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Singular and plural |
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| 1. countable and uncountable |
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 Uncountable nouns have a singular form
and we can not count it.
Countable nouns have a singular form
and a plural form and we can count
it.
(ex) Can you sing a song for me? (a song : countable noun)
(ex) Eastern people eat rice everyday.
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We use some ending words in case of some singular nouns.
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| child - children |
ox - oxen |
..... |
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(ex) His child is very cute.
(ex) How many children do you have?
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Sometimes we change a vowel.
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| foot - feet |
goose - geese |
tooth - teeth |
| mouse - mice |
louse - lice |
man - men |
| woman - women |
..... |
..... |
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(ex) There were many women who were protesting in front of
the White House.
(ex) Your chief is a woman.
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Sometimes we change a consonant.
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| knife - knives |
leaf - leaves |
wife - wives |
| wolf - wolves |
calf - calves |
..... |
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(ex) There are three wolves in a zoo.
(ex) I have a new knife.
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| 5. the same plural and singular form |
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Some nouns have the same plural and singular
form.
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| bison |
corps |
deer |
| fish |
salmon |
series |
| sheep |
spacecraft |
..... |
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(ex) There are four major groups of Hawaii's fish species.
(ex) How many did you catch fish yesterday? I caught four fish.
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| 6. academic subjects and disease -> singular
verb |
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We use a singular verb with academic subjects and disease.
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| Academic subject |
civics, mathematics, physics, economics ..... |
| Disease |
measles, cancer, mumps ..... |
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(ex) How was your mathematics in high school?
(ex) Children should be immunized to protect them from measles.
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countable nouns + s
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| a voiced sound + s : /z/ |
dog - dogs, pen - pens, ..... |
| a voiceless sound + s : /s/ |
cup - cups, book - books, ..... |
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countable nouns + ies or + s
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| a consonant + y : -ies |
baby - babies, city - cities, ..... |
| a vowel + y : -s |
boy - boys, toy - toys, ..... |
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countable nouns + es or + s
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| a consonant + o : -es |
potato - potatoes, hero - heroes, ..... |
| a vowel + o : -s |
radio - radios, studio - studios, ..... |
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