Grammar singular and plural

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Grammar singular and plural

SINGULAR AND PLURAL

In English, both nouns and verbs change their form according to how they are used. English is easier than Sinhala or Tamil in this respect, because such changes are comparatively few.

The most important change in nouns is between singular and plural. The most common way in English of forming the plural is by adding the letter s to the singular form. In some words, especially those that end in an s sound already, es is added; words ending in y often drop the y and add ies; some words change a lot and some not at all.

1) Write down ten nouns from the pictures, and then write down their plural forms.

Write down the plural form of at least 20 of the nouns you thought of previously.

Do Exercise 3 in the ‘Fables and Folk Tales’ section of ‘Read, Think and Discuss’.

3) The following exercise may be omitted or may be done later if it seems too difficult now.

Some words do not have a plural form. Decide which amongst the following have no plural. Turn the others into the plural.

Rice meal advice steam pineapple sugar diesel

Water stuff stream toddy foodstuff bread food

Oil arrack cake blood music milk

Can you work out why some of these nouns could not be made plural? Were there any words over which there was great uncertainty?

Try using those words in sentences, to see whether there are different senses in which they are used. You may find that whether or not a plural form is used depends on the sense of the word.

Source : http://www.liberalparty-srilanka.org/downloads/A%20Handbook%20of%20English%20Grammar.doc

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Singular and Plural Nouns

A noun that names one person, place, thing, or idea is a singular noun. A noun that names more than one person, place, thing, or idea is a plural noun. In most cases, you can change a singular noun to a plural by adding s.

Singular: truck plant letter noise

Plural: trucks plants letters noises

Many nouns, however, have irregular plural forms. The chart below shows you the different patterns for forming the plurals of these nouns.

Forming Plurals

Singular Ending	Plural Form	Example
s ss ch sh x z	add es	Thomas – Thomases boss – bosses porch – porches brush – brushes fox – foxes waltz – waltzes
o	add es (some add only s)	potato – potatoes veto – vetoes echo – echoes (Eskimo – Eskimos) (solo – solos)
consonant + y	change *y to i* and add es	baby – babies party – parties country – countries
vowel + y	add s	day – days turkey - turkeys
f or fe	change *f to v* and add *s or es*	life – lives scarf – scarves wolf - wolves

Some nouns have the same spelling in the singular and the plural.

moose – moose salmon – salmon deer – deer

Other nouns are spelled differently in the plural.

child – children woman – women tooth – teeth

man – men goose – geese mouse – mice

Don’t forget to use the dictionary to check for correct plurals!

Guided Practice

Directions: For each pair of words in parentheses, circle the correct plural form.

Example: Put the (boxs, boxes) on those two (shelfs, shelves).

Put the (boxs, boxes) on those two (shelfs, shelves).

The new (puppies, puppys) have sharp (tooths, teeth).

The gardener weeded the berry (patchs, patches) and planted (tomatos, tomatoes).

Loggers use (axes, axs) to cut (treeses, trees).

The (moose, mooses) heard (echos, echoes) from the distant canyon.

There are four (Besss, Besses) in the (classs, classes).

Directions: What is the plural form of each noun?

Example: scarf scarves

apple ______________________

policy ______________________

hero ______________________

watch ______________________

wife ______________________

dress ______________________

lake ______________________

donkey ______________________

Ross ______________________

waltz ______________________

Summing Up:

Add s or es to most singular nouns to form the plural. Use the spelling of the singular noun to decide how to form the plural.
Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms.
Some nouns are spelled differently in the plural.

Directions: For each of the following nouns, write singular, plural, or singular and

plural.

Example: goose singular

piano ____________________________

moose ____________________________

women ____________________________

dresses ____________________________

Lewises ____________________________

deer ____________________________

lilies ____________________________

alleys ____________________________

opera ____________________________

couch ____________________________

hero ____________________________

watch ____________________________

wife ____________________________

mice ____________________________

fish ____________________________

Directions: Write the plural form of each noun. Use your dictionary if you need it.

Example: knife knives

brush ______________________

opera ______________________

couch ______________________

country ______________________

monkey ______________________

soprano ______________________

cross ______________________

style ______________________

mouse ______________________

nursery ______________________

envelope ______________________

studio ______________________

calf ______________________

stereo ______________________

mix ______________________

trolley ______________________

Directions: Write the correct plural form of each noun in parentheses on the lines provided.

Example: Today, _______________ (plastic) have _______________

(thousand) of _______________ (use).

Today, plastics (plastic) have thousands (thousand) of uses (use).

Most _______________ (family) and _______________ (business) use plastic _______________ (product).

_______________ (Box), _______________ (shelf), and even _______________ (scarf) can be made of plastic.

_______________ (Chemist) make plastic by combining carbon with other _______________ (element).

Now most _______________ (country) have _______________ (factory) that make plastic _______________ (item).

Almost all _______________ (toy) for _______________ (child) contain some plastic _______________ (part).

Many clothes for _______________ (man) and _______________ (woman) are made with plastic.

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