Countable Nouns (Singular & Plural)

Introduction

Nouns we can count are called countable nouns. Countable nouns can be singular or plural.

one butterfly two bananas three trees four students

Singular Nouns:
It’s always necessary to use a determiner with singular nouns. Examples of determiners include one, a/an,
the, my, your, this and that.

We only use one before a noun to focus on the quantity/emphasise the single number for clarity or effect.

• A: How many children do you have? B: I have one boy and three girls.

• I only have one doughnut, but Kate has two.

Indefinite Articles (a /an)

We generally use the indefinite article a/an before singular nouns.

• I eat a banana every day. • There is a fly in the classroom. • I need an umbrella.

We use a before words starting with a consonant sound and an before words starting with a vowel sound.

• a book, a clock, a dog, a pen, a student, a vase • an apple, an elephant, an igloo, an owl, an umbrella

Don’t forget that some words start with a vowel, but we pronounce them with a consonant sound. For
example, the u in university sounds like the y in yellow. For these words, we need an.

Ex 1: Cover the text above, and write the correct indefinite article (a or an) for each noun.

1. ___ giraffe 3. ___ table 5. ___ ball 7. ___ unicorn 9. ___ cat 11. ___ iguana 13. ___ uncle
2. ___ office 4. ___ egg 6. ___ man 8. ___ angel 10. ___ sofa 12. ___ desk 14. ___ pen

The Definite Article (the)

We also use the with singular nouns. We use it in the following situations:

1. When we mention a noun a second time. • I have a dog. I take the dog for a walk every day.
2. When there is only one of something. • The president lives in the White House.
3. When it is clear/obvious which one we mean. • Please close the door. (the door in the room)
4. When we mean a specific/particular one. • Can you give me the red cup, please?

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Additional Structures:

We also use possessive adjectives (my, your, his, etc.) and the determiners this and that with singular nouns.

• My car is red. • Your bicycle is nice. • This book is interesting. • That cup is yours.

Don’t forget! • I read book every day. x • I read a book every day. ü
We never use singular • Book is interesting. x • This book is interesting. ü
nouns without determiners. • Pen is on table. x • The pen is on the table. ü

Plural Nouns:
For plural nouns, we usually add s to the noun: bananas, umbrellas, elephants. We can use plural nouns
without an article, or we can use a number (two, three, etc.) We also use the, a possessive adjective (my, your
etc,) these, those or some with plural nouns. We use some to indicate an indefinite quantity (but not a lot).

• I eat apples every day. • The doughnuts in this shop are delicious.
• There are five students from Chile in my class. • Can I have some doughnuts, please?
• These bananas are very expensive. • Those dogs are dangerous.

Spelling Changes:

We usually add s to form a plural noun but in some cases, there are spelling changes. Study the table below.

Nouns ending with: y Nouns ending with: vowel + y

The letter y changes to ie before s in the plural. Don’t change y to ie if it comes after a vowel.

• baby – babies • day – days

• family - families • turkey – turkeys
• city – cities • boy - boys

Nouns ending with: s / sh / ch / x Nouns ending with: o

For nouns ending s, sh, ch or x, add es. For nouns ending in o before a consonant, add es.

• bus – buses • potato – potatoes

• brush – brushes • mango – mangoes
• watch – watches • tomato - tomatoes
• fox - foxes

Nouns ending with: f Nouns ending with: z

For nouns ending in an f sound, f changes to v, For nouns ending in z, double the z and add es. We
and we add es or s if the word already ends in e. don’t double the z if the word ends in e.

• shelf – shelves • life - lives • quiz - quizzes

• knife – knives • leaf - leaves • maze - mazes

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Irregular Plural Nouns:

There are also some irregular plural nouns. These

nouns don’t end with s. Some very common nouns
are irregular.
a child /one child children / three children
Study the common examples below:

• child - children • person - people • man - men • woman - women • mouse - mice

• foot - feet • tooth - teeth • fish - fish • sheep - sheep • deer - deer

Ex 2: Cover the text above, and write the correct plural form of each noun.

1. wife: _________________. 7. country: _________________. 13. shelf: _________________.

2. person: _________________. 8. tomato: _________________. 14. glass: _________________.
3. day: _________________. 9. leaf: _________________. 15. company: _________________.
4. pen: _________________. 10. child: _________________. 16. man: _________________.
5. sheep: _________________. 11. mouse: _________________. 17. wolf: _________________.
6. quiz: _________________. 12. activity _________________. 18. dish: _________________.

Changes to Verbs & Pronouns:

We use the is form of the verb be for singular nouns and the are form for plural nouns.

Singular Plural
• There is a spider in the bathtub. • There are spiders in the bathtub.
• The shop assistant is bored. • The shop assistants are bored.

Don’t forget the singular and plural pronouns and the verb form changes for the 3rd person singular.

Singular Plural
• I like cheese. • We like cheese. Remember, the 3rd person
• You like cheese. • You like cheese. singular form of have is has.
• He/She/It likes cheese. • They like cheese.

Ex 3: Write the correct form of be in the gaps. Ex 4: Choose the correct verb form.

1. There _____ six eggs in the fridge. 1. Jack and Gina love/loves ice cream.
2. The teacher _____ late for class. 2. The cat like/likes milk.
3. The president _____ angry. 3. They want/wants a drink.
4. There _____ a lot of people in the park. 4. We play/plays football on Fridays.
5. There _____ a fly in my soup. 5. Girls enjoy/enjoys shopping.
6. Children _____ funny sometimes. 6. The film start/starts at 8 pm.

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 Plural-only Nouns:
There is a group of nouns that exist only in the plural form. These are things that have 2 parts. Trousers, for
example, have two legs. What do you see in the images below?

There is no singular form, so we use the plural to talk about 1 item or more than 1 item. We can also say a
pair of to refer to 1 item and pairs of to refer to more than 1 item. We can’t use the plural form with
numbers, It is necessary to use pairs of. Study the examples.

shorts shorts
or or
a pair of shorts 2 pairs of shorts

Ex 5: These sentences are incorrect. Can you correct them?

1. I have a three sisters. 10. John live in the city.
2. There is five students in the classroom. 11. I visit other countrys a lot.
3. There is some apples in the bowl. 12. The leafs always fall in the autumn.
4. Giraffes has long necks. 13. I don’t want an sandwich.
5. I don’t like potatos. 14. The teacher gives us quizes every Friday.
6. I need to bring two shorts on holiday. 15. A boy in my class like me.
7. There are six persons on the bus. 16. This shorts aren’t nice.
8. The children takes the school bus. 17. Jen has a nice sunglasses.
9. That bananas are delicious. 18. There are mouses in the restaurant.

Ex 6: Memorise the items in your box, then cover the page and test each other in pairs.

Memorise the items in your box, then cover the box and test each other in pairs. Use There is ... / There are ...

Student A:

Student B:

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 Vocabulary-building task 1.

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

quiz unicorn igloo fly

shelves brush iguana angel

butterfly fox cup vase

owl leaf umbrella knife

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 Vocabulary-building task 2.

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

bored scissors headphones sunglasses

turkey shop assistant trousers bowl

deer tooth angry dish / plate

bathtub shorts mouse wolf

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