Singular and Plural Of Nouns

Singular and Plural of Nouns

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es.

Singular	Plural
Boat Hat House Rabbit River shoe	Boats Hats Houses Rabbits Rivers Shoes

A noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant makes the plural with -ies.

Singular	Plural
A cry A fly A nappy A puppy A city A lady A baby	Cries Flies Nappies Puppies Cities Ladies Babies

There are some irregular formations for noun plurals. Some of the most common ones are listed below.

Singular	Plural
Woman Man Child Tooth Foot Person Leaf Half Knife Wife Life Loaf Potato Tomato Cactus Mouse	Women Men Children Teeth Feet People Leaves Halves Knives Wives Lives Loaves Potatoes Tomatoes Cacti Mice

Partitive Nouns

Partitive Nouns

A partitive noun is a word that shows a part of quantity. It is used with an uncountable item.

·        a bar of chocolate

·        a blade of glass

·        a bottle of wine

·        a breath of fresh air

·        a cup of tea / coffee

·        a dash of pepper

·        a drop of water

·        a grain of sand

·        a length of cloth

·        a litre of petrol

·        a loaf of bread

·        a lump of coal

·        a packet of sugar

·        a piece of paper

·        a pinch of salt

·        a plot of land

·        a reel of thread

·        a sack of rice

·        a slice of meat

·        a tin of milk

The uses of Each, Every, Either, Neither

Each , Every , Either , Neither

These distributive words are normally used with singular nouns, and are placed before the noun.

Each, either and neither can be used with plural nouns but must be followed by ‘of’ :

Each is a way of seeing the members of a group as individuals:

·        Each child received a present.

·        Each of the children received a present.

Every is a way of seeing a group as a series of members:

·        Every child in the world deserves affection.

It can also express different points in a series , especially with time expressions:

·        Every third morning Jason goes swimming.

·        This magazine is published every month.

Either and Neither are concerned with distribution between two things – either is positive, neither is negative:

·        Which chair do you want? Either chair will do.

·        I can stay at either hotel, they are both good.

·        There are two chairs here. You can take either of them.

·        Neither chair is any good, they’re both too small.

·        Which chair do you want? Neither of them – they’re both too small.

Compound nouns made with Some, Any and No

Compound nouns made with SOME, ANY and NO

Some +	-thing	-body	-one	-where
Any +
No +

Compound nouns with some- and any- are used in the same way as some and any.

Positive statements:

Examples

·         Someone is sleeping in my bed.

·         He saw something in the garden.

·         I left my glasses somewhere in the house.

Questions:

Examples

·         Are you looking for someone? (= I'm sure you are)

·         Have you lost something? (= I'm sure you have)

·         Is there anything to eat? (real question)

·         Did you go anywhere last night?

Negative statements:

Examples

·         She didn't go anywhere last night.

·         He doesn't know anybody here.

NOTICE that there is a difference in emphasis between nothing, nobody etc. and not ... anything, not ... anybody:

Examples

·         I don't know anything about it. (= neutral, no emphasis)

·         I know nothing about it (= more emphatic, maybe defensive)

SOMETHING, SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE

Examples

·         I have something to tell you.

·         There is something to drink in the fridge.

·         He knows somebody in New York

·         Susie has somebody staying with her.

·         They want to go somewhere hot for their holidays.

·         Keith is looking for somewhere to live.

ANYBODY, ANYTHING, ANYWHERE

Examples

·         Is there anybody who speaks English here?

·         Does anybody have the time?

·         Is there anything to eat?

·         Have you anything to say?

·         He doesn't have anything to stay tonight.

·         I wouldn't eat anything except at Maxim's.

NOBODY, NOTHING, NOWHERE

Examples

·         There is nobody in the house at the moment

·         When I arrived there was nobody to meet me.

·         I have learnt nothing since I began the course.

·         There is nothing to eat.

·         There is nowhere as beautiful as Paris in the Spring.

·         Homeless people have nowhere to go at night.

ANYcan also be used in positive statements to mean 'no matter which', 'no matter who', 'no matter what':

Examples

·         You can borrow any of my books.

·         They can choose anything from the menu.

·         You may invite anybodyto dinner, I don't mind.

A few , a little

A few and few, a little and little

These expressions show the speaker's attitude towards the quantity he/she is referring to.

A few (for countable nouns) and a little (for uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a positive way:

Examples

·         "I've got a few friends" (= maybe not many, but enough)

·         "I've got a little money" (= I've got enough to live on)

Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way:

Examples

·         Few people visited him in hospital (= he had almost no visitors)

He had little money (= almost no money)

Conjunctions

Conjunctions

Conjunctions are used to join two words, clauses or sentences.

1.    ‘And’ is used  to join words, phrases, clauses or sentences.

Examples:

Peter can sing and dance.

My father is tired and he needs a rest.

2.    ‘But’ is used to join ideas that are opposite of each other.

Examples:

David is thin but his brother is fat.

She wants to work in Kuala Lumpur but her mother will not let her.

3.    ‘Or’ is used to show a choice between two things.

Examples:

Do you want a cold or hot drink?

I can take a taxi or walk there.

4.    ‘If’ is used to show condition.

Examples:

I will buy a house here if I have the money.

If it rains, we will not go for the show.

5.    ‘So’ is used to show result.

Example:

I missed the bus so I was late for school.

He was hungry. So he ate two plates of rice.

6.    ‘Because’ and ‘as’ are used to show reason/ reasons.

Examples:

He had to go home quickly because his mother was not well.

I could not go out as it was going to rain.

7.    ‘Although’ is used to join two contrasting facts.

Note: ‘But’ should never be used with ‘although’ in a sentence.

Examples:

Although he is poor, he is happy.

She came to school although she was not well.

8.    ‘Either…or’ is used to show a choice between two things or two persons.

Examples:

You can either take a taxi or a bus.

Either the workers or the director is to blame for the power failure.

Either the director or the workers are to blame for the power failure.

9.    ‘Neither…nor’ is used to show negative.

Examples:

Neither Samuel nor his sister went to school yesterday because they were not well.