If you, like me, watch various reality shows from the fashion world to your little shame, you should be familiar with phrases like I'd like to pair this with a navy pant or Maybe a smoky eye and a red lip. It is considered that by default the plural form should be used if the word, despite the existence of the singular form, is usually used in the plural. Relatively few people can boast enough courage to apply lipstick on only one lip. Outside of the fashion industry, you are more likely to say eyes (eyes), lips (lips) and pants (pants)(or trousers in British English). Interestingly, in the context of body parts, we do not have problems when we think of one eye or one lip, but what about one trouser leg or trouser leg? Why are these words almost invariably used in the plural?
Without realizing it, we use , which in Latin means "only plural only" and is used in relation to nouns that are used exclusively in the plural, or if the noun has a specific meaning in the plural. Grammatically, such nouns in English require a plural form of the verb: You say my trousers are red, but not my trousers is red.
The following is a list of some common words that are used only in the plural ( :
1. Trousers (trousers)
Looking back, we learn that around the XVI century. there was a singular form trouser- or rather trouble; ending form –er has always been a plural form and is probably created along the lines of ‘drawers’ (underpants). It could be assumed that the word trouble was originally used to refer to one leg, by analogy with the noun sleeve (sleeve), but this is not the case. Word trouble not far removed from the modern noun trousers, because it meant "a tight-fitting piece of clothing intended to cover the thighs (divided at the bottom so as to separately cover each thigh), to the lower edge of which stockings were attached (if any"). At the same time, the word Trouses in the plural form had the same meaning. Other similar garments are currently included in the : pants(trousers), shorts(shorts), leggings(leggings), jeans(jeans), flares (flared trousers),tights(tights), overalls (overalls), dungarees(work trousers) and etc.
2. Scissors (scissors)
Word scissors(scissors) appeared in the 15th century. and at first it was used as in the singular (among the early examples of use - cysour, sysowre or sizzer), as well as in the plural. Soon the latter form began to predominate, and in our time you can find the singular form scissors exclusively as a verb (“to cut with scissors”, or figuratively) or as an attribute in a compound noun, for example scissor kick (scissor kick). Many other double bladed tools are also referred to as : pliers(pincers), forceps(forceps), shears(scissors), tweezers(tweezers), tongs(forceps).
3. Glasses (glasses)
Of course, the singular form glass exists, but in the context of optics, the plural form glasses is used exclusively; even in the fashion world, we have not yet begun to be recommended to wear a chic glass (one spectacular eyepiece). The same applies to binoculars(binoculars), spectacles(glasses) and goggles (safety goggles).
As with other nouns , the singular form is grammatically the place to be if the noun is preceded by ‘pair of’ (pair): we’ll say rather a pair of glasses is an expensive purchase, how a pair of glasses are an expensive purchase. At the same time, in live speech one can hear pair of glasses in both singular and plural: according to the Oxford Dictionaries New Monitor Corpus (a research project that collects about 150 million words of modern English every month), about the same number of cases of use was recorded pair of glasses is and pair of glasses are.
4. Clothes (clothes)
Delving into the topic of clothing, we can say clothes but you can't say clothes in the singular as a noun (in the singular form, this word exists only as a verb). Noun cloth functions in the singular form, but means "a woven or felted cloth made of wool, cotton, or similar fibers" rather than "a garment". However, this was not always the case. At the end of the XIV century. word cloth could name a piece of clothing, a mantle or a cloak; it was in this sense that this word was found in William Langland's poem "The Vision of Peter the Ploughman" ( Piers Plowman) , the translation of the Bible by John Wycliffe and the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. In our time in Oxford English Dictionary (OED) word clothes is listed as a collective plural noun that does not have a singular form; to denote the singular, the phrase “article of clothing” is used.
