Learn the irregular plurals of the following nouns. 


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Learn the irregular plurals of the following nouns.



SingularPlural SingularPlural
alumna –alumnae alumnus – alumni analysis – analyses antithesis – antitheses appendix – appendices axis – axes bacterium – bacteria basis – bases cannon – cannon child – children curriculum – curricula datum – data deer – deer die – dice dynamo – dynamos ellipsis – ellipses emphasis – emphases fish – fish (fishes – different kind of fish) focus – foci foot – feet fungus – fungi goose – geese hypothesis – hypotheses louse – lice man – men maximum – maxima (maxims) minimum – minima mouse – mice oasis – oases ox – oxen parenthesis – parentheses phenomenon – phenomena piano – pianos radio – radios sheep – sheep swine – swine thesis – theses tooth – teeth vertebra – vertebrae virtuoso – virtuosi woman – women

3.6. Supply the plural form for the singular nouns listed below and explain the use of the form:

Criterion, deer, datum, analysis, foot, child, loaf, phenomenon, life, basis, woman, alumnus, thief, focus, tooth, sheep, louse, goose, hoof, mouse, fish, swine, elf, ox, curriculum, basis, datum, thesis fisherman, statesman, a woman-doctor, a house-wife, a pocket-knife.

 

 

Invariable nouns

Always singular (singularia tantum) are:

1) uncountable nouns that may belong to different grammatical groups: proper nouns (Minsk), mass nouns (butter), most abstract nouns (music) and some collective nouns (furniture).

2) some nouns ending in -s, naming:

a) some diseases: shingles, measles;

b) subject names in -ics: mathematics, economics [1];

c) some games: billiards, darts, draughts;

d) some proper nouns: Athens, Brussels, Naples, the Thames, Wales;

e) miscellaneous nouns like a chemical works (‘a place of work’), a barracks (‘a building that soldiers live in; a big plain and usually ugly building’), headquarters as in The headquartes consist s of the commander and five members of his staff; customs (in the meaning of ‘the agency for collecting duties on import and export’).

 

Always plural (pluralia tantum)are nouns denoting:

1) things consisting of two or more parts: scale s; trouser s, pyjama s, short s, scissor s;

2) other pluralia tantum in - s: thank s, custom s (in the meaningof ‘duties, tolls imposed on import and export’), lodging s, auspice s, arm s (in the meaning of ‘guns’), quarter s (in the meaning of ‘assigned position, lodgings, esp.for soldiers’), valuable s, good s, wage s, stair s, clothe s, content s;

3) some other collective nouns with no -s at the end (unmarked plural): cattle, police, the rich.

NOTE that the category of number may not coincide in English and Russian nouns.

Thus, nouns potato, onion, carrot, oat may be plural in English (potatoes, onions, carrots, oats)while in Russian they are usually singular: Potatoes are cheap in this country – В этой стране картофель дешевый. ‘A potato’ means ‘одна картошка’.

The words wages and contents are plural in English but their correlated words ‘зарплата’, ‘содержание’ are singular in Russian.

The following English words are always singular advice, information, knowledge, money, news, permission and progress,while their Russian equivalents are either plural (деньги) or can be both singular and plural (новость, новости).

The English nouns watch and sledge are regular nouns and can be used both in the singular and the plural while Russian часы and сани are pluralia tantum.

E x e r c i s e s

 



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