Nouns: common and possessive case

1. Singular Noun

the girl

my wife

my baby

Tom

Archimedes

Pythagoras

Thomas

Carlos

my brother-in-law

Possessive Form

the girl’s name

my wife’s coat

my baby’s toys

Tom’s friend

Archimedes’ Law

Pythagoras’ Theorem

Thomas’s/Thomas’

Carlos’s/ Carlos’

my brother-in-law’s guitar

1. ′s is used with singular nouns not ending in –s.

2. Classical names ending in –s usually add only the apostrophe.

3. Other names ending in –s take ′s or the apostrophe alone.

4. With compounds, the last word takes the ′s.

2. Plural Noun

the girls

the men

my children

Possessive Form

the girls’ names

the men’s work

my children’s toys

1. A simple apostrophe (′) is used with plural nouns ending in –s.

2. ′s is used with plural nouns not ending in –s.

1. I bought a chair.

Tom bought three chairs.

2. We bought some furniture.

INCORRECT: We bought a furniture.

INCORRECT: We bought some furnitures.

Chair is a count noun; chairs are items that can be counted.

Furniture is a noncount noun. In grammar, furniture cannot be counted.

Singular Plural

COUNT

NOUN

a chair

one chair

chairs

two chairs

some chairs

a lot of chairs

many chairs

A count noun:

a) may be preceded by a/an in the singular;

b) takes a final –s/es in the plural.

NONCOUNT

NOUN

furniture

some furniture

a lot of furniture

much furniture

A noncount noun:

a) is not immediately preceded by a/an;

b) has no plural form;

does not take a final –s/-es.

1. Whole groups made up of similar items: baggage, clothing, equipment, food, fruit, furniture, garbage, hardware, jewellery, junk, luggage, mail, machinery, make-up, money/cash/change, postage, scenery, traffic.

2. Fluids: water, coffee, tea, milk, oil, soup, gasoline, blood, etc.

3. Solids: ice, bread, butter, cheese, meat, gold, iron, silver, glass, paper, wood, cotton, wool, etc.

4. Gases: stream, air, oxygen, nitrogen, smoke, smog, pollution, etc.

5. Particles: rice, chalk, corn, dirt, dust, flour, grass, hair, pepper, salt, sand, sugar, wheat, etc.

2. Abstractions:

• beauty, confidence, courage, education, enjoyment, fun, happiness, health, help, honesty, hospitality, importance, intelligence, justice, knowledge, laugher, luck, music, patience, peace, pride, progress, recreation, significance, sleep, truth, violence, wealth, etc.

• advice, information, news, evidence, proof;

• time, space, energy;

• homework, work;

• grammar, slang, vocabulary.

2. Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, etc.

3. Fields of study: economics, chemistry, engineering, history, literature, mathematics, psychology, etc.

4. Recreation: baseball, soccer, tennis, chess, bridge, poker, etc.

5. General activities: driving, studying, swimming, travelling, walking (and other gerunds).

2. Natural Phenomena: weather, dew, fog, hail, heat, humidity, gravity, rain, lightning, sleet, snow, thunder, wind, darkness, light, sunshine, electricity, fire.