Plural in English. "Mice" and other plural exceptions English singular and plural nouns

For those who are just starting to learn English, the names of fruits in English can be a good training base. Firstly, having learned the names and trying to put them into practice, fruits in English can be called in the most ordinary situations - in the supermarket, in the garden, and often right in your kitchen. Secondly, fruits in English are an excellent base for combining with other thematic groups of words for elementary education - "Colors", "Shape", "Volume", "Taste", etc. That is, having learned fruits in English, you can make up a lot of phrases with a variety of adjectives, which will certainly help you fix these words in your memory.

For example:
Apples - Apples
can be Red apples - Red apples
and may be Round red apples - Round red apples

Pears - Pears
can be Yellow pears - Yellow pears
and may be Sweet yellow pears - Sweet yellow pears

And if you want - you can mix everything - Sweet round yellow apples - Sweet round yellow apples

You can always make any chain of words yourself, depending on what words you remember. By the way, making chains of words can be an exciting and useful game if you are learning English with a child. A competitive moment can also be included in such a game - who will make the most chains, or who will make the longest chain. Everything will depend on your imagination.

We call fruits in English.

One of the frequently asked questions on the topic "Fruit" in English is, in fact, the word itself fruit - fruit, fruits. In what cases should it be used in the singular form to refer to several fruits (considering this noun as uncountable) - fruits, and when - in the plural form - fruits ?

If we are talking about fruits in general, like food, not meaning a set of individual fruits, then we use fruits.

Fruit is cheap here. — Fruit is cheap here.

If we mean different types of fruits, we use the plural fruits.

There are pears, apples and other fruits in the menu. - There are pears, apples and other fruits (types of fruits) on the menu.

So with the word fruits figured out, let's go directly to the names. First, let's name a dozen of the most common and familiar fruits. By the way, to simplify the task for beginners, we wrote the names of fruits in English in Russian transcription.

Apple - ["æpl] - (epl) - apple

Banana - - (bae "nena) - banana

Lemon - ["lemən] - (" lemn) - lemon

Melon - ['melən] - ("melen) - melon

Watermelon - [‘wɒtər‚melən] - (" watermelen) - watermelon

Orange - ["ɔrindʒ] - (" orange) - orange

Peach - - (pi: h) - peach

Pear--(" pea) - pear

Pineapple - ["paɪnæpl] - (" pineapple - pineapple

Tangerine - [, tændʒə "ri: n] - (tenje" ri:n) - mandarin

Then, when these words no longer cause difficulties, you can memorize a few more fruits in English with translation, which may be useful.

Apricot - [‘æprə‚kɒt] - (" epicot) - apricot

Kiwifruit - [ˈkiwifru: t] - ("kiwifru: t) - kiwi

Lime--(" lime) - lime

Plum - [ˈplʌm] - (flame) - plum

Pomegranate - [‘pɒm‚grænɪt] - (" pomgranite) - garnet

Learn the names of berries in English.

When memorizing English words for various fruits, one cannot ignore the names of berries in English. After all, if we recall the situations in which we use the names of fruits (for example, the name of juices, different types of ice cream, syrups, jams, etc.), a variety of berries immediately come to mind.


Please note: most berries in English have the word in their name Berry, which actually means Berry.

The most common berries in speech:

Bilberry - ["bɪlb (ə) rɪ] - ("bilberry) - blueberries

Blackberry - [ˈblækberi] - ("blackberry) - blackberry

Blackcurrant - [ˌblækˈkɜːrənt] - (black currant) - black currant

Blueberry - [ˈbluːberi] - ("blueberry) - blueberries, lingonberries, blueberries

Cranberry - [ˈkrænberi] - ("cranberry) - cranberry

Cherry - [ˈtʃeri] - ("cherry) - cherry, sweet cherry

Grapes - [ˈɡreɪps] - ("grapes) - grapes

Raspberry - [ˈræzberi] - ("raspberry") - raspberry

Strawberry - [ˈstrɔːberi] - ("strawberry) - strawberries, strawberries

Putting new words into practice.

Don't forget to learn new words and use them in practice whenever possible. If you are learning English with a child, it can be a variety of games: both word games (composing chains, for example, which we wrote about above), and various role-playing games - play in the "shop", in the "cafe", in " dacha. The main condition should be the maximum use of new words in the game.

If you are learning English on your own, we can offer you an effective way to practice - an online English tutorial. By listening to short texts and doing simple exercises for them, you can replenish your vocabulary and learn how to correctly compose English sentences.

For example, you can find the names of fruits on the site in this short text for beginners:

She often eats apples.
He often eats pears.
Does she often eat pears? No, she does not.
She doesn't eat pears. She eats apples.
Does he eat pears? Yes, he does.

Listen to text

She often eats apples.
He often eats pears.
Does she often eat pears? No…
She doesn't eat pears. She eats apples.
Does he eat pears? Yes…

Passing such lessons, you not only consolidate new words in your memory, but also master the use of basic grammatical structures.

As you know, friends, there are a huge number of exceptions to the general rules in the English language. This also applies to grammar, spelling and other sections of the language.

On our site, we have already considered in detail such a phenomenon as the plural of nouns in English. But today we would like to draw your attention to those very nouns - exceptions that fall out of the general rule.

So, friends, let's remember in detail and pay close attention to these very exceptions in the plural of nouns. It is very important to remember them in written sentences, as well as in oral speech, not to make mistakes.

Here are the exceptions (singular and plural) and their translation into Russian. Try to remember how each word is spelled, both singular and plural.

