a group, family, states 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 over 6 months! (but not has been)

   • But we can also talk about the singular if we use words such as a police officer / a policeman / a policewoman.
4. Also, we usually do not use the word person- plural person ( persons). Most often they say 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), distances ( 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 is difficult, of course, to immediately remember all these rules, but with the constant repetition of these rules, you will soon not even notice how and where to put the singular or plural.

Execute Use of nouns only in the plural and only in the singular

Nouns ending in -y with a preceding consonant are plural by adding the ending -es, moreover -y changes to -i... For example, a dictionary - dictiona ries .

But: a boy - boys, a day - days(there is a vowel before -y). Some nouns ending in -f, -fe, become plural by changing -f on -v and adding an ending -es.

a half - halves
a wolf - wolves
a wife - wives

But: roof - roofs, safe - safes.

A number of nouns form the plural in a special way.

Part 2.

"Two funny G ** SEs lived with a grandmother"
or How not to get confused in the great multitude!

We all know perfectly well the rule of plural formation - the plural is formed by adding the ending "s" to the noun in the singular. But does everyone know that here, as in many other rules, there are a few special cases that need to be remembered? Let's take a look at them and at the same time check the completeness and correctness of our knowledge.

We must remember that what if our noun ends in:
- o, - ch, - sh, -ss or - x,
the plural is formed by adding the ending - es.
Example: tomato (tomato) - tomato es, church (church) - church es, bush (bush) - bush es, kiss (kiss) - kiss es, box (box) - box es.
Just pay attention to the fact that if a word of foreign origin ends in - o, we add simply "s":
Example: kilo (kilogram) - kilo s, photo (photo) - photo s, piano (grand piano) - piano s, soprano (soprano) - soprano s.

Besides if the noun ends in - y and before - y there is a consonant letter, we "y" change to "i" and add - es.
Example: baby (baby, child) - bab ies, fly (fly) - fl ies.

12 nouns ending in - f or - fe, when formed plural "lose" - f or - fe but acquire - ves.
Here they are:

• calf(calf),
• half(half),
• knife(knife),
• leaf(tree leaf),
• life(life),
• loaf(loaf, loaf),
• self(by myself),
• sheaf(sheaf, bundle),
• shelf(shelf),
• thief(thief),
• wife(wife),
• wolf(Wolf).
Example: life - liv es, wife - wiv es, wolf - wolv es etc.

1. You should also remember a number of nouns in which the plural is formed by changing the vowel (and in some cases, by adding an ending - en / - ren). Example:

   • foot(leg, foot) - f ee t,
   • tooth(tooth) - t ee th,
   • man(man, person) - m e n,
   • woman(woman) - wom ru,
   • mouse(mouse) - m i ce,
   • goose(goose) - g ee se,
   • louse(louse) - l i ce,
   • child(child) - childr ru,
   • ox(bull, ox) - ox ru.

2. And the last what to remember - nouns deer(deer) and sheep(sheep) have the same shape for both singular and plural.
   Example: sheep - sheep, deer - deer.

Today we will learn all about the formation of the plural in English. It would seem that it is enough to add -s to the end of the word, and the plural form of the noun is ready! But not everything is so simple. Let's figure it out.

A noun is a part of speech that denotes an object (a chair), a person (a child - a child), an animal (a cat - a cat), a substance (milk - milk), a phenomenon (rain - rain) or an abstract concept (happiness - happiness).

It is important to remember that the plural or singular form of a noun is also important for the alignment of the subject (who? / What?) With the predicate (what does?). For countable nouns, we use the singular or plural form of the verb. And with uncountable nouns, we use the verb only in the singular.

Kids are curious. - Children curious.
My kid is curious. - My child curious.
The milk is too hot for me. - Milk too hot for me.

So that the rules for the formation of the plural are not forgotten, but firmly settled in the head, they need to be practiced in practice. To do this, sign up for.

Basic rules for the formation of the plural in English

There are several ways to form the plurality of countable nouns in English:

1. The most common rule is to add the ending -s to the singular noun:

   an apple - apples
   a pen - pens
   a problem - problems

   We pronounce the ending -s as / z / after voiced consonants or vowels. For example: dogs / dɒɡz / (dogs), hands / hændz / (hands), keys / kiːz / (keys).

   If the word ends in a voiceless consonant, then the ending -s is pronounced as / s /. For example: lamps / læmps / (lamps), myths / mɪθs / (myths), skirts / skɜːts / (skirts).

2. If a word ends in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, or -x, add the ending -es to form the plural.

   a bus - buses
   a dress - dresses
   a brush - brushes
   a watch - watches
   a box - boxes

   In this case, we pronounce the ending -es as / iz /. For example: glasses / ɡlɑːsiz / (glasses), boxes / bɒksiz / (boxes).

