Mind other expressions:

a flock of birds — пташина зграя

a swarm of bees

a school of fish

a pack of wolves

a colony of ants

a herd of cows

a pride of lions

30 Chapter 2

Exercise 3. Choose the correct variant:

1. After the negotiations they made many / much changes in their preliminary proposal.

2. German is / are spoken in parts of Switzerland.

3. The number of / the amount of working women are / is increasing nowadays.

4. Professor Johnson did not give many / much information.

5. No news are / is good news.

6. Mathematics are / is an interesting subject.

7. They informed us of much / many important decisions.

8. Many thanks were / was given.

9. «Gulliver's Travels» are / is a popular book.

10. The latest statistics is / are not reliable enough.

11. All of the money were / was spent.

12. A word of gratitude was / were very pleasant.

13. The Japanese is/are known for their traditions.

14. A number of students has / have improved their English.

15. Someone have / has forgotten to put the name on the list.

16. There is / are several documents missing.

17. Statistics are / is a branch of mathematics.

18. There is/are no question of postponing the meeting.

Exercise 4. Read the text and try to appreciate its humor. Discuss the point with your colleagues.

Marion Eppley, developer of the standard cell that bears his name, was credited with the following anecdote:

A young high school student returned one afternoon to the small retail store his father operated in conjunction with a partner.

«Dad,» asked the student, «what are ethics? My teacher said that tomorrow we are going to discuss them.»

«Well,» said the father, «I'll illustrate. Imagine that a man comes into the store to buy a carton of cigarettes. I give him the cigarettes, and he gives me the money. Then, after I've given him his change, he turns to leave and I discover that the $20 bill he gave me seems thicker than usual. On closer examination I find that there are two $20 bills stuck together.

Here, my son, is the whole question of ethics. Do I or don't I tell my partner?»

I'm sure you see Eppley's point.

Borrowed plural forms:

on a um	phenomenon — phenomena феномен (явище) феномени (явища) medium — media засiб — засоби	Also possible:
		symposium criterion	symposia symposiums criteria criterions
is → es a → ae	analysis — analyses аналiз — аналiзи formula — formulae формула — формули	formula	formulae formulas

us → i nucleus — nuclei ядро — ядра	indices index indexes
ix → ices index — indices ex індекс — індекси (покажчик — покажчики)

Chapter 1 31

singular		Plural
man woman child tooth goose mouse ox person, human being		Men Women Children Teeth Geese Mice Oxen people, human beings, humans
	Aircraft Encyclopedia Equipment
a piece of information a piece of news a piece of advice a piece of furniture		Information News Advice Furniture

Exercise 5. Pluralize the following words:

radius, crisis, antenna, appendix, criterion, stimulus, encyclopedia, prognosis, sanatorium, axis, aircraft, medium, matrix, nebula, phasis, optimum, syllabus, supernova, synthesis, spectrum, thesis, equipment, maximum, hypothesis, equilibrium, millennium, oasis, curriculum, phenomenon, analysis.

Exercise 6. Translate the following sentences.

1. There are infinitely many bases to choose from.

2. You may first wish to try a few examples to illustrate that formula.

3. There are many interesting results concerning matrices.

4. Unfortunately, formulas like the ones above do not come easily.

5. There did not remain any questions.

6. This is the least acceptable variant.

7. The latter procedure is much more complicated than the former one.

8. There are a lot of differences among languages.

9. Elevator makers believe that their cars can carry passengers up to at least 180 floors.

10. We do not have enough information at present to offer sound answers to these questions.

11. They have sufficient information from which to draw a conclusion.

12. The reaction accelerated fivefold.

13. These features are also important in a wide variety of applications.