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3.6. Supply the plural form for the singular nouns listed below and explain the use of the form:

Criterion, deer, datum, analysis, foot, child, loaf, phenomenon, life, basis, woman, alumnus, thief, focus, tooth, sheep, louse, goose, hoof, mouse, fish, swine, elf, ox, curriculum, basis, datum, thesis fisherman, statesman, a woman-doctor, a house-wife, a pocket-knife.

3.2. Invariable nouns

Always singular (singularia tantum) are:

1) uncountable nouns that may belong to different grammatical groups: proper nouns (Minsk), mass nouns (butter), most abstract nouns (music) and some collective nouns (furniture).

2) some nouns ending in -s, naming:

a) some diseases: shingles, measles;

b) subject names in -ics: mathematics, economics;

c) some games: billiards, darts, draughts;

d) some proper nouns: Athens, Brussels, Naples, the Thames, Wales.

e) miscellaneous nouns like a chemical works (‘a place of work’), a barracks (‘a building that soldiers live in; a big plain and usually ugly building’), headquarters as in The headquartes consists of the commander and five members of his staff; customs (in the meaning of ‘the agency for collecting duties on import and export’).

Always plural (pluralia tantum) are nouns denoting:

1) things consisting of two or more parts: glasses; trousers, pyjamas, shorts, scissors;

2) other pluralia tantum in -s: thanks, customs (in the meaning of ‘duties, tolls imposed on import and export’), lodgings, auspices, arms (in the meaning of ‘guns’), quarters (in the meaning of ‘assigned position, lodgings, esp. for soldiers’), greens, valuables, goods, riches, wages, stairs, clothes, contents;

3) some proper nouns: the Netherlands;

4) some other collective nouns with no -s at the end: cattle, police, the rich.

NOTE that the category of number may not coincide in English and Russian nouns.

Thus, nouns potato, onion, carrot, oat may be plural in English (potatoes, onions, carrots, oats) while in Russian they are usually singular: Potatoes are cheap in this countryВ этой стране картофель дешевый. ‘A potato’ means ‘одна картошка’.

The words wages and contents are plural in English but their correlated words ‘зарплата’, ‘содержание’ are singular in Russian.

The following English words are always singular advice, information, knowledge, money, news, permission and progress, while their Russian equivalents are either plural (деньги) or can be both singular and plural (новость, новости).

The English nouns watch and sledge are regular nouns and can be used both in singular and plural while Russian часы and сани are pluralia tantum.

E x e r c i s e s

3.7. Read the following sentences and remember the singular nouns that take a singular verb.

  1. This is a mere barracks.

  2. You can’t expect me to live in a barracks like that!

  3. Measles is a catching disease.

  4. Mumps is an infectious illness.

  5. The news is bad today.

  6. Linguistics is very interesting.

  7. Billiards is my favourable game.

  8. Wales is a beautiful country.

  9. Cutlery includes knives and other cutting instruments.

3.8. The following words are always singular and nearly always require singular verbs: Measles is an infectious disease (unless rather unusual occasions as in: The measles which the three children have are of different nature).

Think of sentences with the following nouns paying special attention to the form of the verb in Present Indefinite.

Acoustics, aeronautics, athletics, comics, dynamics, economics, aesthetics, linguistics, mathematics, means, measles, mumps, news, politics, the United States, poetics.

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