• Man - men - man - men
• Woman - women - woman - women
• Child - children - child - children
• Person - people - person - people
• Tooth - teeth - tooth - teeth
• Foot - feet - foot - feet
• mouse - mice - mouse - mice
• Sheep - sheep - sheep - sheep
• Fish - fish - fish - fish (also allowed fishes)
• Ox - oxen - bull - bulls
• Goose - geese - goose - geese
• Louse - lice - louse - lice

Pay attention to sentences with some of these exceptions and their translation:

• There are mice in that old house. - INvolumeoldhomeThere ismice.
• These women are my colleagues. - Thesewomen- myColleagues.
• IlikeSincereandfrankpeople. — I like sincere and open people.
• The oxen in this farm are very big. — BullsonthisfarmVerylarge.
• I have two children: a son and a daughter. — Umetwochildren: sonAnddaughter.

Friends, it is worth noting that these exceptions are preserved in their derivative words. For example:

• Children - schoolchildren - children - schoolchildren
• Men - gentlemen, policemen, men-of-war - men - gentlemen, policemen, military
• Women - women-writers - women - writers

And a few more words about "mice" ...

Now let's talk about how other mice will be in English:

• Bat - bats - bat - bats
• Rat - rats - rat - rats

But! The following words are derivatives of "mouse", so they also take the form "mice" in the plural. Be careful:

• White mouse - white mice - white mouse - white mice
• Flittermouse - flittermice - bat - bats
• rearmouse - rearmice - bat - bats

In plural sentences, also remember to observe the correct form:

Flittermice live in deserted places. - Bats live in deserted places.

And now pay attention to a number of expressions in which you can meet various "mice":

• Mouse-driven control
• Mouse port
• Click with the left mouse button - left-click
• The mice got to the cheese again - the mice are at the cheese again
• Church mice; the poor - church mice
• Bats under protection - bats over conservation
• Mice darted into their minks - the mice scurried back to their holes
• the mice scampered away through a crack
• Quieter than a mouse - as quiet / mum / mute / still as a mouse
• mouse trail

How to easily and quickly remember exceptions?

Fortunately, there are not so many of them to memorize each exception for a long and painful time. Write the list of exception nouns above in singular and plural on colored sticky notes and post them in your room. Thus, they will always be in front of your eyes. Repeat them out loud until you memorize them.

Make as many sentences as you can with them in writing and orally.

Use them in conversation, in conversation.

Finally, do the grammar exercises on Plural of English Nouns, focusing on exceptions.

Good luck to you, friends!

More recently, we have already analyzed the exception words on the topic "plural". But the English language has surpassed itself here too, since it has a number of nouns that have the same form for singular and plural. And you may also come across words that can only be used in one variant. It is about such non-standard cases that we will talk today.

Exception words. Irregular plural (Advanced English)

Let's start with those exception words, plural which is the same as the only one. English the language is not very rich in such units. But, nevertheless, they meet, so you should pay attention to them. These words are listed below.

1. deer (deer) – deer (deer)

2. means (way) - means (ways)

3. sheep (sheep) - sheep (sheep)

4. swine (pig) - swine (pigs)

5. series (series, cycle) - series (series, cycles)

6. species (species, variety) - species (species)

7. fish (fish) - fish (fish)

8. fruit (fruit) – fruit (fruit)

There are some nuances regarding paragraphs 7-8. If we are talking about different varieties of fish and fruits, then the plural of these nouns should be formed in a standard way.

Examples:

There are different fruits on the table: bananas, apples, pine-apples, and peaches. There are different fruits on the table: bananas, apples, pineapples and peaches.

Where are you going? – I would like to buy some fruit.

Where are you going? I would like to buy some fruits (of the same kind).

English nouns singular and plural

Now let's look at English nouns, which are only in the form the only numbers And only plural. Let's start with the first group.

How did it get on this list? news, because here at the end -S? Everything is very simple - this word is always used with verbs in the singular. Pay attention to the following suggestion.

Is this news good or bad? Is this news good or bad?

Words like money And hair also do not fit into the standard rules. It seems that in Russian it turns out to be plural ( money, hair), but in English money And hair always used with singular verbs.

Her hair is beautiful but too short. Her hair is beautiful, but too short.

Is this money yours? Is this money yours?

There is also such a moment that if we mean a certain number of hairs, then we can say a hair (1 hair), three hairs (3 hairs) etc.

look! There is a hair in my glass!- Look! There is a hair in my glass!

Now let's learn nouns that occur only in the plural form.

Do not forget about uncountable nouns (concepts that cannot be counted). Such words are usually referred to as singular. What could it be? For example: water (water), sand (sand), patience (patience), love (love), snow (snow) and etc.

The story begins in April 2016, when Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of marketing, gave a short English lesson to his Twitter followers. He explained why it is impossible to form a plural from the name of "apple" products.

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The reason for the educational program was a discussion between analysts Benedict Evans and Michael Gatenberg. Both of them figured out how to correctly plural form the name of the iPad Pro tablet. The options included "iPads Pro" and "iPad Pros". Phil Schiller intervened in the dispute, who explained to the ignoramuses that the names of "apple" devices do not have a plural.

In his mini-lesson, Schiller specifically mentioned that using the sentence "I have three Macs" is incorrect. It would be correct to say: "I have three Macintosh computers." And the same goes for the iPhone and iPad. For example, Mr. Ivens uses two iPad Pro.”

However, vigilant users found an example of a violation of these rules in a press release from Apple itself. In it, "illiterate" authors dared to form a plural from the word iPhone - iPhones.