mardi 16 décembre 2014

Top Tips Grammar: Count nouns

Main points

*Count nouns have two form, singular and plural.
*They can be used with numbers.
*Singular count nouns always take a determiner.
*Plural count nouns do not need a determiner.
*Singular count nouns take a singular verb and plural count nouns take a plural verb.

 

In English, some things are thought of as individual items that can be counted directly. The nouns which refer to these countable things are called count nouns. Most nouns in English are count nouns.

 

a) Count nouns have two form. The singular form refer to one thing or person.

- ...a book.
- ...the teacher.

The plural form refers to more than one thing or person.

- ...books.
- ...some teachers.

 

b) You add ‘-s’ to form the plural of most nouns.

book --> books      
school --> schools      

You add ‘-es’ to nouns ending in ‘-ss’, ‘-ch’, ‘-s’, ‘-sh’, or ‘-x’.

class --> classes watch --> watches
gas --> gases dish --> dishes
fox --> foxes      

Some nouns ending in ‘-o’ add ‘-s’, and some add ‘-es’.

photo --> photos piano --> pianos
hero --> heroes potato --> potatoes

Nouns ending in a consonant and ‘-y’ change to ‘-ies’.

country --> countries lady --> ladies
party --> parties victory --> victories

Nouns ending in a vowel and ‘-y’ add an ‘-s’.

boy --> boys day --> days
key --> keys valley --> valleys

Some common nouns have irregular plurals.

child --> children foot --> feet
man --> men mouse --> mice
tooth --> teeth woman --> women

Remember that some nouns that end in ‘-s’ are uncount nouns, for example ‘athletics’ and ‘physics’.

 

c) Count nouns can be used with numbers.

-...one table.
-...
two cats.
-...three hundred people.

 

d) Singular count nouns cannot be used alone, but always take a determiner such as ‘a’, ‘another’, ‘every’, or ‘the’.

- We’ve killed a pig.
- He was eating another apple.
- I parked the car over there.

 

e) Plural count nouns can be used with or without a determiner. They do not take a determiner when they refer to things or people in general.

- Does the hotel have large rooms?
- The film is not suitable for children.

Plural count nouns do take a determiner when they refer precisely to particular things or people.

- Our computers are very expensive.
- These cakes are delicious.

 

f) When a count noun is the subject of a verb, a singular count noun takes a singular verb.

- My son likes playing football.
- The address on the letter was wrong.

A plural count noun takes a plural verb.

- Bigger cars cost more.
- I thought more people were coming.

 

 

 

 

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
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See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs Common Slangs
Common misspellings Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors Frequently confused words
Common Slangs Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés Common Prepositions

 

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