English grammar drills part 3 doc

If the noun ends in a voiced consonant sound except a sibilant or any vowel all vowels in English are voiced, then the plural is formed with the voiced sibilant /z/, which is also spelle

/k/ back-backs; leak-leaks; trick-tricks; bike-bikes; lake-lakes /f/ cliff-cliffs; cough-coughs; laugh-laughs; cuff-cuffs; sniff-sniffs /θ/ path-paths; lath-laths; monolith-monoliths, bath-baths

2 If the noun ends in a voiced consonant sound (except a sibilant) or any vowel (all vowels

in English are voiced), then the plural is formed with the voiced sibilant /z/, which is also spelled

-s Here are examples of all the consonant sounds that this rule applies to:

/b/ lab-labs; web-webs; blob-blobs; globe-globes; tube-tubes /d/ bed-beds; fl uid-fl uids; fl ood-fl oods; code-codes; shade-shades /g/ bug-bugs; rag-rags; fl ag-fl ags, pig-pigs; hog-hogs

/v/ wave-waves; hive-hives; love-loves; live-lives; cove-coves /l/ girl-girls; pill-pills; wheel-wheels; role-roles; rule-rules /m/ ham-hams; farm-farms; room-rooms; fl ame-fl ames; home-homes /n/ hen-hens; teen-teens; moon-moons; loan-loans; tune-tunes; throne-thrones /ŋ/ ring-rings; thing-things; throng-throngs; rung-rungs; song-songs

Since all vowels are voiced in English, this rule also governs the plural of all words ending in

a vowel sound For example:

sea-seas; zoo-zoos; cow-cows; bee-bees; show-shows; tree-trees

Words ending in the letter y are little more complicated When the singular form of a word

ends in a consonant  the letter y (that is, when the letter y represents a vowel sound), we form the

regular plural by changing the y to i and adding -es (There is a schoolroom saying that goes like

this: “Change the y to i and add -es.”)

The plural -s is pronounced /z/ in the expected way The change of y to ie does not affect pro-nunciation—it is a graphic change only Here are some examples (all with a /z/ pronunciation):

Singular Plural

baby babies family families lady ladies sky skies story stories

When the letter y is combined with a vowel, a different spelling rule applies To see the differ-ence, compare the spellings of the plurals of the words fl y and toy:

Singular Plural

fl y fl ies toy toys

In the word fl y, the y by itself represents a vowel sound That is why the spelling rule that changes

the y to i states that the y must be preceded by a consonant—this is just a way of ensuring that we

are talking about y used by itself to represent a vowel sound.

In the word toy, the vowel sound is represented by a combination of the two letters o  y, which

is sometimes called a blend Think of the oy spelling as a fi xed unit that cannot be changed To

form its plural we merely add an s (pronounced /z/) as we would with any other vowel spelling

Combinations of other vowels with y follow the same rule Here are some more examples of oy, ey,

and ay plural spellings:

Singular Plural

boy boys key keys subway subways tray trays

Exercise 1.2

All of the nouns in the following list form their plural in the regular way with a single sibilant

sound spelled -s Depending on the nature of the fi nal sound in the singular form of the noun,

the -s can be pronounced either /s/ or /z/ Write the entire plural form of the noun in the /s/ or

/z/ column that shows the pronunciation of the plural -s (Hint: Say the words out loud If you

whisper or say them to yourself, voiced sounds will be automatically de-voiced so they will sound

the same as voiceless sounds.)

1 three

2 trick

3 stool

4 history

5 wall

6 rake

7 play

8 stove

9 cough

10 moth

11 day

12 note

13 delay

14 hike

15 tire

16 rain

17 plate

18 grove

19 show

20 pipe

3 If the noun ends in a sibilant sound, either voiceless or voiced, then the plural is pro-nounced as a separate unstressed syllable /ǝz/ rhyming with “buzz,” spelled -es (Of course, if

the singular already ends in a silent e, we would add just an -s as in horse-horses, or else we would

have crazy spellings like X horse-es.) Here are examples of the most common consonant sounds

that this rule applies to:

/s/ (often spelled -ce) glass-glasses; bus-buses; face-faces; prince-princes; rinse-rinses;

fox-foxes /š/ (often spelled -sh) wish-wishes; rash-rashes; McIntosh-McIntoshes; bush-bushes /č/ (spelled -ch or -tch) watch-watches; switch-switches; bunch-bunches

/ǰ/ (spelled -ge or -dge) rage-rages; page-pages; dodge-dodges /z/ buzz-buzzes; phase-phases; blaze-blazes; nose-noses; cruise-cruises

Exercise 1.3

All of the nouns in the following list form their plural in the regular way with a single sibilant

sound spelled -s (pronounced /s/ or /z/) or with a separate unstressed syllable spelled -es

(pro-nounced /ǝz/) Write the entire plural form of the noun in the /s/, /z/, or /ǝz/ column depending

on the pronunciation of the plural -s or -es (Hint: Say the words out loud If you whisper or say

them to yourself, voiced sounds will be automatically devoiced so they will sound the same as

voiceless sounds.)

