Singular and Plural Nouns

Regular Nouns
Most singular nouns form the plural by adding -s.
Singula Plural
Examples r

Singula Plural cat cats

r
river rivers
boat boats

house houses A singular noun ending in s, x, z, ch, sh makes

the plural by adding-es.
Examples

Singular Plural

bus buses

wish wishes

pitch pitches

box boxes

A singular noun ending in a consonant and then y makes the plural by dropping the y and adding-ies.
Examples

Singular Plural

penny pennies

spy spies

baby babies

city cities

daisy daisies

Irregular nouns
There are some irregular noun plurals. The most common ones are listed below.
Examples

Singular Plural Singular Plural

woman women foot feet

man men person people

child children leaf leaves

tooth teeth mouse mice

 Singular Plural Singular Plural

goose geese diagnosis diagnoses

half halves oasis oases

knife knives thesis theses

wife wives crisis crises

life lives phenomenon phenomena

elf elves criterion criteria

loaf loaves datum data

potato potatoes Some nouns have the same form in the singular
and the plural.
tomato tomatoes Examples

cactus cacti Singular Plural

focus foci sheep sheep

fungus fungi fish fish

nucleus nuclei deer deer

syllabus syllabi/syllabuses species species

analysis analyses aircraft aircraft

Quick Exercise!
PART I : Change the following sentences from singular to plural or from plural to singular as in
the examples.
1. She is a beautiful lady. 6. Are the students in the classroom?
They are beautiful ladies. ________________________________
2. A book is a good friend. 7. The brush is under the chair.
Books are good friends. ________________________________
3. A small car is a great vehicle. 8. Are the bottles on the table?
________________________________ ________________________________
4. She is a smart girl. 9. The pencils aren't in the boxes.
________________________________ ________________________________
5. Is he a nice person? 10. I am not a famous woman.
Are we nice people? ________________________________

PART II : What is the correct plural of the word?

1. These (person) ______________ are 2. The (woman) ______________ over there

protesting against the president. want to meet the manager.
3. My (child) ______________ hate eating pasta.
4. I am ill. My (foot) ______________ hurt. 10. Most (houswife) ______________ work more
5. Muslims sacrifice (sheep) ______________ in than ten hours a day at home.
a religious celebration called Eid Al Adha. 11. Where did you put the
6. I clean my (tooth) ______________ three (knife) ______________? On the
times a day. (shelf) ______________.
7. The (student ) ______________ are doing the 12. (Goose) ______________ like water.
exercise right now. 13. (Piano) ______________ are expensive
8. The (fish) __________ I bought is in the 14. Some (policeman) ______________ came to
fridge. arrest him.
9. They are sending some 15. Where is my (luggage) ______________? In
(man) ______________ to fix the roof. the car!

PART III : Write down the correct form of the plural:

1. city - ____________ . 8. sandwich - ____________.
2. house - ____________. 9. nurse - ____________.
3. boy - ____________. 10. elf - ____________.
4. family - ____________. 11. phenomenon - ____________.
5. life - ____________.
12. criterion - ____________.
6. photo - ____________.
13. village - ____________.
7. phone - ____________.
14. toy - ____________.

Prepositions of Place
We can use prepositions of place to say where things are.

 I am in the kitchen.
 My dog is on the sofa.
 The toys aren't under the table.

How to use them

Prepositions go before nouns.

 My brother is in the living room.

 The cat isn't on the chair. It's under the chair!
 There's a small garden in front of the house, and a big garden behind it.
 I don't like sitting next to my brother in the car.
 The library is between the bank and the museum.
 Is your school opposite the park?
1. There's a car ___________ the chair. 2. There are books ___________ the bookshelf.
3. There's a computer ___________ the table. 4. There's a book ___________ the drawer.
5. There's a ball ___________ the chair. 6. There's a toy ___________ the wardrobe.
7. There's a teddy bear ___________ the drawer. 8. There's skateboard ___________ the bed.

Look at the picture. Listen and choose True or False.

 Adjectives
We can use adjectives to describe people, places and things.
We've got a small car.
I saw a white bird.
This book isn't very old.

How to use them

We don't add s to the adjective when it's plural.

My brothers are short.

We've got three black cats.
She watched some old films.

Put size adjectives before colour adjectives.

I've got a big, blue ball.

That building is tall and grey.
I. Adjective + noun

When we use adjectives with a noun in English, the adjectives go before the noun.

 It’s an expensive guitar. (NOT It’s a guitar expensive.)

 She has a new car.

II. am/is/are + adjective

We can also use adjectives without a noun after the verb be.

 This guitar is expensive.

 Her car is new.

In questions the adjective can go after be + subject.

 Is your car new?

