Invariable nouns ending in -s which take a sg verb:

news: I´ve just heard some great news. There is an item of news that might interest you.

diseases: measles = osýpky, mumps, rickets = krivica, shingles = herpes zoster;

subject names: mathematics, linguistics, phonetics, politics, ethics, athletics, ceramics, acoustics, statistics,

games: billiards, bowls, darts, dominoes, checkers,

proper nouns: Algiers, Brussels, Naples, Flanders.

Plural invariable nouns

Summation plurals take a plural verb, tools and articles of dress consisting of 2 parts:

trousers, pants, knickers, tights, shorts, jeans, pyjamas, scissors, tongs, pliers, shears, glasses.

-the noun can be made countable by means of a pair of: a pair of scissors, two pairs of scissors

Other pluralia tantum (nouns only in plural): the Middle Ages, annals, archives, arms, ashes, auspices, bowels, brains, clothes, contents, customs, dregs, earnings, goods, greens=green vegetables, guts, lodgings, looks, manners, minutes, outskirts, remains, riches, premises, surroundings, troops, valuables, wages, wits.

Nouns with different meanings in sg and plural:

air = gesto airs = afektovanosť to put on airs

arm = zbraň arms = erb coat of arms

ash = popol cigarette ash ashes = telesné pozostatky

colour = farba colours = vlajka to sail under false colours

cost = cena costs = výdavky

custom = zvyk customs = clo

damage = škoda damages = odškodné

good = dobro goods = tovar

honour = česť honours = vyznamenanie

look = pohľad to give a hard look looks = výzor good looks are important

manner = spôsob manners = obyčaje

minute = minúta minutes = zápisnica

pain = bolesť bodily pain pains = úsilie to take pains

picture = obraz pictures = kino

scale = šupina a fish scale scales = váhy

spirit = duch, soul spirits = liehoviny, nálada to be in high spirits

spectacle = predstavenie spectacles = okuliare

Unmarked invariable plurals take a plural verb: cattle, swine, vermin, clergy, police, military

Variable nouns

A) Regular plurals: formed by means of an –s suffix which is the predominant plural marker in English. It has 3 variants in pronunciations /s/, /z/, /iz/ (allomorphs) the choice of which is determined by the preceding sound of the base.

The spelling of the regular plural:

-s is written as –s after most nouns: streets, colleges, but there are some exceptions:

a) addition of e: the ending is spelled –es after nouns ending in sibilants: gases, buzz-buzzes, boxes, porches, bushes, dishes, watches, buses

b) treatment of –y: -ys after vowels: day, keys, boys; in proper nouns: The two Germanys, two Harrys, the Kennedys, Januarys; in compound nouns.: stand-bys, lay-bys

- after consonants –y becomes –ies: spy-spies, duty-duties, army-armies

c) doubling of consonant in: fez-fezzes, quiz-quizzes, in abbreviations: pp=pages, ll=lines, MSS=manuscripts.

d) the regular plural suffix of nouns ending in –o has 2 spellings:

1. –os after a vowel: bamboos, kangaroos, folios, radios, studios, zoos; in proper nouns: Eskimos; in abbreviations: kilos, photos; in Italian musical terms: concertos, solos, sopranos, pianos

2. -oes: in echoes, embargoes, heroes, Negroes, potatoes, tomatoes, torpedoes, vetoes

Vacillitation = neustálenosť in banjos-banjoes, buffalos-buffaloes, cargos-cargoes, volcanos-volcanoes

B) Irregular plurals

a) some nouns ending in –f/fe take – ves: calf-calves (teľa), elf-elves (škriatok), half-halves, knife-knives, leaf-leaves, life-lives, loaf-loaves, self-selves, shelf-shelves, sheaf-sheaves (snop), thief-thieves, wife-wives, wolf-wolves

b) the change of the medial vowel, a survival from Old English: man-men, woman-women, foot-feet, tooth-teeth, goose-geese, louse-lice (voš), mouse-mice

c) the –en plural: brethren (religious), children, oxen

d) some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural E.g.{sheep}+ {0}and take a singular or a plural verb. E.g. This sheep looks small. All those sheep are mine.

-in some animal names both forms are possible: elks-elk (los), crabs-crab, ducks-duck, herrings-herring, trouts-trout, deers-deer

- only the zero plural is used in: sheep, salmon, grouse = jarabica, in words with –craft: aircraft, spacecraft, in nationality names ending with -ese: Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese

- the number is signalled outside the noun, e.g. They were looking for a sheep. They were looking for sheep. My goldfish has died. My goldfish have died. Fish appeared. The fish appeared and I had no difficulty in catching it. We saw a Chinese. We saw some Chinese.

Compound words in the plural

1) Plural in the last element:

Noun+noun: housemaid - housemaids, shoemaker - shoemakers, classroom - classrooms

No noun component: merry-go-round - merry-go-rounds (kolotoč), forget-me-not - forget-me-nots (nezábudka), grown-up - grown-ups, close-up - close-ups, take-off – take-offs (vzlet), stand-by - stand-bys (pomocník, priateľ)

Compounds with –ful: mouthfuls, spoonfuls, handfuls (hlty, plné lyžice, hrste)

2) Plural in the first element:

coat of mail - coats of mail (drôtená košeľa), editor-in-chief - editors-in-chief (šéfrefdaktor), man-of-war – men of war (voj.loď ), father-in-law – fathers-in-law, looker-on - lookers-on (divák), passer-by - passers-by (okoloidúci)

3) Plural in both elements:

woman doctor - women doctors, woman teacher - women teachers, man student - men students, manservant - menservants but woman-haters, man-eaters

Read Lectures 9 and 10 – Definite, indefinite articles and Case and Gender, answer all questions in Homework assignment 9, bring your answers and exercises to the class, please. 

Questions

Please, answer these questions: