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Hi everybody, this is Mr Duncan in England.
How are you today?
Are you okay?
I hope so.
Are you happy?
I hope so.
In today's lesson, we are going to take a look at the way in which words change depending on the number or amount of things being talked about or described.
In this one lesson we are going to talk about the often confusing and sometimes mistaken rules of English Plural.
The word plural simply refers to a quantity of more than one.
For one thing, we say singular.
A single thing is one.
Of course, there are some exceptions to the rule of plural in English.
For example, some words have no plural.
This normally occurs with objects.
But now I'm getting ahead of myself.
So let's take a look at each plural rule individually.
by one.
A plural is normally used with nouns.
Describing the number or quantity of something totalling more than one in a sentence is plural.
There are six children playing in the garden.
There were seven leaders at the conference.
You will notice that besides the use of numbers, there is also a change in the spelling of the nouns.
So even if we quantify the amount with a number, the noun will still change in one way or another.
So the plural does not need to be expressed with a number.
For objects, we usually add an s to the end of the word.
So, one book becomes
books.
One cup becomes cups.
One carrot becomes carrots.
Of course, this being English, the rule is not always true.
For example, for nouns that end in CH, SH, S, X or Z, we add ES to the end.
So, church becomes churches, bush becomes bushes, bus becomes buses, box becomes boxes.
Nouns that end with a vowel and a Y have an S added to them.
Boy becomes boys.
Toy becomes toys.
Day becomes days.
Key becomes keys.
Nouns that end with a consonant and y have different spelling.
The Y is removed and the word ends with IES.
So, baby becomes babies.
Country becomes countries.
Spy becomes spies.
Most nouns that end with F or FE have VE added and the F is removed.
So ELF becomes ELVES.
SHELF becomes SHELVES.
LOAF becomes LOAVES.
Most nouns which end in an O simply have an S added.
So, kangaroo becomes kangaroos.
Piano becomes pianos.
Video becomes videos.
There are some exceptions to the O rule.
For example, potato has an e added as well.
So the plural of potato is potatoes.
Hero becomes heroes.
Volcano in its plural becomes volcanoes.
The way in which some nouns change depends on whether or not we class them as being countable.
Some nouns are not countable.
This means that the spelling remains the same, whether the object is singular or plural.
As a general rule, countable things are individual.
A single thing or item is countable.
Each thing can be identified and counted as it appears, so it is countable.
An egg is countable.
One egg.
Five eggs.
The s is added to show that there is more than one.
We can say eggs to show the amount without a number.
A basket of eggs.
There are many countable nouns.
In fact, there are thousands of them.
So, I will take a closer look at some of the uncountable nouns instead.
Tea and coffee in their basic forms are uncountable.
Sugar is uncountable if it is being measured or stored.
However, all of these items can be counted if they are being served out.
If tea or coffee is in a cup and is being served as a drink, then they can be counted.
Can I have three teas and four coffees, please?
The same applies to sugar.
If sugar is being served, it can be counted.
We can ask, how many sugars do you want in your tea?
However, when milk is being served, it is not countable.
How much milk do you take in your coffee?
This is because liquid is always uncountable.
Milk and water is uncountable.
So is petrol and diesel.
Even the steam produced by boiling water is uncountable.
Other uncountable things include gas and air, although gas can be counted if we are talking about different types of gas at the same time.
The Earth's atmosphere is made up of many gases.
Some animals are uncountable.
Sheep are uncountable.
They cannot be expressed in the plural.
One sheep.
Two sheep.
A hundred sheep.
The general term, wildlife, is uncountable.
Some people believe that fish are uncountable.
However, this is not true.
If we are talking about many different types of fish together, then we can say fishes.
OK, we have looked at uncountable nouns.
Now we will look at those nouns that are only used as plural.
Clothing is often named in the plural.
Trousers Shoes Socks Pants Knickers
Then there are glasses, earphones, gloves and boots.
Other general items include scissors, tongs, shears, skis and skates.
This is because most come in pairs or are made up of two identical items.
We often precede the noun with a pair of.
a pair of shoes, a pair of trousers, a pair of scissors.
Some plural words can cause confusion when we start using them in the possessive sense.
The cat's dish.
The dog's bone.
The horse's food.
The children's playground.
The fish's stomach.
Generally, we will add an apostrophe before the S. This shows that the plural is now being used possessively.
The possessive rule also applies to given names.
For example, Duncan's class, David's bag, Steve's car.
But what about names ending with an s, such as James or Ross?
For James, you simply add an apostrophe at the end with no s. So it is James.
That is James' car.
With Ross, you simply add an apostrophe and an s. This is Ross's new girlfriend.
There are some nouns which change almost completely when used in plural.
A goose becomes geese.
A man becomes men.
A mouse becomes mice.
A tooth becomes teeth.
Octopus becomes octopi.
Cactus becomes cacti.
If we are generally talking about more than one thing, then there are many ways of expressing it.
This, of course, depends on how many things there are.
One thing is easy.
It is one.
The one item.
We generally describe two things as a pair.
For example, a pair of curtains.
Anything above two and we tend to use terms such as some.
I need some milk.
I must buy some wine.
I need to get some petrol.
You will notice that the nouns are all uncountable.
The most common quantities tend to involve uncountable nouns.
Of course, there are exceptions.
I need some batteries for my radio.
I must buy some carrots and potatoes next week.
There are other ways of expressing quantity, but we will save that for another lesson.
Look what I've got, some delicious crunchy toast.
I hope this lesson, just like all my other lessons, has been useful and I look forward to seeing you all again very, very soon.
This is the one and only Mr Duncan saying thank you all for watching me teaching you and of course, ta-ta for now.
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