Unit 1

Notes • We use cardinal numbers, some, or any, many, few… before plural nouns • Eg: two children, some beautiful girls • Some nouns are always in plural forms: jeans, trousers, scissors,[r]

Unit 1: Plurals of countable and uncountable nouns Singulars (N) and Plurals (Ns) • Some examples Singulars Plurals An orange Two oranges A bat Two bats Rules Plural = Singular + -s Some more examples: A book three books A pen some pens An apple ten apples Exceptions 1: “-s, -o, -x, -ch, -sh endings” A torch Two torches Three glasses A glass A fox Two foxes A tomato A toothbrush Two tomatoes Seven toothbrushes Nouns end in -s, -ss, -x, -o, -ch, -sh, add –es to the nouns Notes • Nouns are loan words or abbreviations that end in –o, add –s only to the nouns Eg A radio Two radios A photo Two photos Some more words: Pianos, kilos, videos, memos, bamboos, zoos, Exceptions 2: “-y” ending A butterfly Two butterflies A strawberry Two strawberries A key Two keys Nouns end in a consonant + “y”, change “y” to “i” and add “es” Nouns end in a vowel + “y”, add “–s” to the noun Five vowels: A, E, I, O, U Exception 3: -f, -fe endings A knife A thief Two knives Two thieves Nouns end in -f, -fe, omit -f, -fe and add –ves But a chef -> chefs, a roof -> roofs, a handkerchief -> handkerchiefs Irregular A child A man A woman A tooth A foot A goose Children Men Women Teeth Feet Geese A louse A mouse An ox A sheep A deer A fish A person Lice Mice Oxen Sheep Deer Fish People Notes: • We often use “a/an” before a singular noun • “A” is used before a consonant sound, “an” before a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u) • Eg: A banana, a book…, but: a uniform, a university An apple, an orange, an egg…, but: an hour • “A/an” means “one” • We can’t use a singular countable noun alone It must go with a, an, one, the, my, this, that… Notes • We use cardinal numbers, some, or any, many, few… before plural nouns • Eg: two children, some beautiful girls • Some nouns are always in plural forms: jeans, trousers, scissors, glasses… • We can use a plural noun alone to say about something in general • Eg: I like bananas (= bananas in general) Children like sweets (= children and sweets in general) Practice dolphins birds shoes clowns spiders foxes benches dresses mosquitoes witches families ladies babies diaries flies mice teeth geese fish policemen Loaves Tomatoes Ladies Boys Housewives Benches Bodies Teachers Leaves Watches Countries Days Kisses Strawberries Shelves Schools Lives Addresses Babies handkerchiefs Halves Countable and Uncountable Nouns I Countable nouns • The things we can count belong to countable nouns • Countable nouns have singulars and plurals • We use a/an/one before a singular noun • Eg: a book two books an apple two apples II Uncountable nouns • Things we can’t count belong to uncountable nouns • Uncountable nouns haven’t got plurals • We don’t use a/an and numbers before uncountable nouns • We use some with uncountable nouns • Eg: Some beer, some bread… Types of uncountable nouns • Liquid: Water, milk, wine, beer, cooking oil, petrol… • Small units with a large number: rice, salt, sugar, sand, hair… • Toothpaste, sun screen, butter, cheese… • Bread, meat, cake, toast,… • Fruit, luggage, money, work, homework • Air, gas, oxygen, … • Silk, leather, gold, cotton… • Abstract nouns: knowledge, information, news… • Names of learning subjects: English, economics, politics, biology… How can we count uncountable nouns ? • We can never count an uncountable noun but we can count things that contain the nouns • Eg: We can count water by pouring it into a glass/a cup… and we count the number of the glasses/cups • We can use a uncountable noun alone to say about things in general • Eg: You shouldn’t drink coffee before going to bed (=coffee in general) Water doesn’t contain any calories (=water in general ) Some A Some An Some A Some Some A Some Some A Some A Some Some Some Some A Some An A Some A Some Some bowls slices glasses of loaves bottles pieces cans packets cups jars pieces bowls churches teams Loaves/slices pieces horses Cups bicycles bottles boys ladies children cans glasses days packets bottles geese jars mice Kilos/pieces THANK YOU FOR ATTENDANCE