Look at the pictures. What do they show?

2. Divide the words in 3 groups according to your associations. Use these words to describe the pictures.

Foyer set designer interval stage second act auditorium scene prompter tragedy curtain box actor/actress set scenery lightning understudy lights stalls footlights stage manager cast prop be on stage orchestra pit wings circle production balcony gallery performance aisle trapdoor dry ice first night play the part/take the role of row seat comedy playwright director assistant director stage first act rehearse applause encore

Label the picture

Plural nouns

Plural nouns are sometimes preceded by the definite article The or by another determinre, or they may appear alone. Plural countable nouns are NOT preceded by a or an.

Incorrect: a house an expensive house

Correct: the houses some houses big houses some big houses

Regular plurals

Most countable nouns form their plural by adding –s to the singular noun.

Cat/cats tree/trees course/ courses taxi/taxis

Complete the pairs:

· Schedule/…..

· Professor/…..

· Table/…

· Match/….

· Monkey/….

· Copy/…..

Irregular plurals

A few common countable nouns have irregular plural form.

Man/men Women/women child/children

Complete the pair:

· Mouse/…. · Fish/…. · Tooth/…. · Foot/…. · Person/….. · Knife/….

· Analysis/….. · Medium/….. · Sheep/…. · Species/….. · Half/…. · Thesis/…. · Criterion/…

A few nouns do not have a singular form:

Florence’s new opera house ‘a metaphysical space of absolute purity’

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 is considered one of the most harrowing pieces in the classical repertoire. Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder is a leading expert on Beethoven in general, and on this concerto in particular. Buchbinder told euronews: “This is the greatest and deepest of all five (of Beethoven’s) concertos, the most sensitive, the most emotional, the most touching. He’s dreaming of something. He’s dreaming of love, he’s dreaming of warmth, which he never got. He was always in love with the wrong woman, this was his problem!”

Conductor Fabio Luisi added: “The second movement is quite revolutionary. It’s a totally new type of dialogue between the piano and the orchestra – nothing like that had appeared before. It’s a very intense, dramatic dialogue, which makes this movement particularly original.”

For this rendition, euronews went to the new Opera House in Florence, which was recently opened to coincide with celebrations marking 150 years of Italian Unification. The Florence Opera House has been completed at a time of global economic crisis.

Elisabetta Fabbri, who supervised its construction for the Italian government, told euronews: “A theatre is usually seen as an open space when the show is on, but then, once the lights are off, it becomes again a closed space. Here we wanted to reverse the role of the theatre, and music.