Key Facts about Nouns

Nouns describe concrete things that you can see or touch: a friend, a house, a church; and abstract things that you can not see or touch: happiness, information, love, time.

1. Plurals

• To form the plural of most nouns add -(e)s:

friend-friends, house-houses, church-churches

• Nouns ending in -ch, -sh, -s, -ss, -x add -es:

match-matches, wish-wishes, bus-buses, kis-kisses, box-boxes

• Nouns ending in consonant + y change the y to i and add -es: baby-babies, country-countries,

(vowel + y just add -s : boy-boys)

• Most nouns ending in -f change the f to v and add -es: wife-wives, shelf-shelves

• Note these irregulars plurals:

man-men, woman-women, child-children, foot-feet, mouse-mice, tooth-teeth

• The nouns police and people are plural in English.

The police have arrived; people are angry.

• Foods, substances and materials are always singular.

bread, milk, grass, snow, steel, cotton, glass

• Abstract nouns are also always singular.

love, happiness, information

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! Note that these words are singular in English:

news, advise, furniture, work, homework, progress, luggage,

Hard work is good for you.

No new is good news.

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2- Possession

• To show possession by people or animals, add -’(s) or -(s)’ : the boy’s bicycle, women’s rights, girls’ magazines

! Use this form with time expressions:

in three days’ time, yesterday’s newspaper

• In other cases use compound nouns: bedroom, computer program, washing machine

or the preposition of : a cup of tea, the leg of the  table

3- Compound nouns

• The first part describes the second part:

toothbrush=a brush used for cleaning teeth

• Write compound nouns as one word where both parts are very short:

homework, bedroom, toothbrush

…to be continued

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