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NOUNS THAT HAVE NO SEPARATE PLURAL FORMS
They include:
a) Names of certain animals, fish and birds that are traditionally used for food, e.g.
deer, sheep, swine, grouse, partridge, pheasant, salmon, cod, plaice, trout, carp, pike, etc.
The hunters brought home two wild deer and several partridge.
b) Nouns meaning nationality, e.g.
a Japanese - Japanese, a Swiss - Swiss, a Portuguese Portuguese,
The Japanese is a very wise nation. (The definite article is used to indicate the whole nation)
The three Japanese we met were very friendly.
There were Swiss, Germans and a Portuguese in that group of students.
BUT:
an Englishman Englishmen/ Englishwoman Englishwomen; the English (the whole nation)
a Frenchman Frenchmen/ a Frenchwoman Frenchwomen; the French (the whole nation)
a Dutchman Dutchmen, the Dutch (the whole nation)
a Russian Russians; a German Germans
c) Nouns meaning some special technical terms, e.g.
aircraft We saw two aircraft in the distance.
8. NOUNS OF GREEK AND LATIN ORIGIN
Some of them have regular plural forms while others still keep old ones that need to be remembered. There are some regular patterns in their formation that can help you remember them,
1. -us changes intoi, e.g. a nucleus nuclei; a focus foci;
2. -achanges intoae, e.g. a formula formulae;
3. -umchanges intoa, e.g. a datum data; a curriculum curricula;
4. -ischanges intoes, e.g. a crisis - crises; a diagnosis diagnoses;
an analysis analyses; a parenthesis parentheses;
5. on changes into a, e.g. a phenomenon phenomena; criterion - criteria
9. NOUNS USED ONLY IN THE SINGULAR FORM (SINGULARIA TANTUM) OR AGREEING WITH SINGULAR VERBS
a) Mass nouns, e.g.
iron, glass, butter, sand, etc.
Glass was invented in Ancient China.
Do not confuse mass and common nouns. Compare:
We need a new iron. This bridge is made of iron.
b) Names of diseases - they always agree with a singular verb, e.g.
mumps, measles, plague, flu, pneumonia, etc.
Mumps isnt as dangerous now as it used to be.
c) Names of some games - they always agree with a singular verb, e.g.
billiards, drafts, bowls, dominoes, cards, etc.
Dominoes is a very useful game in teaching foreign languages to children.
d) Names of sciences and other fields of peoples activity that end in -ics, e.g. physics, linguistics, mathematics, gymnastics, politics, etc.
Physics is a difficult subject.
BUT: StatisticsIS very important in every research. (science) ≠ These statistics ARE misleading. (facts)
d) Abstract notions (uncountable nouns), e.g.
money, knowledge, information, advice, progress, success, news, means, weather, furniture, help, etc.
Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
It is easier to give advice than to follow it.
No news isgood news.
Bad news travels fast.
What is the news?
Where is the money? It is on the table.
Money is the root of all evil.
It was really nasty weather. (The indefinite article can never be used with this noun!)
The weather today is so nice that it is difficult to stay indoors.
NOTES:
To make some of these nouns countable, use the words PIECE or BIT,
That was a very interesting piece/ bit of news.
My uncle gave me three pieces of advice of which I found only one reasonable enough.
· Some abstract uncountable nouns can be used with indefinite articles in some set expressions,
Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1636
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