Singular

beach beaches

1 race

2 bay

3 box

4 clock

5 rose

6 mist

7 dish

8 try

9 cottage

10 colleague

11 clause

12 clash

13 hedge

14 phone

15 freeze

16 share

17 duty

18 patch

19 allowance

20 sheet

For a variety of historical reasons, English has some plurals that are formed in an irregular way

Seven words form their plural by a vowel change alone:

Singular Plural

foot feet*

goose geese louse lice man men mouse mice tooth teeth woman women**

Notes: *In addition to the usual plural form feet, the noun foot has a second plural form foot

when we use the word to refer to length or measurement For example:

I bought a six foot ladder.

He is six foot three inches tall.

**Despite the spelling of women, it is the pronunciation of the fi rst syllable rather than the second

that changes: woman is pronounced /wo mǝn/; women is pronounced /wI mǝn/; the second

syl-lables, -man and -men, are pronounced exactly alike with an unstressed vowel /mǝn/.

Two words retain an old plural ending, -en:

Singular Plural

ox oxen child children

The long vowel in the singular child also changes to a short vowel in the fi rst syllable of the plural

children.

Some words ending in f form their plurals by changing the f to v and adding -es Here are the

most common words that follow this pattern:

Singular Plural

half halves knife knives leaf leaves life lives loaf loaves self selves

thief thieves wolf wolves

Some words have a plural form that is identical to their singular form Most of these words refer to animals or fi sh For example:

Singular Plural

a cod two cod

a deer two deer

a fi sh two fi sh

a sheep two sheep

a shrimp two shrimp

a trout two trout

Since the singular and plural forms of these nouns are identical, the actual number of the noun can only be determined by subject-verb agreement or by the use of an indefi nite article For

example:

Singular: The deer was standing in the middle of the road.

Plural: The deer were moving across the fi eld.

Singular: I saw a deer in the backyard.

Plural: I saw some deer in the backyard.

If one of these words is used as an object with a defi nite article, then the number is ambiguous

For example:

Look at the deer! (one deer or many deer?)

Exercise 1.4

The following sentences contain one or more incorrect irregular plurals Draw a line through

each incorrect plural and write the correct form above it

I sliced the loafs and put the knifes back in the drawer

1 My niece has a farm where she raises disease-resistant varieties of sheeps

2 Like all farmers, she has a constant problem with mouses and rats

3 She and her husband run the farm by themselfes, so it is a lot of work for them

4 There are coyotes and wolfs in the area, but their dogs help keep them away.

5 The coyotes in particular are like thiefs, always waiting and watching

6 If a coyote gets just a few feets inside the fence, the horses will drive it away

7 Once they lost some sheeps when some childs left a gate open

8 Their valley is full of deers, which also support a large population of coyotes

9 The river in the valley is full of salmons in the fall

10 Farming is terribly hard work, but we all choose the lifes we want to live

Noncount nouns

The types of noncount nouns that you are most likely to encounter fall into the semantic

catego-ries listed below:

Abstractions: beauty, charity, faith, hope, knowledge, justice, luck, reliability

Food: butter, cheese, chicken, pepper, rice, salt

Liquids and gases: beer, blood, coffee, gasoline, water, air, oxygen

Materials: cement, glass, gold, paper, plastic, silk, wood, wool

Natural phenomena: electricity, gravity, matter, space

Weather words: fog, pollution, rain, snow, wind

With certain exceptions that are discussed below, these noncount nouns are ungrammatical

if they are used in the plural For example:

X Please get some more butters.

X We need to stop and get gasolines.

X The cements on the garage fl oors are cracking.

X The electricities have been turned off in all the apartments.

X Everyone has noticed the worsening pollutions around major cities.

Many noncount nouns can be used as count nouns with a predictable shift in meaning to

some-thing like “different kinds of.” Here are some examples:

gasoline (noncount): The price of gasoline is outrageous (liquid)

gasoline (count): The station sells three gasolines (different kinds or grades of

gasoline)