Singular and plural nouns
Introduction
In this lesson, you will learn general information about singular and plural nouns, how we form plural nouns and some exceptions.
Singular Nouns
Singular nouns are used to describe one person, place, animal, thing, or idea.
For example, table, girl, house, dog, and idea are all singular nouns. Singular nouns typically end with -s, -x, -z, -ch, -sh, and -o. Here are some examples:
- Bus
- Fox
- Jazz
- Lunch
- Dish
- Potato
There are also singular nouns that do not end in -s, -x, -z, -ch, -sh, and -o. For example:
- Mouse
- Sheep
- Child
- Tooth
- Person
It’s important to remember that:
- a singular noun needs a singular verb after it, e.g.: A dog barks, not: A dog
bark. - a singular noun can be used with the indefinite article a/an when we talk about an indefinite thing, place, person or object. In case a noun starts with a vowel sound (o, i, e, a, u), we use the article an, e.g.: an apple, an organization, an egg, etc. If a noun starts with a consonant sound (p, t, n, f, etc.), we use the article a: a group, a noun, a table, a fan, etc.
- the article a/an means one, so you can never use it with plural nouns: a cat = one cat, a car = one car, etc.
Plural Nouns
Plural nouns are used to describe more than one person, place, animal, thing, or idea. The majority of singular nouns can become plural and have a regular plural form. There’s also the group of irregular nouns – exceptions. They have different plural forms. Sometimes, their plural forms can be the same as the singular.
Plural nouns can be formed by adding -s/-es to the end of the regular nouns. For example:
- Tables (a table)
- Girls (a girl)
- Houses (a house)
- Dogs (a dog)
- Ideas (an idea)
- Peaches (a peach)
- Kisses (a kiss)
- Brushes (a brush)
There are also irregular plural nouns that do not end in -s/-es, but have specific forms. Here are some examples:
- Men (man)
- Women (woman)
- Children (child)
- Feet (foot)
- Teeth (tooth)
- Mice (mouse)
- Geese (goose)
There are also nouns that remain the same in both singular and plural. For example:
- Deer
- Fish
- Sheep
- Aircraft
- Species
With the plural nouns we can only use the article the when talking about certain things, objects, people, etc. In other cases, we use them without any article, or zero article, e.g.: the windows (in my room) and windows (in any building); the children (in my family) and children (all over the world).
Practice
Change Plural Nouns to Singular. Rewrite the following sentences by changing the plural nouns to singular.
- The dogs barked loudly in the park.
- My friends and I went to the movies last night.
- The birds flew south for the winter.
- The houses on this street are all for sale.
- The vegetables in the garden are ready to be picked.
Exercises
Do some more exercises.
Answers:
Exercise 1: 1. singular, singular 2. plural 3. plural 4. plural 5. singular
Exercise 2: 1. The cars are parked in the garage. 2. My brothers enjoy playing video games. 3. She bought some new watches yesterday. 4. The flowers are blooming in the garden. 5. The students received good grades on the exam.
Exercise 3: 1. The dog barked loudly in the park. 2. My friend and I went to the movie last night. 3. The bird flew south for the winter. 4. The house on this street is all for sale. 5. The vegetable in the garden is ready to be picked.
Exercise 4: 1. child 2. books 3. apples 4. trees 5. cars
Exercise 5: 1. teeth 2. feet 3. mice 4. geese 5. men 6. women 7. children 8. fish (same for singular and plural) 9. sheep (same for singular and plural) 10. deer (same for singular and plural)