GRAMMAR:

OTHER
Week 4 – nouns
Nouns
 Words used to name:
 People: student, owner, Samantha
 Places: street, park, Utrecht
 Things: computer, book, Porsche
 Ideas: peace, pain, love
Important to know
 What the forms are for singular (1) and plural
(more than 1)
 1 student – 2 students
 Whether there can be more than 1 of the word
 1 money – 2 moneys
 How to indicate possession
 Your sister’s name
 The name of the book
Test yourself
Correct or incorrect?

1. 2 baby’s
2. 2 CD’s
3. 2 museums
4. 2 buses
5. 2 sheeps
6. 2 lifes
Test yourself
Correct or incorrect?

1. 2 baby’s  2 babies
2. 2 CD’s  2 CDs
3. 2 museums
4. 2 buses
5. 2 sheeps  2 sheep
6. 2 lifes  2 lives
Forms
 Regular form: + -s
 1 student 2 students
 1 building 2 buildings
 1 zebra 2 zebras
 1 museum 2 museums
 1 date 2 dates
 1 piano 2 pianos
Spelling difficulties
 Words that end in s, ss, ch, sh, x: + -es
 1 bus 2 buses
 1 kiss 2 kisses
 1 watch 2 watches
 Words that end in y: -y  -ies
 1 hobby 2 hobbies
 1 baby 2 babies
 But:
 1 boy 2 boys
 1 play 2 plays
Spelling difficulties
 Words that end in f(e): f(e)  -ves
 1 wolf 2 wolves
 1 life 2 lives
 But
 1 belief 2 beliefs
 1 handkerchief 2 handkerchiefs
Spelling difficulties
 Words that end in o: + -es
 1 hero 2 heroes
 1 tomato 2 tomatoes
 1 potato 2 potatoes
 But:
 1 piano 2 pianos
 1 photo 2 photos
 1 casino 2 casinos
Important note
 Never use –’s
 zebra’s
 date’s
 hero’s
 piano’s
 Also note:
 1960s 1960’s
 CDs CD’s
 UFOs UFO’s
Irregular forms: people/body parts
 1 man 2 men
 1 woman 2 women
 1 child 2 children
 1 foot 2 feet
 1 tooth 2 teeth
Irregular forms: animals
 1 goose 2 geese
 1 mouse 2 mice
 1 sheep 2 sheep
 1 deer 2 deer
 1 fish 2 fish
Irregular forms: Latin or Greek
 1 crisis 2 crises
 1 phenomenon 2 phenomena
 1 criterion2 criteria
 1 stimulus2 stimuli

 Check your dictionary with words like these

Countable or uncountable?
 Most words can be counted like we just saw
 Some words can’t be counted
 1 money 2 moneys
 1 water 2 waters
 1 rice 2 rices
 1 advice 2 advices
 1 furniture 2 furnitures
 Words that can be counted can be used with ‘the’,
but not with ‘a’
 the money a money
 the advice an advice
How to count them?
 Use other words that are units
 1 euro 2 euros
 Put a unit in front of it
 1 glass of water 2 glasses of water
 1 plate of rice 2 plates of rice
 1 piece of advice 2 pieces of advice
 1 piece of furniture 2 pieces of furniture
Important to know
 If you want to indicate a quantity without an exact
number you have different words for countable or
uncountable words
Which expression of quantity?
 Countable
Uncountable
 Much (water)
Many (bottles)
 More (water)
(bottles)
 Most (water)
(bottles)

 Little(bottles)
Few (water)
 Fewer(water)
Less (bottles)
 (the) least
fewest(water)
(bottles)
Compare
 Much water, but many bottles of water
 Little coffee, but few cups of coffee
 Fewer chairs, but less furniture

 Note that little can be used for countable nouns

when it means ‘small’:
 a little bottle, two little bottles
Expressions that can be used for both
 A lot of
 A lot of dollars, a lot of money
 Not enough
 Not enough bottles, not enough water
 Plenty of
 Plenty of cups, plenty of coffee
 Hardly any
 Hardly any chairs, hardly any furniture
Exercise
Fill in much, many, little or few

1. He isn’t very popular. He has … friends.

2. Anne is very busy. She has … free time.
3. Did you take … photographs when you were on
holiday?
4. The museum was very crowded. There were too
… people.
5. Most of the town is modern. We have … old
buildings.
6. The weather has been very dry recently. We have
had … rain.
Exercise
Correct answers

1. He isn’t very popular. He has few friends.

2. Anne is very busy. She has little free time.
3. Did you take many photographs when you were
on holiday?
4. The museum was very crowded. There were too
many people.
5. Most of the town is modern. We have few old
buildings.
6. The weather has been very dry recently. We have
had little rain.
How to indicate possession
 Possession
 something belongs to someone else
 something is part of something else
How to indicate possession

Three basic rules:
 if there’s one: + -‘s
 my sister’s name
 if there’s more than one: + -‘
 my sisters’ names
 irregular forms: + -‘s
 the children’s names
How to indicate possession
 Special case: names ending in –s
 Choose between -‘s or -’
 Thomas’s book Thomas’ book
 James’s dog James’ dog
How to indicate possession
 People/animals: -’s / -’  Things: the … of …
 My sister’s name  The name of the book
 The dog’s bone  The roof of the house
 John’s bike  The weight of the
 Also in some other statue
expressions
 Yesterday’s paper
 At the baker’s
 A winter’s tale
Important notes
 Jan zijn fiets John his bike
 De fiets van Jan The bike of John
 Jans fiets Johns bike