Nouns – plural, countable & uncountable
CREATING PLURAL NOUNS
Most nouns in English are countable nouns. They appear in singular as well as in plural form:
cat – cats
watch – watches
Before singular nouns we can put indefinite article a/an or definite the:
a cat
the watch
Plural nouns we usually create by adding an ending -s:
book – books
cup – cups
eye – eyes
To the nouns ending -s, -ss, -x, -ch, -sh we add the ending -es:
bus – buses
kiss – kisses
box – boxes
watch – watches
bush – bushes
We also add -es to most of nouns ending -o:
potato – potatoes
tomato – tomatoes
But sometimes we should add the ending -os to the noun ending -o:
kilo – kilos
radio – radios
photo – photosNouns ending with consonant + -y, the final -y change for -i + -es:
story – stories
country – countries
baby – babies
lady – ladies
COUNTABLE & UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Nouns in English can be countable or uncountable. Uncountable nouns do not have a plural.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS?
- do not have plural and verb appearing after is always singular:
This water is cold.
Time is money
- cannot be preceded by article a/an; if we want to define quantity then some, any or much shall be used:
We don’t have much time.
There is some milk in the fridge.
- can be used with pronouns such as this, that, my, your etc., and with the definite article the:
This coffee is really good.
My wine tastes delicious.
- cannot be preceded by numerals; its exact quantity can be expressed by using other appellatives:
two kilos of sugar
eight litres of petrol
a cup of tea
uncountable abstract nouns: | uncountable nouns: |
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love music happiness time freedom | water salt gold tea ice |