I.

Singular and plural

Rule 1
Most nouns at the end

Book books
Car cars

Rule 2
Nouns that end in s, ss, sh, ch, and x: add es

Class classes
Dish dishes
Box boxes
Rule 3
Nouns that end in vowel + y: add s

Boy boys
Key keys
Rule 4
Nouns that end in consonant + y : ies

Party parties
Baby babies
Rule 5
Nouns that end in o: add es

Echo
Hero
Potato
Tomato

Rule 6
Some nouns that end in o add only s:

Auto piano video
Ghetto radio zoo
Kangaroo solo
Kilo soprano
Memo studio
Photo tatoo

Rule 7
Some nouns that end in o and add s or es:

Memento
Mosquito
Tornado
Volcano
Zero

Rule 8
Nouns that end in f or fe change to ves:

Calf shelf
Half thief
Knife wolf
Leaf scarf scarves/scarfs
Life
Loaf
Self


exceptions
Belief beliefs
Chief chiefs
Cliff cliffs
Roof roofs
Other exceptions
man men
woman women
Child children
Ox oxen
Foot feet
Goose geese
Tooth teeth
Mouse mice
Louse lice

Some that stay the same

Deer deer
Fish fish
Means means
Offspring offspring
Series series
Sheep sheep
Shrimp shrimp
Species species
More exceptions
Criterion criteria
Phenomenon phenomena
Cactus cacti/catuses
Fungus fungi
Nucleus nuclei
Stimulus stimuli
Syllabus syllabi/syllabuses
Analysis analyses
Basis bases
Crisis crises
Hypothesis hypotheses
Oasis oases
Parenthesis parentheses
Thesis theses
Latin root
Bacterium bacteria
Curriculum curricula
Datum data
Medium media
Memorandum memoranda
Formula formulae
Vertebra vertebrae

Appendix appendices/appendixes
Index indices/indexes
Possessive nouns
Singular noun+apostrophe+s+possession
Boys eyes
Carloss house
Plural nouns that end in s
Plural noun+apostrophe+possession

The boys car
The girls sport
Plural noun exception
Plural noun+apostrophe+s+possession

The childrens toys
The mices tails
Using nouns as modifiers
When a noun is used as modifiers, it is used in its
singular form:

Vegetable soup> they add as adjectives
and adjectives never take s
A five-year-old son
Count nouns
May be preceded by a/an in the singular
It can change to plural

Chair chairs
A book three books
Noncount nouns
Many nouns refer to a whole that is made up of
different parts:
Furniture fruit mail
Sugar garbage makeup
Coffee hardware money
Baggage jewelry cash/change
Clothing junk postage
Equipment luggage scenery
Food machinery traffic

A phenomenon of nature
Sunshine rain
Weather sleet
Dew snow
Fog thunder
Hail wind
Heat darkness
Humidity light
Lightning electricity
Rain fire

fluids
Water
Coffee
Tea
Milk
Oil
Soup
Gasoline
Blood

solids
Ice paper
Bread wood
Butter cotton
Cheese wool
Meat
Gold
Iron
Silver
glass
gases
Steam
Air
Oxygen
Nitrogen
Smoke
Smog
Pollution

particles
Rice
Chalk
Corn
Dirt
Dust
Flour
Grass
Hair
Pepper
Salt
Sand
Sugar
wheat
abstractions
Beauty, confidence, courage, education, enjoyment
Fun, happiness, health, help, honesty, hospitality,
Importance, intelligence, justice, knowledge, laughter,
luck, music, patience, peace, pride, progress, sleep,
Recreation, significance, truth, violence, wealth
Advice, information, news, evidence, proof
Time, space, energy
Homework, work
Grammar, slang, vocabulary

languages
Arabic, Chinese, English
Fields of study
Chemistry
Engineering
History
Literature
Mathematics

recreation
Baseball
Soccer\tennis
Chess
Bridge
poker
Activities : gerunds
Driving
Studying
Swimming
Traveling

Some can be count or noncount
Ana has brown hair.

I found a hair in the soup.

I let the light in.

Dont forget to turn on the light of the room.

Guidelines for article usage
The:
1. when you assume the listener is familiar
Please open the door.

2. for the second mention of an indefinite noun
The man was outside.
3. dont use the for plural count or noncount when are
making a generalization
Gold is a metal.
Expressions used with count nouns
One a number of
Each no
Every some/any
Two plenty
Both most
A couple of all
A few
Several
many
Expressions used with noncounts
A little
Much
A great deal of
No
Some/any
A lot/lots of
Plenty of
Most
all
A few and a little
Give a positive idea, they indicate that something
exists:

She has a few friends.
Im glad, I have saved a little money.
Few and little
Give a negative idea
They indicate that something is largely absent
I feel sorry for her, she has few friends.

I have little money.

Very+ few/little
I have very little money. I dont even have money to
buy food.
Expressions of quantity that always
contain of
A lot of
Lots of
A number of
A great deal of
A majority of
Plenty of

Expressions that sometimes
have of and sometimes not
All both
Most several
Almost all some
Many any
Much when the noun is specific preceded:
A few my
A little this
One the
Two

Dont use of with nonspecific
Many books are here.
All of/ both of
Specific: of is optional

All of the students are here.
All students are here.

Both of those men are here.