Nouns name a person, place, or thing. Singular nouns name one person, place, or thing.

Plural nouns name more than one person, place, or thing.

Singular
Book Bus, lunch Baby, family

Plural Books Buses, lunches Babies, families

Spelling rule Most nouns add s Nouns that end in s, x, z, ch, sh: add es Nouns that end in a consonant + y: change the y to i and add es Nouns that end in f or fe: change the f or fe to ves

Loaf, knife

Loaves, knives

Some nouns are irregular in the plural form.

Singular man woman Plural men women Singular child mouse Plural children mice

Statement

Sentence with possessive noun

Sara has a nice apartment.

The boy has a TV in his room. The girls have a big bedroom. The men have blue hats.

Saras apartment is nice.

The boys TV is in his room. The girls bedroom is big. The mens hats are blue.

Count nouns are the ones you can count. They are singular or plural. You use a, an, the, or a number with count nouns. I have one egg. I have 12 carrots. I made a salad. I made it with a tomato and an onion. The salad was delicious.

Noncount nouns cant be counted. They are singular. Dont use a, an, or numbers. I like juice. I eat cheese. I always drink milk.

A compound noun is a noun that is made up of two or more words. Most compound nouns are formed by nouns modified by other nouns or by adjectives.

Tooth + brush =

toothbrush. handshake

Hand + shake =

Heinle Cengage Learning. Milestones C, Teachers edition, 2009. www.myenglishgrammar.com