Nouns

Possessives

To show that something belongs to someone, we can use the possessive in the form of 's (apostrophe s) or the of structure.

Singular nouns

With singular nouns, we usually add 's.

• Jane → Jane's bike
• the lady → the lady's dog
• the teacher → the teacher's camera

Names ending in -s

Names that already end in -s normally still take 's.

• Chris → Chris's dress
• Mitch → Mitch's glass

Regular plural nouns ending in -s

If the plural already ends in -s, we add only an apostrophe after it.

• my parents → my parents' house
• our friends → our friends' garden
• his brothers → his brothers' boat
• the teachers → the teachers' computer

Irregular plurals

Nouns with an irregular plural form that does not end in -s take 's, just like singular nouns.

• children → my children's kitten
• men → the men's cottage
• women → those women's van

The "of" structure

For things, places, and abstract ideas (not people or animals), we usually use of instead of 's.

• the capital of England (not England's capital)
• the name of the book
• the end of the film
• the beginning of March
• the colour of the skirt
• the parks of the town

Plural of Nouns

To talk about more than one thing, we usually change a noun into its plural form. Most plurals are regular, but some nouns follow special rules and a few are completely irregular.

Regular nouns

This is the most common rule. Just add -s to the noun.

• cat → cats
• wall → walls
• teacher → teachers

Nouns ending in -s, -ss, -ch, -sh, -x, -z

When the noun ends in one of these sounds, we add -es so the word is easy to say.

• bus → buses
• wish → wishes
• coach → coaches
• box → boxes

Nouns ending in a consonant + y

If a consonant comes before the final y, change y to -ies.

• puppy → puppies
• family → families

But if a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) comes before the y, just add -s.

• boy → boys
• play → plays

Nouns ending in -f or -fe

The -f or -fe often changes to -ve before adding the plural -s.

• knife → knives
• leaf → leaves
• wife → wives
• half → halves

Some -f nouns are regular, though:

• roof → roofs
• chief → chiefs
• cliff → cliffs
• chef → chefs

Nouns ending in -o

Some add -es, others just -s. You need to learn these by heart.

• potato → potatoes
• tomato → tomatoes
• photo → photos
• piano → pianos
• studio → studios

Irregular plurals

These do not follow a rule – learn them as pairs.

• man → men
• woman → women
• policeman → policemen
• child → children
• person → people
• foot → feet
• tooth → teeth
• mouse → mice
• louse → lice
• goose → geese
• ox → oxen

Nouns that don't change

A few nouns have the same singular and plural form.

• sheep → sheep
• deer → deer
• crossroads → crossroads

Difficult / academic plurals

Words from Latin and Greek often keep their original endings.

• basis → bases
• thesis → theses
• analysis → analyses
• crisis → crises
• cactus → cacti
• appendix → appendices

Compound nouns

These are nouns that combine more words that might be connected with a hyphen (-). To create plural, they follow different rules. They either add -s to the end of the whole compound, or require -s to be added in the middle of the compound.

One of the rules is that we add the plural -s to the main noun of the phrase. However, this is a complex topic. Some examples follow:

• full moon → full moons
• son-in-law → sons-in-law
• passer-by → passers-by
• man-eater → man-eaters
• grown-up → grown-ups

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

In English, nouns are either countable or uncountable. This changes the words we can use with them, so it is important to know the difference.

Countable nouns

These are things we can count – one, two, three... They have a singular and a plural form.

• We can say: a / an apple, one car, three houses.
• In plural we use: some, any, many, (a) few, a lot of + plural noun.
• Examples: an apple, a car, houses, many coins, one idea, a lot of students, an accident, connections

Uncountable nouns

These are things we usually cannot count – liquids, materials, ideas, and many abstract words. They have no plural and we do not use a / an with them.

• We use: some, any, much, (a) little, a lot of + uncountable noun.
• Examples: water, air, money, salt, rice, plastic, electricity, traffic.

We can also use the with an uncountable noun when we mean a specific thing that is clear from the context.

