Plurals and Concord (Upper Form)

Plurals

Formation of the Plural - Regular Nouns

• For regular nouns, we add the suffix -s to their singular forms.

          Examples:
          boy       -> boys
          cow      -> cows
          friend   -> friends
          place    -> places

• For regular nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -tch or -x, we add -es to their singular forms.

          Examples:
          class    -> classes
          brush   -> brushes
          branch -> branches
          stretch -> stretches
          box      -> boxes

• Most nouns ending in -o also form their plurals when -es is added to their singular form.

          Examples:
          mango -> mangoes
          potato  -> potatoes
          hero    -> heroes

• For some nouns ending in -o, we add only -s.

          Examples:
          piano   -> pianos
         dynamo -> dynamos
          ratio     -> ratios

• Nouns ending in -y after a consonant from their plurals when the -y is changed to -i and -es is added.

         Examples:
         baby    -> babies
         city     -> cities

• Nouns ending in -f or -fe form their plurals by dropping the -f or -fe and -ves is added.

         Examples:
         knife   -> knives
         leaf     -> leaves
         life     -> lives
         self    -> selves

Formation of the Plural - Irregular Nouns

• There are some irregular nouns which are changed to the plural by changing the vowels of their singular forms:

          Examples: 
louse -> lice                   foot -> feet
                           
 mouse -> mice               tooth -> teeth
                           
goose -> geese               crisis -> crises
                          
  woman -> women          criterion -> criteria

• For some nouns, -en or -ren is added.

          Examples : ox -> oxen             child -> children

• Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

          Examples: sheep, deer, series, species, tongs, scissors, spectacles, trousers, shorts

• Some nouns look like they are in the plural form, but they are actually singular.

          Examples: news, measles, mathematics, physics, billiards

• Some collective nouns are used only as plurals.

          Examples: poultry, cattle, vermin, people

• Abstract words and names of substances do not have plural forms.

          Examples: hope, kindness, copper, wood, wax

• Plurals for compound nouns are formed by adding -s to the principal noun.

          Examples: son-in-law -> sons-in-law

                            passer-by -> passers-by

                            stepson -> stepsons

Concord (Subject-Verb Agreement)

Singular-Singular

A singular subject (noun) takes a singular verb. Study the examples in the table below.

• If the subject contains more than one noun, the verb should agree in number with the main noun, and not necessarily the noun nearest to it.

         Examples: His knowledge of History and Geography is excellent.
                           Of the three students, Jerry is the shortest.

• Two or more singular subjects connected by or, nor, either and neither are followed by singular verbs.

          Examples: Either the cat or the dog has broken the pot.
                            Neither of the two men is very strong.

• The subject that comes after each and every must be singular and have singular verbs.

          Example: Every boy and girl was given a packet of biscuits.

Plural-Singular
Some words with plural forms, but singular in meaning, take singular verbs.
Examples: No news is good news.
                 Mathematics is a subject I don't like.

Plural-Plural

A plural subject (noun) is followed by a plural verb.

• There are some special cases where collective nouns are concerned. Look at the example below.

         The committee {is / are} divided on that point. (Both can be used)

                                                       

Exercise 1

Underline all the plural nouns that you can find in the text given below.

Last year, a grand exhibition was held in our town. My friends and I went to see it one evening.

Our first impression on entering the grounds was that the whole place looked like a funfair. There were countless lights and decorations in bright, gray colours. People were dressed in their best holiday clothes, moving around and stopping to admire the things displayed in the stalls. Goods like musical instruments, clothes and toys were on sale.

The Children's Corner was crowded with boys and girls. They were carrying balloons, eating cotton candy or playing on the wooden horses, merry-go-round or Ferris wheel. Even the grown-ups were having a wonderful time.

Exercise 2

Fill in the blanks with the plural form of the words given in brackets where necessary.

One evening, I heard loud (1) _______________ (siren) go past my house. I ran out and joined a large crowd a few (2) _______________ (street) away.

There was a house on fire. Huge (3) _______________ (flame) were coming out from every window and thick, black (4) ______________ (smoke) was spreading all around. Three (5) _______________ (fire engine) and several (6) ______________ (fireman) were busy dousing the building with (7) _______________ (water) but there was no effect on the (8) _______________ (fire).

Tall, red (9) _______________ (ladder) were placed against the house anf firemen climbed up to the roof with (10) _______________ (hose) in their (11) _______________ (hand).