Introduction to English Grammar – Number of Nouns and Gender of Nouns – Lecture Summary

Introduction to English Grammar: Number of Nouns and
Gender of Nouns
Noun
- it names anything and everything under the sun. (e.g. person, place, animal or
idea)

Noun Example
Person James, Student, Artist
Place California, School, Walmart
Thing Vase, Headphone, Desk
Animal Rabbit, Goldfish, Kangaroo
Idea Justice, Knowledge, Friendship


Number of Nouns

Singular Noun
- it refers to a single noun.

Example:
Bag, Box, Woman

Plural Noun
- it refers to two or more nouns.

Example:
Bags, Boxes, Women


Singular Noun Plural Noun
Boy Boys
House Houses
Man Men


Take note:
There are different ways to make a singular noun plural. If you notice, you can
add -s or -es to a singular noun to make it plural.

In the last example, man took the plural form men.


Regular Noun
- just add -s to become plural.

Example:
 Dog --- Dogs
 Tree ---Trees

,  Building --- Buildings


Nouns ending in S, CH, SH, X or Z
- just add -es to become plural.

Example:
 Church---- Churches
 Fox ---- Foxes
 Class ---- Classes


Take note:
There are nouns that end in s and z, which require doubling the -s or -z before
adding -es to their plural form. (Please refer to the table below.)


Nouns ending in F or FE
- the 'F' or 'FE' must be removed, and the suffix '-ves' must be added.

Example:
 Life --- Lives
 Shelf ---- Shelves
 Leaf --- Leaves

Take note:
However, the following words are exceptions to this rule:

Nouns ending in F or FE
Roof Roofs
Chief Chiefs
Oaf Oafs
Chef Chefs
Belief Beliefs

Although these words end in F or FE, only -s is added to form their plural.



Please refer to the table below for further understanding:
Regular Nouns Nouns ending in S, CH, Nouns ending in F or FE
SINGULAR PLURAL SH, X or Z SINGULAR PLURAL
Snack Snacks SINGULAR PLURAL Wolf Wolves
Animal Animals Guess Guesses Elf Elves
Key Keys Bunch Bunches Half Halves
Sister Sisters Dress Dresses Knife Knives
Quiz Quizzes