- What is an article?
- The indefinite article a or an:
- The definite article the:
- No article:
- Countable and uncountable nouns
- English plural nouns
- Regular plurals:
- Form:
- Examples:
- Spelling of plurals:
- Irregular plurals:
- There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms.
- Other irregular plural forms include the following:
- Nouns that are always singular:
- Exercises on the theme:
What is an article?
Basically, articles are either definite or indefinite. They combine to a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun.
- The definite article is the.
- The indefinite article is a / an.
The indefinite article a or an:
The article a / an is used when we don’t specify the things or people we are talking about:
- I met a friend.
- I work in a factory in New York.
- I borrowed a pencil from a passenger sitting next to me.
The indefinite article a is used before a consonant sound:
- a dog.
- a pilot
- a teacher.
- a university
NOTE:
Although ‘university’ starts with the vowel ‘u’, it is not pronounced as such. It is pronounced as a consonant sound /ju:.niv3:.si.ti/
The indefinite article an is used before a vowel sound:
- an engineer.
- an elephant.
- an athlete
The definite article the:
It’s used when the speaker talks about a specific object that both the person speaking and the listener know.
- The car over there is fast.
- The president of the United States is giving a speech tonight.
When we speak of something or someone for the first time we use a or an, the next time we repeat that object we use the definite article the.
- I live in a house. The house is quite old and has four bedrooms.
- I ate in a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was very good.
No article:
1. Do not use an article with countries, states, counties or provinces, lakes and mountains except when the country is a collection of states such as “The United States”.
- He lives in Washington near Mount Rainier.
- They live in Northern British Columbia.
- They climbed Mount Everest.
2. we do not normally use an article with plurals and uncountable nouns to talk about things in general.:
- He writes books.
- She likes sweets.
- Do you like jazz music?
- She ate bread with butter in the morning.
Countable and uncountable nouns
Using English articles with countable and uncountable nouns may be confusing.
The can be used with uncountable nouns, or the article can be dropped entirely as mentioned above.
- “The two countries reached the peace after a long disastrous war” (some specific peace treaty) or “The two countries reached peace after a long disastrous war” (any peace).
- “He drank the water” (some specific water- for example, the water his wife brought him from the kitchen) or “He drank water.” (any water)
It is unusual to use a/an for uncountable nouns. You can’t say “I’d like a milk“
a/an can be used only with countable nouns.
- I’d like a piece of cake.
- I lent him a book.
- I drank a cup of tea.
English plural nouns
In order to change a singular noun to its plural form in English, you usually add “s”. For example, the plural of book is books. The plural of table is tables. These are regular plurals.
But there are many nouns which don’t follow this rule. For example the plural of fish is fish. The plural of tooth is teeth. These are irregular plurals
Regular plurals:
Form:
Add “s” to the noun:
| Noun | + S |
|---|
While many plural nouns follow this rule, the spelling sometimes differ.
Examples:
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| snake | snakes |
| window | windows |
| box | boxes |
| boy | boys |
| lorry | lorries |
| potato | potatoes |
| knife | knives |
Spelling of plurals:
The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter “s”.
- more than one snake = snakes
- more than one girl = girls
- more than one window = windows
Nouns that end in -ch, x, s, z or s-like sounds, however, will require an es for the plural:
- more than one witch = witches
- more than one box = boxes
- more than one gas = gases
- more than one bus = buses
- more than one kiss = kisses
Nouns that end in a vowel + y take the letter s:
- more than one boy = boys
- more than one way = ways
Nouns that end in a consonant + y drop the y and take ies:
- more than one baby = babies
- more than one lorry = lorries
A lot of nouns that end in o take es in the plural:
- more than one potato = potatoes
- more than one hero = heroes
| o becomes oes | |
|---|---|
| echo | echoes |
| embargo | embargoes |
| hero | heroes |
| potato | potatoes |
| tomato | tomatoes |
| torpedo | torpedoes |
| veto | vetoes |
Some nouns ending in o break the above rule and get os in the plural form:
| o becomes os | |
|---|---|
| auto | autos |
| kangaroo | kangaroos |
| kilo | kilos |
| memo | memos |
| photo | photos |
| piano | pianos |
| pimento | pimentos |
| pro | pros |
| solo | solos |
| soprano | sopranos |
| studio | studios |
| tattoo | tattoos |
| video | videos |
| zoo | zoos |
Other nouns ending in o get either os or oes i the plural forms:
| o becomes os or oes | |
|---|---|
| buffalo | buffalos/buffaloes |
| cargo | cargos/cargoes |
| halo | halos/haloes |
| mosquito | mosquitos/mosquitoes |
| motto | mottos/mottoes |
| no | nos/noes |
| tornado | tornados/tornadoes |
| volcano | volcanos/volcanoes |
| zero | zeros/zeroes |
Plurals of nouns that end in f or fe usually change the f sound to a v sound and add s or -es.
