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
Hello agie,
Neither is incorrect. As is often the case with articles, it depends upon the context in which the sentence is used and what knowledge is already shared between the interlocutors.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie
Yes, 'from' is correct and very commonly used in this kind of sentence.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie,
Both 'for' and 'with' are possible. I think 'for' is more common, at least in UK English.
I suspect there are problems with articles in both sentences, however, though it is not possible to be sure without knowing the context in which the sentences appear.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie,
I think the first one is the more natural way to express this, but the second one is not grammatically incorrect. Without knowing the context and what you intend to express, however, it is impossible to say more.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie,
I think the usual term is 'absolute beginner' (which is also the name of a musical starring David Bowie!).
In your sentence, I would say 'at school' is the best choice.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie
They mean the same thing. 'flat' is more common in British English (though 'apartment' is also used) and speakers of American English only use 'apartment'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie
2 sounds better to me.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Vitub,
The phrase 'articles chart' is a compound noun and is best treated as a single unit rather than being analysed as two nouns separately. It's not unusual to see compound nouns like this (e.g. sports shoes, games site, exhibitions hall, parcels division).
It's perfectly fine to use an indefinite article before a singular compound noun. The implication is that there are many possible articles charts, and this is one example. Within the text, once referring back to an already-identified chart, you might use 'the', of course.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Vitub,
Both forms are possible, but there is a difference in meaning.
'He'll get to be a company president' means that he is capable of reaching this position in a company somewhere, but I do not have a specific company in mind.
'He'll get to be company president' means that I think he will reach a particular position in a particular company (presumably the one I or he work in).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie,
The correct preposition here is 'on'. We say 'be on the bus', 'get on the bus' and 'get off the bus'.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Jon Lin
It sounds a bit strange to say 'a copy' when referring to two different documents. I'd say 'Please find attached copies of 1 and 2'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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
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 agie
In some cases they can mean much the same thing, but in general when we speak about a person's character, we're thinking more of characteristics that they develop over time and are associated with their beliefs and actions. Their personality, in contrast, is more innate, i.e. they are born with the personality they have.
By the way, you can often find explanations of the difference between two words by doing an internet search for 'what's the difference between character and personality'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Hamdy Ali,
You can use lots of and a lot of in negative sentences. For example
I don't have a lot of time.
You can also use much and many, of course.
The difference is very slight and in most contexts you can use either. I would say that not much means there is only a small amount. In some contexts, not a lot of could mean that the amount is not great, but is not necessarily small either.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie
Yes, that's right. Well, I'm not completely sure about the time limit for short films, but yes, in general films of that length are referred to as 'short films'.
A 'scene' refers to a sequence in the film that is one place or one action in some way. If you are talking about a part of a film where there is more than one scene, or that is shorter than an entire scene, a better word might be 'clip', which just refers to a segment of unspecified nature.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello dipakrgandhi,
I can't really comment on this as I'm not sure I understand what you mean without an example. In any case, English is a constantly evolving langauge with a descriptive rather than a prescriptive grammar – in other words, the rules of English describe how it is actually used, rather than trying to be a system which must be followed. If a certain naming convention is in common use then it becomes correct by default, and the rules of grammar change to represent this.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello dipakrgandhi
As Peter says, it depends on the context, but in general I agree with you when you say it's redundant. I'd probably say either 'The Dipak Hotel' or 'The Dipak Inn' and not use both words.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie,
You can find definitions for these terms in any online dictionary:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autobiography
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biography
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie
Yes, this word is commonly used in both American and British English.
Best wishes
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello agie,
An air conditioner is a machine which controls the temperature in a building or car, enabling us to set it to a comfortable level.
Air condition describes how the air is in a particular locality and means the same as 'the condition of the air': The air condition in the city today is very bad, with high levels of pollution.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team