 Are your classmates nice?
III. feel/look/smell/sound/taste + adjective

We can also use adjectives without a noun after the verbs of the senses: feel, look, smell, sound, taste.

 Your idea sounds interesting.

 I don’t like this soup. It tastes horrible.
 You look tired.
 These cookies smell delicious.
 I feel depressed.

No plural
Adjectives in English have no plural. They are always singular.

 These are my favourite shoes. (NOT These are my favourites shoes.)

 She has blue eyes. (NOT She has blues eyes.)

very/quite
We can use very and quite before the adjectives.

 It’s very expensive.

 It’s quite expensive.


EXERCISES

PART I : Choose and underline the correct forms with adjectives to complete the
following sentences.
1. With this makeup, your eyes (different look / look differents / look different )
2. These are (important documents / documents important / importants document )
3. (are they happies / are happy they / are they happy ) in their new house?
4. He has (a job interesting / an interesting job)
5. Sit down. You (smell tired / looks tired / look tired)
6. Our holidays (are fantastics, fantastic are, are fantastic )
7. John has problems at home ( are goods his mark / are his marks good / are good his
marks)?
8. Their project (tastes interesting / sounds interesting / interesting looks )
9. These cookies (excellent are / are excellents / are excellent )
10. Her eyes (are blues / are blue / blue are)

PART II : Complete the senteces using (a/an) adjective + noun or using be + adjective.
EXAMPLE: heavy / table ⇒ This table is heavy . It’s a heavy table .
1. exam / easy ⇒ This exam _________. It's _______________.
2. watch / old ⇒ This watch _________. It's _________.
3. exotic / countries ⇒ These countries _________. They're _________.
4. view / amazing ⇒ The view _________. It's _________.
5. difficult / situation ⇒ The situation _________. It's _________.
6. cars / fast ⇒ These cars _________. They are _________.
7. dangerous / city ⇒ It's _________. This city _________.
8. expensive / clothes ⇒ These clothes _________. They're _________.
9. man / strong ⇒ He's _________. This man _________.
10. box / empty ⇒ This box _________. It's _________.
Imperatives
We can use imperatives to give orders and instructions.

Wait quietly before class.

Be nice to your brother or sister.
Don't forget your bag!

How to use them

The imperative is the same as the verb. We use the verb without you.

Help your parents at home.

Play quietly!

For a negative order or instruction, use don't.

Don't run in the corridors.

Don't be late!

Use please to be more polite.

Please put the plates on the table.

Don't make so much noise, please.

EXERCISE: Put the words in brackets into the gaps. Mind the positive or the
negative forms.
EXAMPLE : ________ your books. (to open)
ANSWER: Open your books.

1. __________ upstairs. (to go) 12. Please _________ your name on paper.(to
2. __________ in this lake. (not/to swim) write)
3. __________ your homework. (to do) 13. _________ some water.(not, to drink)
4. __________ football in the yard. (not/to 14. _________ here, please.(not, to come)
play) 15. _________ Turkish in the classroom.(not,
5. __________ your teeth. (to brush) to speak)
6. __________ during the lesson. (not/to talk) 16. _________ English in the classroom.(to
7. __________ the animals in the zoo. (not/to speak)
feed) 17. _________ your notebooks.(to open)
8. __________ the instructions. (to read) 18. _________ the door.(not, to push)
9. __________ late for school. (not/to be) 19. _________ the window.(to shut)
10. __________ your mobiles. (to switch off 20. _________ the door. (not, to pull)
11. _________ to Sam. (to speak)
 LET’S
We can make suggestions with let’s + base form:

 Let’s go to the park.  Let’s watch a movie.

 Let’s drink some tea.  Let’s listen to music.

We use let’s not + base form to make negative suggestions:

 Let’s not talk about that.  Let’s not go anywhere. I’m so tired.
 Let’s not go there. It’s dangerous.  Let’s not make any snap* decisions.

Exercises : Complete the sentences below with let’s and one of the verbs below (the
answer key is at the bottom of the page):

 go  cook
 watch  listen
 buy  read
 spend  learn
 clean

1. _____ ____ something tasty tonight. – What a good idea! I love home cooking.
2. _____ ____ a romantic comedy. – Oh, no. Not again! How about a thriller?
3. _____ ____ shopping. I need new gloves. – OK. I need a new a hat.
4. _____ ____ this room. It’s very dirty!
5. _____ ____ some time together. I miss our romantic evenings.
6. _____ ____ an interesting book. For example, “Around the World in 80 Days.”
7. _____ ____ a new TV. This one is so old!
8. _____ ____ to the radio. My favorite program is about to start*.
9. _____ ____ some English today! – What a great idea!