PLURAL FORMS

Complete with are or is

1 Teacher: Is the word trousers singular or plural?

2 Student: Singular at the top and plural at the bottom.
is
3 What time ……………….the news on?
are
4 Disasters ………………tragic is
and politics …………………boring.
is
5 I am sure the information ………………….misleading.
6 help me. My luggage …………...is heavy.
is
7 ………………physics difficult?
is
8 The billiards match ………………….really interesting.
is
9 My hair ………………….black.
are
10 The armpit hairs ………………….longer.
are
11 The clothes ……………….nice. I take them.

I- REGULAR PLURALS

1- Generally nouns build the plural form by taking “-s” at the end.
EXAMPLES: pens, books, pencils, apples, cloths, clothes…..

EXCEPT
2- Words ending in “-y” take “-s or –es.”
EXAMPLES: boys, ladies, bodies, days, storeys, valleys…..

3- Words ending in “o” take “-es.”

EXAMPLES: tomatoes, potatoes, buffaloes, volcanoes, cargoes,
noes…
But: pianos, photos, dynamos.

4- Words ending in “sifflante and chuintante” take “–es”

EXAMPLES: glasses, boxes, races, brushes, buses, churches…

5-Words ending in “-f or fe” take “-ves.”

EXAMPLES: calves, halves, leaves, wolves, wives, knives, loaves,
shelves,
thieves, lives…
But: hoof, scarf, turf, wharf (they take “-s” or “ves”.)
But: roofs, chiefs, safes, beliefs.

II- IRREGULAR PLURALS

 Some irregular plurals
1- Men, women, gentlemen, oxen, children, feet, dice, mice, louse,
geese, teeth, grandchildren, policewo(men), dormice.
But: Germans

2- Invariable/Constant words which never take “-s” in singular nor in

plural.
EXAMPLES: one deer—two deer, one gross—two gross, one
sheep—two sheep, one grouse—two grouse, salmon, trout, Chinese,
Japanese, Portuguese, Swiss, aircraft.
But: fruit or fruits, fish or fishes.

3- Invariable/constant words always taking “-s” in singular or in plural

EXAMPLES: one barracks—two barracks, means, series, species.

4- NOTICE: nouns of science always is “-s” but go with singular.

EXAMPLES: politics, economics, statistics, physics, mathematics.

5- NOTICE: use of hundred, million, thousand

EXAMPLES: She bought two dozen(s) eggs (cross “–s” of dozen),
but: She saw dozens of people, two thousand(s) of people (cross “s”
of thousand), but: thousands of people.

6- Nouns followed by singular or plural verbs

EXAMPLES: government, family, police, cattle.
Police is/are corrupt. The government works/work harder.

7- Words always used with the plural form. Nouns always taking “-s.”
EXAMPLES: Clothes, trousers, braces, pants, shorts, customs,
premises, goods, scales, grapes, scissors, glasses or spectacles.
My trousers are very tight.
But: Billiards is a funny game.
8-Words/nouns which are always used in singular but bear a
collective meaning.
They are translated as plural in FRENCH.
EXAMPLES: information, advice, furniture, hair, luggage, baggage,
news.
The information is false. The news is a fake one.
The luggage is heavy.
 BEWARE: a piece of furniture (pour traduire le singulier en
francais).
Hair: les cheveux, but: hairs: poils.