5. Marginalia (notes, notes)
Of course, nouns pluralia tantum do not always have an 's' ending. Especially if they inherited the plural form from another or more ancient language. Word marginalia- “notes, notes, footnotes in the margins” - came from a Latin noun, which also had a singular form marginalis. However, the singular form did not pass into English, so the word marginalia refers to nouns pluralia tantum, among which you can find other Latin borrowings - for example, juvenilia(works written or produced by an author or artist in their early years) and literary(educated people interested in literature). Some words created in this way that are widely used in the plural (for example, paraphernalia(accessories, inventory) and Regalia(regalia)) can also be used in the singular.
6. Folk (people, people, relatives)
Despite the existence of an alternative form folks(which can often be seen in the phrase old folks' home (nursing home)), word folk used exclusively in the plural. This noun belongs to the Old English period and is of Germanic origin.
7. Shenanigans (scams, intrigues, pranks, antics)
Nouns pluralia tantum are not necessarily material objects; a well-known example is the word shenanigans. This word is of uncertain origin and means "secret, dishonorable action, intrigue" or "stupid, cheerful behavior; prank". singular form shenanigan not widely used or mentioned on OxfordDictionaries.com, but the word shenanigans, in fact, developed along the same lines as the word clothes, albeit for a shorter period. The earliest example of the use of this word occurs in an 1855 article in the publication town talk: ‘Are you quite sure? No shenanigan?’ (“Are you sure? No kidding?”). In the same sense, this word was used in various sources, including in the letters of Mark Twain at the end of the 19th century. - at the beginning of the twentieth century. In recent years, this word has almost completely fallen out of use.
8. Loggerheads (in a quarrel)
In the singular word loggerhead denotes the genus of the tortoise and the genus of the shrike, also having the archaic meaning "dummy, blockhead". Currently, this word is most often found in the expression at loggerheads(on knives, out of tune), which means "in a state of heated discussion and disagreement" and is never found in the singular at loggerhead. It is assumed that in this sense the word loggerheads dates back to the end of the 17th century, when loggerhead used in the meaning of "a tool with a long handle, made of iron, designed to heat liquids and resin."
9. Cahoots (in collusion)
As for expressions, you are unlikely to meet the word cahoots somewhere other than colloquial expression in cahoots(to collude or secretly act together). In modern English, the singular form cahoot not used, although this word at one time was used in the singular. The etymology of this word is not completely clear, but it is assumed that it is related to the French word cahute meaning "hut, shack".
10. Amends (compensation, reward)
One can say make amends (provide compensation), but you can't say make an amend in the singular; in the singular form, this word currently exists only as a verb. Noun amends comes from the old French word amendes, meaning "penalty, fine", which was the plural form of the noun amende. However, only the plural form has passed into English. You can make amends by making amends (paying damages). Word damage is an uncountable noun, but in the meaning of "a sum of money demanded or given as compensation for damage caused" this word is used exclusively in the plural.
11. Smithereens (shards, shards)
Presumably the word smithereens derived from Irish smidirin in the meaning of "little pieces" (almost always in the context of destruction; for example, the table got smashed to smithereens(the table was smashed to pieces)). The word is also used smithers but you can't say smither or smithereen in the singular. However, the transitive verb smithereen(to shatter into little pieces) is included in the Oxford English Dictionary.
12. Thanks (thank you)
Despite the frequent use of the verb thanks, especially in the phrase thank you (thank you), you can't say give a thanks in the singular - well, unless you are transported back to the days of Ancient Britain, using the Old English word thanc from which the modern word is derived. Again, the singular form fell into disuse over time, although isolated examples are found as early as the late 19th century.
There are a number of compound nouns and expressions that are always or predominantly plural, even though their constituent words are often singular. Among them - bare— bones(bare facts, gist) , arts and crafts(folk art, applied art) , bacon and eggs(bacon and eggs), good manners(good manners, good manners) , bad manners(bad tone) ,baked beans(canned beans) , bits and pieces(all sorts of things) , goods and chattels(belongings, personal items) , happy rags(evening dress) , halcyondays (serene days, calm), high spirits(good mood) ,high jinks(stormy fun) , ladies and gentlemen (ladies and gentlemen) and last rites(Unction) . On the other hand, there are words singularia tantum - nouns that do not have a plural form. Among them - dust (dust), wealth (wealth), information (information). But we will talk about this in another article.
