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
Dear LearnEnglish Team,
The Answer for Exercise "Plural Nouns 2" Column 22 is incorrectly given as "boys" though the answer in Exercise "Plural Nouns 1" is "buses".
Kindly correct it so that others may not get confused.
Thank you.
Hello M.Anas.Ali,
We've fixed the exercise so that 'local buses' is now the correct answer.
I'm sorry for any confusion it might have caused, and thank you very much for taking the time to tell us about this error.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
What I meant is, is there any difference between:
kind of objects, kinds of objects and kinds of object in the same sentence?
Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Sajatadib,
Oh, I see. Let's take the sentences one by one.
1. This box has different kind of objects.
A correction is needed: "kind" is a singular noun so it needs an article before it --> "a different kind of objects". In this sentence, "different" does not mean "various objects" (i.e. difference within the box). It means that the objects are different from something else outside the box. For example, "Box A has some sports equipment in it. Box B has a different kind of objects." It means that Box B contains objects that are not sport equipment.
2. This box has different kinds of objects. / This box has different kinds of object.
These sentences mean the same thing. They mean that inside the box, there are a variety of objects. (Another sentence with a similar meaning is "This box has different objects.").
I hope that helps to understand it.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sir,
There is a box with different kind of objects in it.
Can we say "This box has different kinds of objects."?
How is that any different?
Best wishes!
Hi Sajatadib,
Those two sentences have generally the same meaning. They both show that the box exists, and that it contains various objects. However, in the second one ("This box ..."), the speaker may be also showing where the box is (e.g. pointing to it with his/her hand), or talking about a box that was mentioned before in the conversation.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
What is the distinction between "Election" and "Elections"? When to use election and when elections ? I am confused between these two's useage.
Hello Amit01,
I know what you mean. I'm not sure how it is everywhere, but often people vote for more than one position at a time; for example, you might vote for the president of the nation, the governor of your region and different members of parliament -- all on the same ballot or at the same time. In a context like this, there's more than one election, since you are choosing people for more than one position.
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Maahir,
People is always used when we are talking about nations or ethnic groups: the French people, the Japanese people etc. When we are talking about several different groups we can even use a plural form of this word: the peoples of Africa.
People is also much more common when we talk about groups of individuals:
There are ten people in the room.
The match was watched by 100,000 people.
Persons is reserved for very formal contexts:
You can read a good explanation here:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/person-persons-or-people
For a more detailed discussion including some historical analysis you can look here:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/people-vs-persons
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
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 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
Hello dipakrgandhi,
Yes, indeed, that sentence is ambiguous. It could refer to one or many.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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 Nevı,
Prepositional phrases can have adjectival or adverbial functions.
As adjectives, prepositional phrases answer the question 'Which one?'
As adverbs, prepositional phrases answer the questions 'Where?', 'When?', 'Who with?' or 'How?'
In your example, on Monday has an adverbial function.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Nevı,
I think you're confusing two separate things here: what the prepositional phrase is comprised of and how it is used in the sentence.
A prepositional phrase contains a preposition (with) and the object of that preposition (my friend). These are the elements which make it up.
The prepositional phrase's function in the sentence is a different thing. This can be adjectival (describing a noun) or adverbial (adding information about an action).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello dipakrgandhi,
Perhaps I'm missing something, but I can't think of a context in which 'Shop on sell' would be correct, at least in standard British or American English. If I owned a shop and wanted to sell it, I'd use a sign saying 'Shop for sale'.
It sounds to me as if you already understand the difference between 'sale' and 'sell'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello dipakrgandhi,
The usage of the noun 'sell' is shown in the example sentences on the Cambridge Dictionary page. I'd suggest you also look up 'sell' in other dictionaries (here's one, here's another) to see other explanations.
I'd be happy to explain the way 'sell' was used on the sign that you spoke about if it were used correctly, but it is not used correctly. I'm afraid I can't explain why they've used it incorrectly.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Jack,
The plural forms of numbers are regular when the word is used as a noun: ones, twos, threes etc.
None of your examples are correct, I'm afraid! The correct form is as follows:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Jack,
To use numbers as plurals you need to use them as nouns rather than as numbers. In other words, you need to be describing something real and not just saying how many things there are.
In a pack of playing cards there are four suits. Each suit has numbers from 2 to 10, plus the jack, queen, king and ace. You can say therefore that there are four twos in the pack, four threes, four fours etc.
You can also use the plural form of numbers to mean 'groups of':
People sat in two and threes around the lake. [groups of two or three people]
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Nagie23,
Here I'd use 'the media': 'how the media cover events'. In this usage, 'the media' refers to organisations that report (or 'cover') current events -- the reporting or the things reported are called 'the news'.
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi knownman,
Good questions! I'll put my answers below.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
No worries at all :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
Since 'hours' is plural, 1 is the correct choice.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
That's a good point. In this case, I think both 'is' and 'are' are OK. 'hours' is plural and so it's easy to see why 'are' is correct given that. But often people say 'is' here because 'Five hours' is conceptualized as a single period of time and therefore is conceptualized as a single (countable) subject.
Hope that's not too confusing.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
We use less with uncountable nouns and fewer with countable nouns. 'Pirates' is a countable noun. Therefore, the first sentence is correct.
Note that not all native speakers use standard grammar forms all the time, so you may well hear people using less with countable nouns. It may be that the language will change in the future, but for now the rule is as stated above.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Chekytan,
I'd say your question is more about punctuation than about noun phrases. Punctuation is usually something done at the level of the sentence -- in other words, I'd need to see the complete sentences these phrases are a part of to be able to recommend adequate punctuation.
But, at a glance, I can say that the second one would probably be OK in many situations. The second one would probably be punctuated something like 'an eight-year-old boy with a gun who tried to rob a sweet shop'. But as I said, it depends on the complete sentence it is a part of.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello CHEKYTAN,
In your second sentence you should say 'the green dress' rather than 'a green dress'.
As far as punctuation goes, I think the most likely option for the first sentence is this:
For the second sentence there are various possibilities. You could have no comma:
Alternatively, you could include one or more commas:
It really depends on the context and the author's intention and style.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team