NOUNS

The possessive form

The ending ‘s can be added to a verb or a name to show possession. It is most often used with words for people, countries and animals:

► Neil’s tools

► Brazil’s beaches

► the children’s clothes

When the word already ends in a plural –s, an apostrophe is added after it:

► the boys’ rooms

► ladies’ shoes

► the Smiths’ house

NOTE: the possessive form is not usually used with inanimate objects. Instead of is used, or the two nouns are put together without any preposition:

► the leg of the table

► the table leg

Countable and uncountable

The two biggest groups of nouns are COUNTABLE NOUN and UNCOUNTABLE NOUN. Most countable nouns are words for separate things that can be counted, like apples, books, or teachers. Uncountable nouns are usually words for things that are thought of as a quantity or mass, like water or time.

However, there are some nouns in English that you might expect to be countable but which are not. For example, furniture, information and equipment are all uncountable nouns in English, although, they are countable in some other languages.

Singular and plural

Most nouns form their plural by adding –s:

► book – books

► home - homes

 If the nouns ends in –s, -sh, -ch, -z, or –x, - es is added:

► flash – flashes

► fox – foxes

When the noun ends in a consonant + y, the plural is formed by removing the –y and adding –ies

      ► lady – ladies

BUT monkey – monkeys

      Some nouns ending in –o form their plural with –s, but others take –es.

► potato – potatoes

► piano – pianos

The plural of some nouns is irregular.

► mouse – mice

► criterion – criteria

► appendix – appendices

► gateau – gateaux

      Some nouns, especially those referring to animals and birds, have more than one plural form, and these are both

► they went to feed the zebras.

► they saw a herd of zebra.

Countable nouns

A countable noun has a singular form and a plural form. When it is singular, it must always have a determiner (a word such as a, the, both, each) in front of it. In the plural it can be used with or without a determiner:

► I’m having a driving lesson this afternoon.

► I’ve had several lessons already.

► lesson cost $20 an hour.

Uncountable nouns

An countable noun has only one form, not a separate singular and plural. It can be used with or without a determiner:

► Can we make space for an extra chair?

► There isn’t much space in this room.

If an uncountable noun is the subject of a verb, the verb is singular:

► Extra money has been found for this project.

With nouns such as furniture, information and equipment, as with many other uncountable nouns, you can talk about amounts of the thing or separate parts of the thing by using phrases like a piece of, three items of, some bits of. Nouns like piece, item, bit are called PARTITIVES when used in this way:

► I picked up some information that might interest you.

► I picked up two pieces of information that might interest you.

Plural nouns

Some nouns are always plural and have no singular form. Nouns that refer to things that have two parts joined together, for example glasses, jeans and scissors are often plural nouns. You can usually also talk about a pair of jeans, a pair of scissors, etc

► I’m going to buy some new jeans.

► I’m going to buy a new pair of jeans.

Some plural nouns, such as police and cattle look as if they are singular. Nouns like this usually refer to a group of people or animals of a particular type, when they are considered together as one unit. They also take the plural verb:

► Police are searching for a man who escaped from Pentonville prison today.

► The cattle are fed on barley and grass.