The main component of our speech is nouns, because, in fact, our sentences are built from them, which are given style and coloring. When a person speaks, you can immediately understand whether he is educated or does not have a large vocabulary, many interlocutors do not pay attention to the correct spelling of words or their declension, which is heard in their conversation. Therefore, it is so important to know the rules and be able to clearly express your thoughts in our time. Knowledge of the grammar of the Russian language and the basic rules will help in communicating with people of different levels and classes.
Definition of "number"
Number is the grammatical category of the verb and names. A noun can change in numbers. There are two numbers - singular and plural. In the first case, one object is indicated, for example, "He put a chair" or "They brought him a bun." In the second, there are more than two items, for example: “We washed the windows” or “They went for watermelons and melons.”
Examples of only plural nouns
Separately, we can distinguish a group of nouns that are only in the plural and do not have a singular. Such words do not have a gender category, do not belong to any declension, but are inclined in a special way.
So, changing the number of a noun, its form and ending change, which in the plural can be -i, -ы (I have one flower - all flowers smell delicious) or -а, -я (there is only one poplar near the house - poplars grow along roads).
There are many other nouns that have both declension forms, such as puff - puffs, laptop - laptops, mouse - mice, corrector - correctors, etc.
If we divide nouns by meaning, then plural nouns are divided into the following groups:
- Nouns with a real meaning: slop, canned food, ink, sawdust, blush, cleaning, wallpaper, shavings.
- Denoting the names of games, states of nature or periods of time, for example: tag, everyday life, hide and seek, towns, day, twilight, holidays, darkness, frost.
- Names of paired or complex items: shorts, jeans, glasses, trousers, sledges, sleds, sleds, railings, scissors, tongs, trousers, wire cutters, stretchers.
- Examples of proper nouns are the following words: Sayans, Cordillera, Pyrenees, Carpathians, Himalayas, Velikiye Luki.
- Names of actions: tours, elections, maneuvers, beatings, negotiations, seeing off, name days, chores.
Although in principle everything is clear, often people doubt the correctness of the formation of a particular word, and most often this applies to the plural. For example, in some cases, the spelling of words in the genitive case is slightly different, for example: “These are green apples” - “We didn’t have green apples”, “It’s raining outside, and I’ll put on boots” - “I won’t go for a walk, I have no boots", "All seats were taken" - "We have no more seats, come tomorrow."
Even in stores, you can often see or hear the mistakes of sellers and buyers - "Take your kilogram of tangerines" or "We have a large selection of tomatoes, come in, choose." There are also several groups of nouns that are used.
By numbers, mostly countable nouns change. Uncountable nouns, as a rule, are used only in the singular form:
sugar - sugar, love - love, friendship - friendship.
They are used in the plural only when the variety of species, concepts expressed by them is meant, or when they are used in another sense in which they are already countable. For example:
air - air, movement - movement (as a general concept), music - music, milk - milk, knowledge - knowledge, hair - hair (on a person's head).
BUT: air - aria, melody - "airs - arias, melodies, movement - movement (for example, political or in dance) -> movements - movements (the same), hair - hair -" hairs - hairs, etc.
The plural of nouns is usually formed by adding the ending -s to the singular form:
book - book -» books - books, day - day -> days - days, house - house -> houses - houses.
Reading the ending "-s":
after voiceless consonants - [s]: books
after voiced consonants and vowels - [z]: friends, days
after hissing and whistling (-es) - : boxes [‘boksiz]
Exception l. Nouns ending in the singular with letters o, s, ss, sh, ch, x(hissing and whistling, as they are called), in the plural they have an ending -es:
hero - hero ->heroes - heroes, kiss - kiss -> kisses - kisses, brush - brush-> brushes - brushes, bench - bench -> benches - benches, box - box -> boxes - boxes.
