§ 6. There are a number of nouns in English which form their plural in an irregular way.

A few nouns form their plural by a change of vowel. They are: man — men, woman — women, tooth — teeth, foot ~ feet, mouse — mice, goose — geese, louse — lice.

Note also the peculiar plural form in the nouns: ox — oxen, child — children, brother — brethren (=not blood relations, but members of the same society).

A few nouns have the same form for the singular and the plural: a sheep — sheep, a swine — swine, a deer — deer, a fish — fish, a craft — craft, a counsel — counsel (=legal adviser, barrister).

The following nouns ending in s in the singular remain un- changed in the plural: a means — means, a (gas) works — (gas) works, a barracks — barracks, a headquarters — headquarters, a series — series, a species — species.

Note. Note that the noun penny has two plural forms: pennies (when referring to individual coins) and pence (when the amount only is meant).

e.g. She dropped three pennies in the slot-machine. The fare cost him eight pence.

§ 7. Some nouns borrowed from other languages especially from Greek and Latin, keep their foreign plural forms. These nouns are mostly found in scientific prose. They are: agendum — agenda, analysis — analyses, bacterium — bacteria, basis — bases, crisis — crises, criterion — criteria, datum — data, hy pothesis — hypotheses, phenomenon — phenomena, stratum — strata, thesis — theses.

Some other nouns have the new English plural alongside of the original foreign one: curriculum — curriculums/curricula, formula — formulas /formulae, memorandum — memorandums/memoranda.

§ 8. With compound nouns it is usually the final component that is made plural (e.g. bookcase — bookcases, writing table — writing tables, tooth brush — tooth brushes, handful — handfuls, drawback — drawbacks, forget-me-not — forget-me-nots, post man — postmen, Englishman — Englishmen).

In. a few nouns the first component is made plural (e.g. father- in-law — fathers-in-law, commander-in-chief — commanders-in- chief, passer-by — passers by).

When the first component is man or woman, the plural is ex- pressed twice (e.g. man servant — men servants, woman doctor — women doctors).

§ 9. A considerable number of nouns are used only in the singu- lar in English. (The Latin term singularia tantum is applied to them.) Here belong all names of materials (e.g. iron, copper, sand, coal, bread, cheese, oil, wine, tea, chalk) and also a great number of nouns denoting abstract notions ¹ (e.g. generosity, curiosity, an- ger, foolishness, excitement, poetry, fun, sculpture, progress).

Special mention should be made of a few nouns which end in -s but are used only in the singular. They are: news, gallows, sum- mons.

Here also belong nouns ending in -ics: physics, mathematics,

phonetics, optics, ethics, politics.

Note. Nouns of the latter group are occasionally treated as plurals.

e.g- Politics has (have) always interested him.

Mathematics is (are) well taught at that school.

¹ Note, however, that many other abstract nouns may have both the singular and the plural forms (e.g. idea — ideas, change — changes, suggestion — suggestions).

§ 10. There are a few nouns in English which are used only in the plural. (The Latin term pluralia tantum is applied to them.) Here belong nouns indicating articles of dress consisting of two parts (e.g. trousers, pants, shorts, trunks, pyjamas, drawers, brac- es), tools and instruments consisting of two parts (e.g. scissors, spectacles, glasses, tongs, pincers, scales, fetters), names of some games (e.g. billiards, cards, dominoes, draughts) and also miscella- neous other nouns (e.g. riches, contents, dregs, oats, thanks, clothes, credentials, soap-suds, troops, goods, whereabouts, bowels, surroundings, savings, belongings, goings on, winnings, home-com- ings, proceedings, hangings).

e.g. The whereabouts of the tomb have long been an historic mys- tery. There were clothes scattered about the room.

§ ll. There are a few other nouns in English which have only the plural form and lack the singular, i.e. pluralia tantum nouns. But they happen to be homonyms of nouns which are used in both forms, the singular and the plural. These nouns are:

colours (=regimental flags)

forces (=an army)

customs (=taxes on imported

goods) draughts (=a game)

glasses (=spectacles)

manners (=behaviour)

morals (=standards of behav- iour)

minutes (=secretary's record of proceedings)

quarters (=lodgings)

a colour — colours (=hues) a force — forces (=powers) a custom — customs (=habits)

a draught — draughts (=cur- rents of air)

a glass — glasses (=vessels for drinking from)

a manner — manners (=ways)

a moral — morals (=lessons of a story) a minute — minutes (=spaces

of time)

a quarter — quarters (=fourth parts)

§ 12. Some nouns which belong to the singularia tantum group are occasionally used in the plural form for stylistic reasons sug- gesting a great quantity or extent, e.g. the sands of the Sahara, the snows and frosts of the Arctic, the waters of the Atlantic, the blue skies of Italy, etc.

§ 13. A noun used as subject of the sentence agrees in number with its predicate verb: a singular noun takes a singular verb; a plural noun takes a plural verb. This rule may be called grammati- cal concord.

e.g. If we ever thought nature was simple, now we know for sure

it isn't.

If there are any universal laws for the cosmos, they must be very difficult.

Difficulties arise, however, with collective nouns, i.e. nouns denoting groups of people and sometimes animals. Here belong such nouns as the aristocracy, army, audience, board, the bourgeoi sie, class, the clergy, committee, (the) Congress, crew, crowd, dele- gation, the elite, family, flock, the gentry, government, group, herd, the intelligentsia, jury, majority, minority, Parliament, the prole- tariat, the public, staff, team, etc.

Such nouns may be used in two ways: they either indicate the group as a single undivided body, a non-personal collective, or as a collection of individuals. In the former case there is no contradic- tion between the form and the meaning of such nouns and they take a singular noun (grammatical concord).

e.g. The audience was enormous. The crowd has been dispersed. The public consists of you and me. The college football team has done badly this season. His family was well known in their town.

In the latter case the nouns, though remaining singular gram- matically become plural notionally and take a plural verb. This may be called notional concord.

e.g. The public were not admitted to hear the trial. "The team are now resting", the coach said to us. "My family keep a close eye on me," said George. The audience were enjoying every minute of it.

Some of the collective nouns, however, regularly require a plu- ral verb. Here belong; people (люди, народ),¹ police and cattle.

¹ The noun people meaning 'nationality' can have a singular and a plural form: a people — peoples.

e.g. There were few people out in the street at that hour.

He said: "Martha, the police have the man that stole your

purse." His uncle showed him the pastures where the cattle were

grazing.

On the whole, in British English the plural verb appears to be more common with collective nouns in speech, whereas in writing the singular verb is probably preferred. It is generally safest for a foreign learner, when in doubt, to obey grammatical concord. In American English, collective nouns almost always go with a singu- lar verb.

Note. A number of (несколько, ряд) usually agrees with a plural verb. e.g. There were quite a number of people watching the game.

The Case of Nouns