• Water is essential for life. – water in general
• The water in this bottle is cold. – specific water

Watch out! These nouns are uncountable in English even though they may be countable in your language:

• information, advice, news, weather, furniture, luggage (baggage)
• homework, work (= a job), money, knowledge, progress, damage, scenery, accommodation

So we say: some advice (not an advice), much information (not informations), nice weather (not a weather) or we use a suitable measure word (a so-called partitive), e.g. two pieces of information/homework (not two informations, two homeworks).

Nouns that can be both

Some nouns are countable or uncountable depending on their meaning.

• paper: many papers = newspapers · some paper = paper to write on (material)
• chicken: many chickens = birds (the animals) · some chicken = the meat
• glass: many glasses = cups (also = spectacles) · some glass = the material
• coffee: many coffees = cups of coffee · some coffee = the drink in general
• time: many times = occasions · some time = hours and minutes
• experience: many experiences = things that happened · some experience = skills and knowledge
• noise: many noises = particular sounds · some noise = sound in general

Quick reference

Countable: a/an, one, two... many, (a) few
Uncountable: some, much, (a) little  (no a/an, no plural)
Both: some/any/a lot of can be used with either type

A Few/Few, A Little/Little

Both (a) few and (a) little are used to express an amount or a quantity of something.

Few/a few

Use few and a few with countable plural nouns. Few (without a) is a negative expression that means that there is almost no amount of something. A few has a little bit more positive meaning; it means that there is a couple of pieces of something, even though there is not a lot. Have a look at the examples:

• Few students knew the correct answer. (meaning: not a lot of students knew the correct answer)
• I have a few questions about the homework. (meaning: there is a couple of questions to be answered)

Little/a little

Use little and a little with uncountable nouns. Little is a negative expression that means almost none. A little is a bit more positive expression that is used to say that there is a small amount of something. See the examples:

• We have little time before the lesson. (meaning: there is not enough time before the lesson)
• We still have a little time before the train leaves. (meaning: there is still a bit of time before the train departs)

Partitives

Partitives help us talk about a specific amount, container, shape, group, or unit of something. They are very common with uncountable nouns, but they are also used with countable nouns when we want to describe how things are grouped or presented.

The usual pattern is: partitive noun + of + noun.

Containers and measurements

• a tin of soup / tomatoes / beans
• a barrel of oil / water / beer
• a pint of milk / cream / beer
• a bowl of soup / cereal / rice
• a spoonful of sugar / medicine / soup / honey

Food and natural units

• a clove of garlic
• a bulb of garlic / onion
• a head of lettuce / cabbage
• a stalk of celery / broccoli / rhubarb
• a wedge of cheese / lemon / cake
• a grain of rice / sand / salt
• a crumb of bread / cake / biscuit
• a lump of coal / sugar / clay

Groups and collections

• a bunch of bananas / grapes / flowers / keys
• a flock of sheep / birds / geese
• a deck of cards
• a dozen of eggs / roses / doughnuts (usually: a dozen eggs)
• a series of events / questions / accidents

Piles and quantities

• a pile of books / clothes / leaves
• a stack of plates / papers / boxes
• a heap of rubbish / sand / stones
• a handful of raisins / coins / nuts
• a sack of coal / flour / potatoes
• a load of washing / laundry / bricks

Abstract nouns

With some uncountable abstract nouns, we use the word piece when we want to express one specific item or a number of such items.

• a piece of advice (one individual suggestion or recommendation)
• a piece of information (one individual fact or item of information)
• two pieces of news (two individual news items)

The words advice, information, and news do not have plural forms, so we use the structure a piece (two/three/many pieces) of + uncountable noun.

Nature

• a crash of thunder

Summary

Some partitives describe a container (a tin of soup, a bowl of soup) or the natural shape of something (a clove of garlic, a head of lettuce). Some describe a group (a bunch of flowers, a flock of sheep). Others describe a quantity or arrangement (a handful of coins, a stack of papers).

Remember that the noun after of can be either countable or uncountable, depending on the expression.