Nouns

Countable and uncountable nouns in English

1. Countable nouns

Most of the nouns are countable. You can combine them with numbers, e.g one, two or three. Here is an example:

• one pencil
• two pencils
• three pencils
• four ...

2. Uncountable nouns

These nouns cannot be combined with numbers.

• water
• butter
• coal
• money
• salt
• iron

If you want to express a quantity, you have to use a special phrase e.g. a glass of water.

Note:

Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable. We recommend to use a good dictionary to find out whether a noun is countable or uncountable or both.

Here is an example:

hair – hairs

• You've got some hairs on your T-shirt. (There might be 5 or 6 of them.)
• Your hair looks lovely. (Here you think of the hairstyle.)

Foreign plurals in English

Foreign Plural forms

These nouns have irregular plural forms. They often make their plurals according to the rules of the language they were taken from (e.g. Latin or Greek). Sometimes there is more than one plural form possible or these forms have different meanings. Always use a good dictionary when using foreign plurals. Here are some examples.

Singular	Plural
analysis	analyses
appendix	appendixes/appendices
axis	axes
basis	bases
cactus	cactuses/cacti
criterion	criteria
datum	data
diagnosis	diagnoses
index	indexes/indices
medium	mediums/media
oasis	oases
octopus	octopuses/octopi
phenomenon	phenomena
syllabus	syllabuses/syllabi
thesis	theses

Gender nouns in English

1. Nouns used in their plural forms

In English he or she is used for people and it for things. But there are some exeptions.

male (masculine)	female (feminine)
brother	sister
nephew	niece
boyfriend	girlfriend
actor	actress
waiter	waitress

There are nouns which have the same form for masculine and feminine, e.g. cousin, doctor, singer, student, teacher. An extra word identifies the gender – boyfriend/girlfriend. The ending -ess indicates a female person – waiter/waitress.

2. Exceptions – Animals

If you know the gender of an animal, you can use he/she for it.

• Where is the cat? She is in the garden.

3. Exceptions – Ships, cars, countries

For ships, cars and countries (when referred to by name) the feminine form is sometimes used, but this is rather obsolete. There is a tendency to use it instead of she.

• The Titanic was a great ship, but she hit an iceberg and sank.

The plural of nouns in English

1. Regular Plural Forms

1.1. How to form the plural

We form the plural by adding -s to the singular of the noun.

Singular	Plural
a car	two cars
a cassette	two cassettes
a lamp	two lamps
a hat	two hats
a cup	two cups

1.2. Nouns ending in sibilants

Add -es. Add -s if the noun ends in one -e.

Singular	Plural
a box	two boxes
a sandwich	two sandwiches
a suitcase	two suitcases
a rose	two roses
a garage	two garages

1.3. Nouns ending in -y

1.3.1. y after consonant

Change -y to -i, then add -es.

Singular	Plural
a city	two cities
a lady	two ladies

There are two forms of the plural of the word penny:

• pennies → You refer to the single coins.
• pence →You refer to the price (how much sth. is).

1.3.2. y after vowel

Add -s after a vowel.

Singular	Plural
a boy	two boys
a day	two days

1.4. Nouns ending in -f or -fe

1.4.1. Add -s

Singular	Plural
a roof	two roofs
a cliff	two cliffs
a sheriff	two sheriffs

1.4.2. Substitute with -ves

Singular	Plural
a thief	two thieves
a wife	two wives
a shelf	two shelves

Both forms are possible with the following nous:

• scarf → scarfs/scarves
• hoof → hoofs/hooves

Add -s for words ending in -ff.

1.5. Nouns ending in -o

1.5.1. Add -s

Singular	Plural
a disco	two discos
a piano	two pianos
a photo	two photos

1.5.2. Add -s

Singular	Plural
a tomato	two tomatoes
a potato	two potatoes
a hero	two heroes

Both forms are possible with the following nous:

• buffalo → buffalos/buffaloes
• mosquito → mosquitos/mosquitoes
• tornado → tornados/tornadoes

2. Irregular Plural Forms

Singular	Plural
a man	two men
a woman	two women
a child	two children
a mouse	two mice
a tooth	two teeth
a goose	two geese
a foot	two feet
an ox	two oxen

Plural nouns in English

Nouns used in their plural forms

In English there are nouns that are used only in the plural.

