Problems with Nouns References © 2001 by Ruth Luman Singular or Plural???? Woman? Womans? Women?

Problems with Nouns References 2001 by Ruth Luman Singular or Plural???? Woman? Womans? Women?

Introduction Problems with Nouns Look at the sentences below. Whats wrong? Move your mouse over each sentence to see the answer. 1. I have three bedroom in my house. 2. There are many milks in the refrigerator.There are many milks in the refrigerator. 3. Those chair are in the wrong room.Those chair are in the wrong room. 4. There are five reds cars.There are five reds cars. 5. Some of the class are at night.Some of the class are at night. 6. Your childs are beautiful.Your childs are beautiful. 7. Would you like a few milk?Would you like a few milk? Bedrooms should be plural because the sentence says there are three. The word milks is incorrect, because it is a non-count noun and cannot have an s.

Guideline #1 Count and Non-Count Nouns In English, we have countable and non-countable nouns. Some examples of countable and non-countable nouns are below. Countable NounsNon-Countable Nouns chair student day song computer room love money weather food fruit furniture More Non- Countable Nouns

Guideline #2 Countable Nouns Countable nouns can have singular and plural forms and can be counted numerically. Most countable nouns can be made plural by adding s or es. bookbooks3 books boxboxes2 boxes

Guideline #3 Non-Countable Nouns Non-countable nouns have only one form and cant be counted numerically. Look at the examples below. moniesmoney one moneymoney healthshealth two healthhealth

Guideline #4 Non-Countable Nouns Non-countable nouns cannot take the plural s or es or an article (a, an). a furniturefurniture furnituresfurniture a newsnews newsesnews

Guideline #5 Irregular Plural Nouns Some nouns have an irregular plural form. Look at the examples below. childchildschildren womanwomanswomen Click here to see a list of irregular plural nouns.

Guideline #6 Noun Quantifiers Words like, a few, a little, much, any, some, and many are used differently depending on whether the noun in the sentence is count or non-count. a few count nounsa few bananas a little non-count nounsa little flour

(Continued) Noun Quantifiers many count nounsmany chairs much non-count nounsmuch furniture some non-count nounssome furniture count nounssome chairs

(Continued) Noun Quantifiers Any is used in negative sentences with count and non-count nouns. Notice the difference in plural and singular verbs. any count nounsThere arent any chairs. any non-count nounsThere isnt any furniture.

Guideline #7 Agreement with Demonstrative Adjectives Remember to make demonstrative adjectives (this, that, these, those) agree with the nouns they modify. singular This/That these room plural These/Those these rooms this roomsthis room

Guideline #8 Nouns and of phrases A countable noun is always plural after an of phrase that shows quantity. A non-count noun is always singular after an of phrase. Click here to see a list of common of phrases. of phrases Some of the chairs are broken. Some of the furniture is broken. plural singular

Guideline #9 Adjectives Adjectives are never plural. Those are beautifuls houses. beautiful That is an olds book. old adjective

Practice Exercises Click on the links below to look at additional grammar notes and do some practice exercises with count and non-count nouns. More Grammar Notes and Exercises

Practice Exercises Now you are ready to practice what youve learned. Click the link below to return to Unit D. Print and complete the Practice Exercise on count and non-count nouns. Check your answers with a tutor.

Editing Checklist After you have checked your essay for singular/plural noun problems, read your essay draft aloud to your tutor. As you read it,listen to make sure there are no errors in singular/plural nouns. Look at your essay. Circle all of the nouns in your essay. Using the guidelines you have learned in this lesson, decide why each noun should be singular or plural. Discuss your decisions with a tutor.

Appendix Irregular Plural Nouns woman womendeer deer man mencalf calves child childrenwife wives ox oxenlife lives foot feethalf halves tooth teethknife knives goose geeseself selves mouse micewolf wolves louse licethief thieves sheep sheepleaf leaves fish fishshelf shelves

Appendix Non-Countable Nouns accommodationcoalgarbageleisure vocabulary adviceconductgossiplightning wealth angercountrysidegrassluck weather applausecouragehairluggage work assistancedamagehappinessmachinery violence baggagedancingharmmeat underwear behaviorfurniturehelpmoney travel breaddirthomeworkmud traffic cardboardeducationhospitalitymusic cashevidencehouseworknews chaosfluinformationpatience chessfoodjewelrypoetry chinafruitknowledgescenery clothingfunlaughtersoap spellingstrengthstuffthunder

Appendix of phrases Some of theA little of the Many of theMuch of the A number of theA lot of the One of the Most of the Half of the A few of the

References Presentation by Ruth Luman: Modesto Junior College. This project incorporates portions of copyrighted works. These items are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S. Copyright Law and have been prepared according to the educational fair use guidelines. They are restricted from further use.

Problems with Nouns References © 2001 by Ruth Luman Singular or Plural???? Woman? Womans? Women?

Documents

non countable nouns

plural singular slide

nouns references

list of irregular plural

examples of countable

noncount nounsthere

healthhealth slide

count nounsmuch furniture