Compound nouns

1. As a rule in compounds it is the second component that takes the plural form: housewives, tooth-brushes, boy-scouts, maid-servants.

2. Compounds ending in ‘ful’ have the plural ending at the end of the word: handfuls, spoonfuls, mouthfuls.

3. Compounds in which the first component is ‘man’ or ‘woman’ have plurals in both first and last components: men-servants, women-doctors, men-farmers.

4. Compound ending in ‘-man’ change it into ‘-men’: an Englishman – Englishmen, a policeman – policemen. But: Romans, Germans.

5. In compounds originating from a prepositional noun phrase where the preposition is a linking element only the first noun takes the plural form: editors-in-chief, mothers-in-law, commanders-in-chief, coats-of-mail, men-of war.

6. In compounds with a conjunction as a linking element the plural is taken by the second noun: gin-and-tonics.

7. In compound nouns formed by a noun plus a preposition, or an adverb, or an adjective only the first element takes the plural: passers-by, lookers-on, courts-martial, attorneys-general.

8. When the compound is a substantivized phrase which doesn’t contain a noun, the last element takes the plural ending ‘s’: forget-me-nots, breakdowns, stand-bys, grown-ups, go-betweens, close-ups.

9. Initials can be made plural: MPs (Members of Parliament), VIPs (very important persons), OAPs (old age pensioners), UFOs (unidentified flying objects), M.D.s (Doctors of Medicine), Co.s (Companies).

Identical form of the plural and singular

1. In some nouns the plural form doesn’t differ from the singular: a deer – deer, a sheep – sheep, a swine – swine, an aircraft – aircraft, a counsel – counsel, a means – means, a series – series, a species – species, a works – works, a crossroads – crossroads, a corps /ko:/ – two corps /ko:z/.

2. Some fish and animal names have two plurals: fish – fish/fishes, pike – pike/pikes, trout – trout/trouts, carp – carp/carps, salmon – salmon/salmons, quail – quail/quails (перепел), hookworm – hookworm/hookworms (глист), greenfly – greenfly/greenflies (тля). The zero plural is more common to denote hunting animals: We’ve caught five salmon. We caught only a few fish. The regular plural is used to denote different individuals, species, kinds of animals: Two large hookworms were found in his stomach. There were two quails for sale. There are salmons, carps and other fishes.

3. The noun fruit is uncountable. We say I eat much fruit. But when we mean different kinds or use it in the meaning of ‘плоды’ we can say fruits: There’re apples, pears, bananas and other fruits.

4. Identical singular and plural forms are typical of nationality nouns ending in –ess, -ss: Chinese, Japanese, Swiss. (We met a Japanese. We met two Japanese.)

5. Identical singular and plural forms are typical of nouns or numerals indicating number if they are preceded by a numeral (a pair – two pair, a couple – five couple are, a dozen – two dozen, a hundred – two hundred, 6 thousand, 5 million, 5 score (score – 20, 2 десятка, stone мера веса – 14 английских футов, 6,35 кг, head голова, поголовье скота) But if they have no numeral they take the usual plural form (dozens of times, to go in pairs, hundreds of people)

6. The following collective nouns are usually singular: family, team, group, staff, crowd, jury, public, congress, government, committee, audience, company, but in some cases they are plural if the sentence indicates that the individual members are acting separately (when we think of them as members of a group (they), not as a singular unit (it)): The government wants (want) to reduce taxes. Our family is very united. Our family are early risers.

7. The word majority is used in the singular when it is used alone. If it is followed by a plural noun, it is plural: Majority believes that we are in no danger. The majority of the students have passed the exam well.

8. The noun penny has two plural forms: pence (irregular) – in British currency to denote a sum of money: Here is ten pence. (in one coin of a sum of money); pennies (regular) – for individual coins: Here are ten pennies.