1. Pair nouns

Noun	Sentence
jeans	Where are my jeans?
glasses	She has lost her glasses.
scissors	These scissors don't cut well.

If you want to refer to an exact number, use a/one pair of, like in the following example.

• I have bought a pair of jeans.
• I have bought two pairs of jeans.

There are more nouns: binoculars, headphones, pyjamas, scales, shorts, tights, trousers.

2. Nouns not used in the singular (headwords)

Noun	Sentence
cattle	Male cattle are called bulls.
clothes	He bought some new clothes yesterday.
stairs	The children ran down the stairs.
wages	The wages are paid on the last day of the month.
people *	Three people were killed in the car crash last Friday evening.
police	Look! The police are coming.

* The word people can be used in the singular with another meaning:

• They are a friendly people.
• The native peoples of Africa often have black skins.

3. Nationalities

The following nationalities (no -s) are used in the pural:

• the Dutch
• the British
• the English
• the French
• the Spanish
• the Welsh

The singular of the English would be the Englishman.

Proper names/nouns in English

Spelling of proper names in English

Proper names (or nouns) are capitalized in English. Here are some examples:

days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

months: January, February, March

names of companies: Amazon, Coca Cola, Google

countries, towns: England, Canada, San Francisco

sights: The Grand Canyon, The Empire State Buildung, The Underground

books, films, prizes: the Bible, the Oscar, the Nobel Prize

names of people: Tim Smith, Jennie Baker, Theodore Roosevelt

famous people: Aristotle, Napoleon, Shakespeare

Singular nouns in English

Nouns used in their singular forms

In English there are nouns that are used only in the singular.

1. Collections

Noun	Sentence
furniture	She bought new furniture last week.
fruit	Would you like some fruit?
hair*	Your hair looks lovely.

* see countable and uncountable nouns

other examples: luggage, jewellry

2. Some nouns ending in -s

Noun	Sentence
news	Good evening. Here is the news.
physics	Physics is our first lesson on Monday morning.
progress	Progress was made in developing new technologies.
The United States	The United States is a country with 50 federal states.

other examples: athletics, billards, crossroads, darts, economics, gymnastics, maths, mumps, politics, series

3. Special nouns

Noun	Sentence
homework	My maths homework was not easy.
information	For further information on the hotel, phone us at ....
knowledge	His knowledge of English is excellent.

other examples: advice, damage, work

Singular and plural for groups of people

Nouns used in singular and plural

Which phrase is correct - the class was or the class were? Is the word class a singular noun or a plural noun? This question cannot be answered with Yes or No. Use the singular if you see the class as a group of students. Use the plural if you see the class as single students.

In British English the plural is used more often than in American English.

Sentence	Explanation
The family is on holiday.	I see the family as a group.
The family are packing their suitcases.	I see the single members of the family packing their suitcases.

Sentence	Explanation
Team B was very successful today.	I see Team B as a group.
Team B were very successful today.	I see the single members of Team B. Each member of the team was successful. I could also say: All members of Team B were very successful.

There are more words which can be singular or plural nouns:

• army
• band
• choir
• class
• club
• crew
• company
• firm
• gang
• government
• orchestra
• party
• staff.

Substitute word one/ones in English

The use of one/ones

We use one/ones instead of repeating a countable noun.

• Singular: one
• Plural: ones

John has three cars – a red car and two blue cars.
John has three cars – a red one and two blue ones.

Jack has five pens – two green pens and three yellow pens.
Jack has five pens – two green ones and three yellow ones

If you buy two bottles of water, you get a third bottle free.
If you buy two bottles of water, you get a third one free.