BUT: In words of foreign origin ending in o, in the plural, only the ending is added to the noun -s:
piano - grand piano -> pianos - grand pianos, photo - photography -» photos - photos.
Exception 2. Nouns ending in y with a preceding consonant have the y omitted and the ending added instead -ies, which reads [-iz]:
country [‘kAntri] - country -> countries - countries, city - city cities- cities, family - family families- families.
BUT: If there is a vowel before y, then the plural is formed according to the general rule, i.e. by adding the ending -s:
day - day - "days - days, boy - boy -" boys - boys.
3. Twelve nouns ending in -f or -fe, in the plural lose these letters. Instead of -f or -fe, the ending is added -ves. These are nouns:
wife - wife, life - life, knife - knife, wolf - wolf, self - essence, human appearance, calf - calf, shelf - shelf, leaf - leaf (plant), loaf - loaf (bread), thief - thief, half - half, sheaf - pack (of paper), etc.
For example: wife - wife - "wives - wives, knife - knife -> knives - knives, shelf - shelf -> shelves - shelves.
4. Some nouns form the plural by changing the root vowel:
man - man -> men - men, woman - woman - "women - women, foot - leg feet - legs, tooth - tooth -" teeth - teeth.
HO: child - child -> children - children.
5. For compound nouns, the plural is formed by adding the ending -s to the second word:
armchairs - armchairs, bookcases - bookcases.
BUT: If these words are combined by a preposition, then the first word is put in the plural: sisters-in-law- daughters-in-law.
Words borrowed from Greek or Latin are pluralized according to the rules of those languages:
appendix - application -» appendices - applications (to the book), crisis - crisis -> crises - crises, basis - base, bases - bases, radius - radius -> radii - radii.
Nouns used only in the singular
- Uncountable nouns (both real and abstract) are usually used only in the singular:
iron - iron, salt - salt, milk - milk, sugar - sugar, love - love.
- Nouns advice (advice, advice), information (message, information), progress (success, success), knowledge (knowledge) are used only in the singular.
He gave me some good advice. He gave me some good advice.
My coach was satisfied with my progress. My coach was pleased with my progress - Nouns news (news, news), money (money), fruit (fruits, fruits) are used in the singular. But, for example, to refer to different types of fruits, the plural is used - fruits.
What is the news? What's the news?
It's his money. This is his money.
Fruit is cheap in autumn. Fruit is cheap in autumn. - Among countable nouns, there are those that are used only (or mostly) in the singular form. These are the names of some animals, objects, etc.:
two sheep - two sheep, six fish - six fish, ten swine - ten pigs, five deer - five deer.
- trousers, rakes, sleds, scissors, pitchforks, pants, shorts, tights, wire cutters, spikes, pliers.
What words in Russian do not have a singular
In Russian, nouns denote objects that can be counted and, accordingly, have singular and plural forms. But some nouns have both singular and plural forms, but are more often used in the plural form, for example: skis, socks, reins and others.
There are also nouns that have only the singular and only the plural. In this case, we are interested in those nouns that have only the plural. They can be roughly divided into several categories:
- Category of paired items: scissors, sleigh, asshole, pants, tights, etc.
- Category of temporary representations: holidays, days, weekdays, etc.
- Category of any indefinite mass of matter: cream, yeast, perfume, etc.
- Category of indeterminate activities or games: chess, hide-and-seek, gatherings, towns, backgammon, checkers, etc.
- Category of proper names in their original meaning: Carpathians, Alps, Essentuki, etc.
The question arises: how to explain that some nouns in the Russian language have an exclusively plural form. The thought suggests itself that these nouns denote objects that are, so to speak, in a pairquot ;, like, say, scissors, socks, glasses, trousers, and so on. This is logically explainable, but the use of the other categories of nouns listed above only in the plural cannot be explained by logic, and here, most likely, there are other, deeper explanations that require a professional approach.
There are many such words. For example, rake, shorts, pants, etc.
