Nouns - 1 Countable Nouns

Countable Nouns

Nouns (names of people, places, things, ideas) are very important in English. They are used as subjects of sentences and clauses and as objects of verbs and prepositions. There are many different kinds
of nouns in English, and they may be classified (divided into groups) in many ways.


Probably the most basic classification of nouns is into two broad types: countable and uncountable. Countable nouns have two forms--singular (for only one of the noun) and plural (for more than one of the noun). Uncountable nouns cannot be counted in the same way as countable nouns because they have only one form--no plurals.

Let's take a brief look at countable nouns first.

Countable Nouns
We can divide countable nouns into two large groups: regular and irregular.

Regular Countable Nouns
Regular countable nouns make their plurals

1. by adding -s or -es to the singular form;
2. by changing final y to i and adding -es if the singular ends in a consonant + y.

Note: Nouns ending in a vowel + y do not change y to i and then add -es.




Irregular Countable Nouns
Irregular countable nouns make their plurals in special ways:

1. Some nouns ending in f change the f to v and then add -es.
2. Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms.
3. Some nouns use plural forms from other languages--not from English.
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Note:

Singular countable nouns almost always need an indefinite article (a or an) or another
determiner (this / that, my / your / his, etc.)

Don't forget this important requirement!