Noun plurals - Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learners - PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learners (2011)

1 Noun plurals

This chapter deals with three topics: (1) the spelling and pronunciation of the regular plural, (2) irregular plurals of English and Latin origin, and (3) noncount nouns, an important group of nouns that are always singular in form but not in meaning.

The spelling and pronunciations of regular nouns

Spelling

Most regular nouns form their plural spelling by adding -s to the singular form. For example:

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If the regular plural is pronounced as a separate syllable rhyming with fizz, the regular plural is spelled -es. For example:

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There is a special spelling rule for the plural of words that end in a consonant + y: change the y to i and add -es. For example:

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However, if the y follows a vowel, the y is part of the spelling of the vowel and cannot be changed. For example:

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EXERCISE 1.1

Write the correct form of the plural in the second column. The first question is done as an example.

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Pronunciation

The regular plural has three different pronunciations: /s/, /z/, and /əz/ (rhymes with fizz). Which one we use is totally governed by the sound that immediately precedes it according to the following three rules:

1. If the singular noun ends in a voiceless consonant sound (except a voiceless sibilant sound like the s in bus or sh in wish), then the plural is formed with the voiceless sibilant /s/. The voiceless consonants are spelled p (stop); t(hat); c (comic); ck (clock); k (lake); f (cliff); gh (if pronounced as an /f/ sound as in cough); and th (if voiceless like path).

2. If the singular noun ends in a vowel sound or a voiced consonant sound (except a voiced sibilant sound like in fuzz), then the plural is formed with the voiced sibilant /z/. The voiced consonants are spelled b (tube); d (road); g(fog), dge (hedge); ve (wave), l (bell); m (home); n (tune); and ng (ring).

3. If the singular noun ends in a consonant with a sibilant sound, either voiceless or voiced, then the plural is pronounced as a separate unstressed syllable /əz/ rhyming with buzz. The most common sibilant consonants are spelled ce (face); s (bus); sh (dish); tch (watch); ge (page); z (blaze); se (nose).

EXERCISE 1.2

Write the correct form of the plural in the correct column. (Hint: Say the words out loud. If you whisper or say them to yourself, voiced sounds will be automatically de-voiced so they will sound the same as voiceless sounds.) The first question is done as an example.

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Irregular plurals of English and Latin origin

English origin

Not surprisingly, most irregular plurals are of English origin. Three different types of plurals retain archaic patterns of forming plurals that were common in older forms of English. Seven nouns form their plurals by a vowel change alone:

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Note: In addition to the usual plural form feet, the noun foot has a second plural form foot. We use this plural to refer to length or measurements. For example:

We need a ten-foot ladder.
Harry is now six foot four inches tall.

A small number of nouns that refer to fish and animals retain an old zero-form plural that makes plural nouns look just like singular nouns. For example:

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Since the singular and plural forms of these nouns are identical, the actual number of the noun can only be determined by subject-verb agreement or by the use of articles. For example:

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Three nouns retain the plural ending -en that in Old English was standard for regular nouns:

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Note: Brethren is used only for members of a religious order or congregation of men. The more commonly used plural is brothers.

Finally there is a fourth group of irregular plurals that reflects a phonological rule in Old English. In Old English, the letter f had two completely predictable pronunciations: /f/ at the beginning and ends of words, and /v/ in the middle of words. We can still see today this alternation between /f/ and /v/ in the singular and plural of most native English words that end in -f: the f changes to v (reflecting the pronunciation) when we add the -es plural ending and put the f in the middle of the word. For example:

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EXERCISE 1.3

Write the correct form of the plural in the second column. The first question is done as an example.

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Latin plurals

Beginning in the Renaissance, English adopted thousands of words directly from classical Latin. Often the original Latin forms of the plural were also borrowed. While the irregularity of Latin grammar is astonishing, there are two patterns of forming the plural of Latin nouns that are common enough to be well worth knowing:

image Plurals of Latin nouns ending in -us. The plurals of these nouns typically end in -i. For example:

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image Plurals of Latin nouns that end in -um. The plurals of these nouns typically end in -a. For example:

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Note: The Latin plural data is used in formal academic and scientific writing. For example:

The data are very clear.

However, in conversation and informal writing, we often use data as a kind of collective singular. For example:

The data is very clear.

EXERCISE 1.4

Write the correct form of the plural in the second column. The first question is done as an example.

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Noncount nouns

Noncount nouns are names for categories of things. For example, the noncount noun housing is a collective term that refers to an entire category of places where people temporarily or permanently reside, such as room, house, apartment, flat, dormitory, condo, tent, and so on. The distinctive grammatical feature of noncount nouns is that they cannot be counted with number words or used in the plural, as opposed to count nouns, which can be used with number words and be used in the plural. For example:

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Note: the symbol X is used throughout the book to indicate that the following word, phrase, or sentence is ungrammatical.

An especially important feature of noncount nouns is that they cannot be used with the indefinite article a/an because a/an are historically forms of the number one. So, for example we can say a room, a house, an apartment, and so forth, but we cannot say X a housing.

English has a large number of noncount nouns. Most noncount nouns fall into one of the ten semantic categories listed below:

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Note: Despite the final -s, economics and physics are singular.

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EXERCISE 1.5

The following words are all noncount nouns. Put each noun into the category that is most appropriate for it. The first word is done as an example.

beer, charity, cheese, Chinese, coffee, football, geology, glass, gold, gravity, hope, knowledge, laughing, literature, oxygen, pepper, poker, rice, Russian, sleeping, snow, sunshine, talking, time, wool

Category

Abstractions: _____________________________

Academic fields: ___________________________________

Food: _______________________________________________

Gerunds: ____________________________________________

Languages: __________________________________________

Liquids and gases: beer______________

Materials: __________________________________________

Natural phenomena: __________________________________

Sports and games: ___________________________________

Weather words: ______________________________________