   Let's listen to blogger Rachel's pronunciation:

3. If the word ends in -o, the ending can be -es or -s. To choose the right one, it is better to consult a dictionary.

   Ending -es:

   a tomato - tomatoes
   a hero - heroes.

   The ending -s:

   a kilo - kilos (kilogram - kilograms)
   a photo - photos (photography - photos)

4. If a word ends in -y preceded by a consonant, the plural ending is -ies.

   a cherry - cherries
   a lady - ladies
   a puppy - puppies

   But if there is a vowel before the -y, then nothing needs to be changed - just add the ending -s.

   a boy - boys
   a day - days
   a monkey - monkeys

5. There are a number of nouns that change the -f / -fe ending to -ves in the plural. These exceptions include the following words:

   a calf - calves (calf - calf)
   an elf - elves
   a shelf - shelves
   a half - halves
   a knife - knives
   a thief - thieves
   a leaf - leaves
   a life - lives
   a loaf - loaves
   a wife - wives
   a wolf - wolves (wolf - wolves).

   And words like a dwarf (dwarf, gnome), a hoof (hoof), a scarf (scarf), a wharf (wharf) in the plural can have both the ending -fs and -ves.

6. There are a number of nouns whose plural forms you just need to remember.

   a person - people
   a man - men
   a woman - women
   a child - children
   a foot - feet
   a tooth - teeth
   a goose - geese
   a mouse - mice
   a louse - lice (louse - lice)
   an ox - oxen (bull - bulls)

7. And one more group - nouns, the forms of which in the singular and plural are the same. Here is some of them:

   a sheep - sheep
   a swine - swine (pig - pigs)
   an aircraft - aircraft
   a means - means
   a crossroads - crossroads
   a series - series

Special cases of plural formation in English

1. Uncountable nouns in English

   What if we still need to indicate the plurality of something uncountable? In this case, before the noun itself, you must put words indicating its number:

   • Capacity, container:

     two cartons of juice - two cartons of juice
     three bottles of wine - three bottles of wine
     four cups of tea - four cups of tea
     five glasses of water - five glasses of water
     six jars of jam - six jars of jam
     seven boxes of cereal - seven boxes of cereal
     eight cans of coke - eight cans of cola
     nine tins of tuna - nine cans of tuna
     ten tubes of toothpaste - ten tubes of toothpaste

   • Unit of measurement:

     two kilos of sugar - two kilograms of sugar
     three liters of petrol - three liters of gasoline
     four pounds of butter - four pounds of butter
     five meters of cable - five meters of cable

   • Unit (products, goods):

     three loaves of bread - three slices of bread
     four bars of chocolate - four chocolate bars
     five slices of cheese - five slices of cheese

   If you cannot find a unit of measurement for an uncountable noun, use the piece of construction.

   He gave me three pieces of advice... - He gave me three tips.

   Pay attention to nouns where the -s ending does not indicate the plural, as these are uncountable nouns.

   gymnastics - gymnastics
   billiards - billiards
   measles - measles
   maths - mathematics

   Measles is an infectious disease. - Measles- infection.
   Gymnastics is my favorite sport. - Gymnastics- My favorite sport.

2. Nouns that are used only in the plural. Accordingly, these words are used with the plural verb.

   police - police
   cattle - cattle
   clothes - clothes
   stairs - stairs

   The police are looking for the robbers. - Police are looking for robbers.

   Also, nouns that are used only in the plural include objects consisting of two parts - paired. Most often these are tools, clothing and accessories.

   jeans - jeans
   trousers - trousers
   pyjamas (BrE), pajamas (AmE) - pajamas
   tights - tights
   pliers - pliers
   pincers - forceps
   shears - secateurs

   Use pairs of to form the plural of paired nouns.

   She wants to try on a few more pairs of sunglasses before the purchase. - Before buying, she wants to try on more multiple pairs of sunglasses.
   You should have at least two pairs of binoculars for birdwatching. - You must have at least two pairs of binoculars for bird watching.

3. Collective nouns

   Collective nouns denote a group of people or objects that are considered as a whole. With such nouns, we can use the verb in both the singular and the plural.

   staff - staff
   a team - team
   a crew - crew
   a family - family
   a company - company

   Most often it doesn't matter which number you choose, but sometimes one of the forms is more appropriate in context. It all depends on whether you are talking about the group as something whole (singular) or considering separately each member of the group (plural).

   The team was playing well. - Command played well.
   The team were playing well. - Everyone in the team played well.

   My family is very important to me. - My family very important to me.
   My family are going away next weekend. - All members of my family leaving next weekend.

We hope you have memorized everything about the formation of plural nouns in English. And if in doubt about choosing the right shape, refer to. You will find more topics in our series of articles "" and "".

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