Singular and Plural

      

A. FINAL -S/-ES
A final -s/-es is added to a noun to make a noun plural.
noun + s = Friends are important.
noun + es = I like my classes.

A final -s or -es is added to a simple present verb when the subject is a singular noun or third person singular pronoun.
John works = singular         The students work = plural
He works = singular            They work = plural

For most words (whether a verb or a noun ), simply a final -s or -es is added to spell the word correctly.
Final -es is added to words that end in -sh, -ch, -s, -z, and -x.
wash ---> washes
watch ----> watches
buzz -----> buzzes

For words that end in -y:
If -y is preceded by a vowel, only -s is added
e.g., toy ---> toys, buy ----> buys
If -y is preceded by a consonant, the -y is changed to -i and -es is added.
e.g, baby ----> babies, cry ---> cries

B. IRREGULAR PLURAL FORMS
a. The nouns below have irregular plural forms :
man ---> men               woman ---> women
child ---> children         ox ---> oxen
mouse ---> mice           louse ---> lice
foot ---> feet                goose ---> geese            
tooth ---> teeth

b.Some nouns that end in -o add -es to form the plural :
echoes     heroes      potatoes        tomatoes
Some nouns that end in -o add only -s to form he plural :
autos       photos       solos               tatoos
kilos        pianos       sopranos         videos
memos    radios        studios            zoos
Some nouns that end in -o add either -s or -es to form the plural :
mosquitoes/ mosquitos                  volcanoes/ vulcanos
tornadoes/ tornados                      zeroes/ zeros

c. Some nouns that end in -f or -fe are changed to -ves in the plural :
calf ---> calves            leaf ---> leaves           self ---selves           wolf ---> wolves
half---> halves             life ---> lives               shelf ---> shelves    scarf ---> scarfes
knife---> knives           loaf ---> loaves          thief ---> thieves
Some nouns that end in -f simply add -s to form plural :
belief ---> beliefs        chief ---> chiefs           cliff---> cliffs          roof ---> roofs

d. Some nouns have the same singular and plural for: 
deer, fish, means, series, sheep, spesies

e. Some nouns that English borrowed from other languages have foreign plural :
criterion ---> criteria                        phenomenon ---> phenomena
cactus ---> cacti/cactuses                stimulus--->stimuli
syllabus ---> syllabi/syllabuses         formula ---> formulae/ formulas
analysis ---> analyses                      crisis ---> crises
basis ---> bases                              hypothesis ---> hypotheses
oasis ---> oases                              parenthesis ---> parentheses
thesis ---> theses                            appendix ---> appendices/ appendixes
index ---> indices/ indexes              bacterium ---> bacteria
curriculum ---> curricula                 datum ---> data
medium ---> media                        memorandum ---> memoranda

C. POSSESIVE NOUN
a. To show possesion, add an apostrophe ( ' ) and -s to a singular noun
Example : The girl's book is on the table.
Singular noun                          Possesive form
the girl                                    the girl's
Tom                                       Tom's
my wife                                   my wife's
a lady                                      a lady's
Thomas                                   Thomas' / Thomas's
Note: If a singular form noun ends in -s there are 2 possible forms :
1. Add an apostrophe and -s : Thomas's book
2. Add only an apostrophe : Thomas'

b. Add only an apostrophe to a plural noun that ends in -s : The girls' books are on the table.
    Add an apostrophe and -s to plural nouns that do not end in -s : The men's books are on the table.
Plural noun                              Possesive noun
the girl                                     the girls'
their wives                               their wives'
the ladies                                 the ladies'
the men                                   the men's
my children                             my children's

D. USING NOUN AS MODIFIER
a. When a noun is used as modifier, it is in its singular form
The soup has vegetables in it. It is a vegetable soup.
The building has offices in it. It is an office building.

b. When a noun used as a modifier is combined with a number expression, the noun is singular and a hyphen ( - ) is used.
The test lasted two hours. It was a two-hour test
Her son is five years old. She has a five-year-old son.

E. UNCOUNTABLE NOUN
The following are typical of nouns that are commonly used as noncount nouns. Many other nouns can be used as noncount nouns. This list serves only as a sample.
a. Whole groups made up of similar items : 
baggage, clothing, equipment, food, fruit, furniture, garbage, hardware, jewelry, junk, luggage, machinery, mail, make up, money/cash/change, postage, scenery, traffic.
b. Fluids : water, coffee, tea, milk, oil, soup, gasoline, blood, etc
c. Solids: ice, bread, butter, cheese, meat, gold, iron, silver, glass, paper, wood, cotton, wool, etc
d. Gases : steam, air, oxygen, nitrogen, smoke, smog, pollution, etc
e. Particles : rice, chalk, corn, dirt, dust, flour, grass, hair, pepper, salt, sand, sugar, wheat, etc
f. Abstractions :
   - beauty, confidence, courage, education, enjoyment, fun, happiness, health, help,
      honesty, hospitality, importance, intelligence, justice, knowledge, laughter, luck,
      music, patience, peace, pride, progress, recreation, significance, sleep, truth,
      violance, wealth, etc
   - advice, information, news, evidence, proof
   - time, space, energy
   - homework, work
   - grammar, slang, vocabulary
g. Languages : Arabis, Chinese, English, Spanish etc
h. Fields of study : chemistry, engineering, mathematics, history, literature, psychology, etc
i. Recreation : baseball, soccer, tennis, chess, bridge, poker etc
j. General activities : driving, studying, swimming, traveling, walking ( and other gerunds ).
k. Natural phenomena : weather, dew, fog, hail, heat, humidity, lightning, rain, sleet, snow, thunder, wind, darkness, light, sunshine, electricity, fire, gravity.

F. EXPRESSION OF QUANTITY 
An expression of quantity ( e.g., one, several, many, much ) may precede a noun. Notice below : Some expressions of quantity are used only with count nouns; some only with noncount nouns; some with either count or noncount nouns.
Expressions                      Used with                               Used with
of quantity                         count nouns                            noncount nouns
----------------               ------------------------         -------------------------
one                                  one apple                                     _
each                                 each apple                                   _
every                                every apple                                 _
two                                   two apples                                  _            
both                                  both apples                                 _
a couple of                        couple of apples                          _
three, etc                           three apples                                _
a few                                 a few apples                               _
several                              several apples                              _
many                                 many apples                                _
a number of                       a number of apples                      _
a little                                     _                                        a little rice
much                                      _                                        much rice
a great deal                            _                                        a great deal of rice
not any/ no                         not any/ no apples                   not any / no rice
some                                  some apples                           some rice
a lot of                               a lot of apples                         a lot of rice
lots of                                 lots of apples                          lots of rice
plenty of                             plenty of apples                       plenty of rice
most                                   most apples                            most rice
all                                       all apples                                all rice

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