Is the form of a noun correct?

Singular	Plural
politician	politician s (most count nouns have an ” - s”)
class; box; watch; dish; gas	class es; box es; watch es; dish es; gas es (after “ -ss”,“-x”, “-ch”, “-sh’, ‘-s” we add “-es” ending)
photo; piano	photo s; piano s (some nouns ending in “-o” add “-s”)
hero; potato	hero es; potato es (some nouns ending in “-o” add “-es”)

 

· Some common nouns have irregular plurals.

 

woman-women	tooth-teeth
man-men	foot-feet
child-children	mouse-mice

 

· Note the following nouns, which have irregular spelling in the plural:

Singular		Plural
alumna	бывшая студентка	alumnae
alumnus	бывший студент	alumni
analysis	анализ (разбор)	analyses
bacterium	бактерия	bacteria
basis	базис	bases
′bureau/ bu′reau	бюро, отдел, управление,	bureaus/bureaux
′caput	голова (на душу населения)	capita (per capita)
crisis	кризис	crises
criterion	критерий	criteria
curriculum	курс обучения, учебный план	curricula
datum	данная (величина)	data ^*
medium	средство	media *
memorandum	меморандум	memoranda
phenomenon	явление	phenomena
stratum	слой (общества)	strata

 

· Exports, imports (количество или стоимость вывезенных или ввезенных товаров) take a plural verb but export, import (процесс ввоза или вывоза) are singular. 

 

· Note that dozen and score have the same plural and singular form if they go after the numeral: two dozen (of) eggs, three score (of) years (but scores / dozens of people).

· When a noun is used as an adjective, it takes a singular form.

Political science has been developed for 2,500 years.

This is a 2,500- year development of political science.

· Collective nouns (crowd, firm, team, group, etc.) refer to an entire group. When these are groups of people we often think of them as a number of people (=”they”), not as one thing (=”it”). So we often use a plural verb:

The staff at the firm (=they) are not happy with outside consultants.

· When a noun indicates a period of time, a sum of money, or a measurement, it takes a singular verb.

Two weeks is not enough time to study politology.

Ten dollars is not enough to meet the needs of a family.

 

· Goods (товар), clothes (одежда), riches (богатство), proceeds (выручка), wages (заработная плата), contents (содержание) normally occur only in the plural and are followed by a plural verb.

Some consumer goods, such as, food, do not last for a long time.

 

 

Exercise 1

Choose the correct form.

e.g. There  were / was some imported goods in the supermarket.

 

1. The word 'politics' is / are derived from polis, meaning literally city-state.

2. The news that they were unable to make collective decisions was / were quite surprising.

3. Three months isn’t/ aren’t a very long time to study politology, a branch of social science concerned with theory, description, analysis and prediction of political behavior, political systems and politics, is it / are they?

4. Money isn’t / aren’t the most important thing in life, is it / are they?

5. Seven pounds is / are an average weight for a new-born.

6. You know that politics is / are Professor Nelson’s speciality.

7. Is / are political analysis a valuable source of information nowadays?

8. Sooner or later even very expensive clothes is / are used up.

9. What is / are his politics as to studying matters concerning the allocation and transfer of power in decision making?

10. Exact data is /are a reliable means of testing human behavior.

Exercise 2

Choose the correct form.

e.g. I’d like some information / informations about the supply of goods.

 

1. Political scientists studied different phenomenon / phenomena in order to reveal the relationships underlying political events and conditions.

2. The manager offered me the job as I had a lot of experience / experiences in such spheres as survey research, statistical analysis, case studies, and model building.   

3. We have the problem with the description of political behavior and we need some advice / advices.

4. We’d like to find out the essence of politics, have you got an information / any information?

5. Is it difficult to find a work / job as a political scientist at the moment?

6. My interlocutor, Miss Sharp, had long blond hair / hairs.

7. They had a good travel / journey to Africa last year.

8. It’s common knowledge / knowledges that political science deals extensively with the theory and practice of a politics / politics, and the analysis of a political behavior / political behavior.

9. It’s an open secret that mass medium/media are a good source of job openings.

Exercise 3