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Lesson 2; Nouns: Number

1. Posted by Bertha in Grammar |
2. September 30th, 2009 |
3. Comments

        

A noun denotes a name to a person or a thing. There are five kinds of Noun; 1) Proper Noun, 2) Common Noun, 3) Collective Noun, 4) Material Noun, 5) Abstract Noun. However, we are not going to discuss all of them here.

1)      Proper Noun – When the noun or the name is used for one particular thing or person, it is known as proper noun; like,

John is a good boy.

New York is a busy city.

John and New York, both are examples of proper noun.

2)      Common Noun – When the noun or the name is common to every thing or person of same kind, it is known as common noun; like,

Tiger is a fierce animal.

Here, the noun Tiger denotes every tiger in any part of this world.

• When the common noun means only one person or one thing at a time, the common noun is in the Singular number; like, ‘goat’, ‘man’, ‘snake’ etc.

• When the common noun means more than one person or one thing, it is in the Plural number. In other words, when a common noun means several things or persons of same kind at a time, it is in Plural number; like, ‘goats’, ‘men’, ‘snakes’ etc.

N.B. – Since, a proper noun relates only one particular thing or person; it can be in the Singular number only. However, a common noun relates either one or more than one person or thing; and so, can be in both Singular number and Plural number.

Singular to Plural Conversion

1) Mostly, Plural numbers are formed by adding ’s’ to the Singular number; like,

Singular          Plural

Boy                      Boys

Snake                  Snakes

Cap                       Caps

Flea                     Fleas

Hut                       Huts

2) When the nouns end in s, sh, ss, x, or ch, the Plural number is formed by adding es to the end of the Singular number; like,

Singular       Plural

Class                 Classes

Fish                   Fishes

Compass         Compasses

Box                   Boxes

Wrench           Wrenches

3) The nouns ending in ‘y’ form the Plural by adding ‘s’ (if ‘y’ has any of the  vowels going before it) to the Singular; like,

Singular Plural

Monkey               Monkeys

Day                         Days

4) Nouns ending in ‘y’ form the Plural by adding ‘es’ (if ‘y’ has any of the  consonants going before it) to the Singular; like,

Singular Plural

Army                   Armies

Butterfly             Butterflies

5) When the nouns end in fe, or f, the Plural number is normally formed by changing fe or f into ves; like,

Singular Plural

Knife                 Knives

Life                    Lives

Leaf                   Leaves

Wolf                  Wolves

Some Exceptions

• There are some nouns that form the Plural number by changing some vowels in the middle of the word; like,

Singular Plural

Foot                  Feet

Goose               Geese

Tooth               Teeth

Louse               Lice

Mouse              Mice

Man                  Men

Mailman         Mailmen

• There are few nouns that form their Plural number by adding en; like,

Singular          Plural

Child                   Children

Ox                        Oxen

• There are some nouns that have same form in both the Plural and Singular; like,

Singular         Plural

Sheep             Sheep

Fish                Fish or Fishes

Swine             Swine

Dozen             Dozen or Dozens

Quail               Quail

Elk                  Elk or Elks

Cod                 Cod or Cods