In Russian, there are words that have only a plural form. Accordingly, their gender is not determined, so you will not attribute them to one of the three declensions and they are inclined according to the type of nouns that have a plural.
These nouns include:
1) the name of the time intervals: weekdays, days, holidays
2) the name of composite and paired items: scissors, wire cutters, tongs, trousers
3) the name of the action: chores, seeing off, elections, funerals, fees
4) names of materials, waste: white, yeast, perfume, canned food, cream, bran, wallpaper
5) some geographical names: Carpathians, Zhiguli, Kholmogory, Fili
There are many plural words in the Russian language, for example: sleigh, scissors, pitchfork, weekdays, twilight, gates, checkers, day, ticks, cream, perfume, glasses, trousers, railings, chess, pasta, finance, Tesco, sawdust , holidays, chores, nippers, wallpapers, funerals, pantyhose, yeast are the most used words.
I offer the following words:
underpants, name days, christenings, glasses, pitchforks, rakes, cream, gates, ink, chess, checkers, sawdust, eyes, yeast, blush, sleigh, blind man's blind man's, elections, chores, frosts, day, weekdays, holidays, Alps, Carpathians, people, spirits, pasta, ticks.
In Russian, there are a lot of such words. For example, these are cream, rakes, trousers, pants, holidays, days, scissors, canned food, yeast, bran, pasta, tongs, tongs (tool), wire cutters, waste, gates and many others.
In Russian, nouns have two numbers: singular and plural. Rather, nouns change by number- singular and plural.
Singular denotes an object always denotes one object, for example: school, pen, school desk, chair, board; a plural denotes two or more objects, for example: schools, pens, desks, chairs, boards.
But in Russian there are nouns that are used only in the plural; for example: sled, goggles, pants, pitchfork, rake; among such nouns that do not have a singular form, there are nouns that denote paired items: trousers, glasses, scissors.
There are many such words in Russian, they can only be in the plural:
scissors, glasses, rakes, wire cutters, pliers, tongs, jeans, trousers, hide-and-seek, rosary, beads, scales, slop, people, sled, milk (for fish), name day, christening, Christmas time, lies
Well, also the name of the mountains, for example: Andes, Alps, countries - the Netherlands and other geographical names.
There are plenty of such words in Russian, for example: sleigh, scissors, gates, ticks, glasses, trousers, checkers, chess, day, pasta, cream, weekdays.
Holidays, twilight, perfume, ink, chores, finances, canned food, darkness, whitewash, sawdust, rakes, railings, vise.
There are really a lot of words that are in the Russian language and are used only in the plural, for example: ink, name day, elections, attacks, intrigues, Karakum, Carpathians, beatings, twilight, day, weekdays, holidays, sawdust, cleaning, money, finances, jungle.
Nouns that have only a plural form are otherwise called pluralia tantum. There are about 600 such words in Russian. Most of them are divided into several categories:
1) proper nouns - geographical or astronomical names (Balkans, Gorki, Pyrenees, Carpathians, Cherkassy, Kholmogory, Zhiguli, Libra, Twins, Alps, etc.)
2) abstract nouns denoting complex actions, processes, rituals, games (elections, vacations, seeing off, funerals, bridesmaids, name days, blind man's blind man's eyes, catch-up, hide and seek, etc.), natural phenomena (twilight, frost, darkness), time periods ( day), etc.;
3) specific nouns denoting compound objects, including paired ones (forks, vise, glasses, scissors, trousers, railings, rakes, checkers, chess, swings, tongs, watches, etc.);
4) real nouns denoting either the substance itself, the material, or its waste, residues (firewood, bran, pasta, canned food, whitewash, sawdust, perfume, yeast, shavings, ink, cream, etc.)
Burial is always plural.
In fact, there are many such words that initially have only the plural. Here are just some examples
Hello dear readers! Today you will learn how the plural is formed in English. The topic is not complicated at first glance, but there are many nuances that you should pay attention to.