- more than one knife = knives
- more than one leaf = leaves
- more than one hoof = hooves
- more than one life = lives
- more than one self = selves
- more than one elf = elves
Irregular plurals:
There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| fish | fish |
| sheep | sheep |
| barracks | barracks |
| foot | feet |
| tooth | teeth |
| goose | geese |
| tooth | teeth |
| goose | geese |
| child | children |
| man | men |
| woman | women |
| person | people |
| mouse | mice |
Plurals formed in this way are sometimes called irregular plurals or mutated (or mutating) plurals.
- more than one child = children
- more than one woman = women
- more than one man = men
- more than one person = people
- more than one goose = geese
- more than one mouse = mice
- more than one barracks = barracks
- more than one deer = deer
Other irregular plural forms include the following:
Some foreign nouns retain their plural. (Note that some of them adapted the s of the English plural form!)
| Singular | Foreign plural | English plural |
|---|---|---|
| alga | algae | |
| amoeba | amoebae | amoebas |
| antenna | antennae | antennas |
| formula | formulae | formulas |
| larva | larvae | |
| nebula | nebulae | nebulas |
| vertebra | vertebrae |
Nouns ending in us get a, i or the s of the English plural:
| Singular | Foreign plural | English plural |
|---|---|---|
| corpus | corpora | |
| genus | genera | |
| alumnus | alumni | |
| bacillus | bacilli | |
| cactus | cacti | cactuses |
| focus | foci | |
| fungus | fungi | funguses |
| nucleus | nuclei | |
| octopus | octopi | octopuses |
| radius | radii | |
| stimulus | stimuli | |
| syllabus | syllabi | syllabuses |
| terminus | termini |
Nouns ending in um get a, i or the s of the English plural:
| Singular | Foreign plural | English plural |
|---|---|---|
| addendum | addenda | |
| bacterium | bacteria | |
| curriculum | curricula | curriculums |
| datum | data | |
| erratum | errata | |
| medium | media | |
| memorandum | memoranda | memorandums |
| ovum | ova | |
| stratum | strata | |
| symposium | symposia | symposiums |
Nouns ending in ex or ix get ices or get the s of the English plural:
| Singular | Foreign plural | English plural |
| apex | apices | apexes |
| appendix | appendices | appendixes |
| cervix | cervices | cervixes |
| index | indices | indexes |
| matrix | matrices | matrixes |
| vortex | vortices |
Nouns ending in is becoming es in plural:
| Singular | Plural form |
| analysis | analyses |
| axis | axes |
| basis | bases |
| crisis | crises |
| diagnosis | diagnoses |
| emphasis | emphases |
| hypothesis | hypotheses |
| neurosis | neuroses |
| oasis | oases |
| parenthesis | parentheses |
| synopsis | synopses |
| thesis | theses |
Nouns ending in -on becoming -a:
| singular | plural |
|---|---|
| criterion | criteria |
| phenomenon | phenomena |
| automaton | automata |
Nouns that are always singular:
A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:
- The news is bad.
- Gymnastics is fun to watch.
- Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult.
Some nouns never take the s of the plural and are always singular:
- your luggage / baggage is so heavy
- I’d like to buy new furniture for the house
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