In English, the plural is formed only by countable nouns, that is, nouns that can be counted. Such nouns can be either singular or plural. I think it's no secret to anyone what the plural is. If the singular is used to refer to one subject or concept, then the plural is used to refer to several items. So, now we will consider the basic rules for the formation of the plural in English. Plural of nouns in English
1. The plural of most nouns is formed by adding the ending −s to a singular noun.
−s reads:
[z] after vowels and voiced consonants
[s] after voiceless consonants
- a tie tie— tie s ties
- a teacher teacher- teacher s[ˈtiːʧəz] teachers
- a room room— room s rooms
- a map map-map s cards
2. Nouns that end in consonants s, ss, sh, ch, tch, x, take the plural ending -es, which is read [ɪz].
- a match match- match es[ˈmæʧɪz] matches
3. Nouns that end in a vowel -about, in the plural also take the ending -es.
- hero hero— hero es[ˈhɪərəʊz] heroes
- tomato tomato−tomato es tomatoes
If before the end -about there is a vowel, then the plural noun takes the ending -s.
- radio radio- radio s[ˈreɪdɪəʊz] radio receivers
- kangaroo kangaroo– kangaroo s kangaroo
If a noun that ends in -about in the singular, is an abbreviation, then in the plural it also takes the ending -s.
- photo (graph) photo)— photo s[ˈfəʊtəʊz] Photo
- kilo (gramme) kilo (gram)-kilo s[ˈkiːləʊz] kilograms
In some cases, variations with −s and -es.
- flamingos flamingos— flamingo s flamingo es flamingos
- volcano volcano—volcano s volcano es volcanoes
4. To nouns that end in -y, and before the end -y there is a consonant, the ending is added -es and at changes to i.
- a factory factory, plant− factor ies[ˈfæktəriz] factories, plants
In case before −at there is a vowel, no change occurs, and the plural is formed by adding the ending -s.
- a day day— day s days
5. Plural of some nouns that end in f, fe, formed by replacing f consonant v and adding an ending -es. The following nouns are subject to this rule:
- calf calf− cal weight calves
- half half− hal weight halves
- elf elf−el weight elves
- knife knife−kni weight knives
- leaves tree leaf−lea weight leaves
- life a life−li weight life
- loaf loaf-loa weight loaves
- self self−sel weight we ourselves
- sheaf bundle— shea weight[ʃiːvz] bundles
- shelf a shelf− shel weight[ʃɛlvz] shelves
- thief thief-thie weight[θiːvz] the thieves
- wife wife− wi weight wives
- wolf −wolves
In some cases, variations with endings are possible f and v.
- hoof hoof— hoo fs, hoo weight hooves
- scarf scarf— scar fs, scar weight scarves
- scarf jetty- whar fs, whar weight pier
Plural exclusion 6. Some nouns have preserved archaic plural forms. The plural of such nouns is formed by changing root vowel or by adding an ending —en.
- a man the male− m e n men
- a woman female−wom e n [ˈwɪmɪn] women
- brother ["brʌðər] brother−br e thr en["breðrɪn] brethren
- foot leg− f ee t legs
- goose goose— g ee se geese
- louse ["laus] louse− l i ce lice
- mouse mouse— m ic e mice
- teeth tooth— t ee th teeth
- a child [ʧaɪld] child− children en[ˈʧɪldrən] children
- ox [ɒks] bull— ox en[ˈɒksən] bulls
7. In English, the forms of some nouns in the singular and in the plural are the same.
- craft ship - ships
- works factory - factories
- species["spi:ʃi:z] biol. view - views
- headquarters ["hed" kwɔ:təz] headquarters - central authorities
- alms [ɑːmz] alms - alms
- barracks [ˈbærəks] barracks - barracks
- corps military dipl. hull - hulls
- grow partridge − partridges
- crossroads [ˈkrɒsˌrəʊdz] road crossing - intersections
- deer deer - deer
- sheep [ʃiːp] sheep − sheep
- fish ["fɪʃ] fish - fish
- fruits fruit - fruits
- gallows [ˈgæləʊz] gallows - gallows
- trout trout - trout
- means means - means
- salmon ["sæmən] salmon - salmon
- series ["sɪəri:z] series − series
- swine pig - pigs
8. Some nouns that are of Latin or Greek origin have retained an archaic form in the plural.
- analysis [ə"næləsɪs] analysis− analyzes [ə"næləsi:z] analyzes
- axis ["æksɪs] axis− axes ["æksɪz] axes
- basis ["beɪsɪs] the basis− bases ["beɪsi:z] basics
- crisis ["kraɪsɪs] a crisis− crises ["kraɪsi:z] crises
- datum ["deɪtəm] given value− data ["deɪtə] data
- erratum typo− errata list of typos
- formula [ˈfɔ:rmjulə] formula− formulae ["fɔ:rmjuli:], formulas ["fɔ:rmjuləz] formulas
- locus ["ləukəs] location− loci ["ləusaɪ] locations
- memorandum [, memə "rændəm] record for memory− memoranda [, memə "rændə], memorandums [, memə" rændəmz] notes
- nucleus cell− nuclei cells
- phenomenon phenomenon− phenomena phenomena
- radius ["reɪdɪəs], [ˈreɪdjəs] radius− radii ["reɪdɪaɪ] radii
- species [ˈspiːʃiːz] kind, type— species [ˈspiːʃiːz] kinds, types
- thesis [ˈθiːsɪs] thesis- theses [θiːsiːz] theses
9. There are a number of nouns in English that are used only in the plural.
- binoculars - binoculars
- breeches ["brɪtʃɪz] − breeches
- glasses ["aɪglɑːsɪz] − glasses
- jeans [ʤiːnz]- jeans
- pajamas, pajamas pajamas
- pliers [ˈplaɪəz] − pliers
- scissors [ˈsɪzəz] − scissors
- shorts ʃɔːts − shorts, underpants
- stockings[ˈstɒkɪŋz] − socks
- tights - tights
- tongs- forceps
- trousers [ˈtraʊzəz] - trousers
- proceeds [ˈprəʊsiːdz] − income
- surroundings - neighborhood
- riches [ˈrɪʧɪz] − wealth
- thanks [θæŋks] − gratitude
- wages [ˈweɪʤɪz] − earnings
Plural Formation of Compound Nouns
1. Compound nouns that are written together, form the plural by adding an ending to the second element.
- school girl schoolgirl— schoolgirl s schoolgirls
- policeman policeman— policem e n policemen
2. If a complex noun, which is written with a hyphen, includes words man or woman, as one of the constituent parts of the word, then all parts of the word take the plural.
- woman-writer writer−wom e n-writer s writers
- gentleman farmer gentleman farmer− gentleman e n farmer sgentleman farmers
3. Compound nouns that are written with a hyphen form the plural by changing the key element in the meaning.
- family-name surname− family-name s surnames
- commander-in-chief commander in chief− commander s-in-chief commanders-in-chief
4. If there is no noun element in the compound noun, then the plural is formed by adding the ending −s to the last element.
- forget-me-not forget-me-not− forget-me-not s forget-me-nots
- merry-go-round carousel− merry-go-round s carousels
Note!
1. In English, some uncountable nouns can be used as countable.
Uncountable: success - luck, success (generally)
- Success is in the details. − A meticulous attitude to business is the path to success.
Calc. :a success successful result− success esgood results
- My new job is a success. − My new job is just a happy accident.
- We learn from our success es and failures. − We learn from our successes and mistakes.
2. In English, some nouns can agree with the verb in the singular and in the plural, depending on the context, while not changing their form.
- my family is large. — My family is big.(Family as a whole)
- my family are early risers. — Everyone in our family gets up early.. (Family - as a set of individual members of the team)
3. In English, the same noun can be countable in one sense, and uncountable in another.
Uncountable: iron iron
Calc.: an iron iron— iron s irons
4. In English, some nouns with endings -s have a singular meaning and accordingly agree with singular verbs.
