Common mistakes with plurals

1. UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE CHIMBORAZO
FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACIÓN HUMANAS Y
TECNOLOGÍAS
CARRERA DE IDIOMAS – INGLES
GRAMMAR V
COMMON MISTAKES WITH PLURALS
Names:
Darío Amancha
Patricio Castillo
Elvis Guaranga

2. COMMON MISTAKES WITH PLURALS
There are two types of common noun. These are countable nouns and
uncountable nouns. It's really important to know if a noun is countable or
uncountable, becauseit changes how we use it in a sentence.
Countable nouns are things which can be counted like 'table', 'apple' or 'boy'.
They usually change their form when we make a plural (they often add an 's'),
and can be used with either a singular or a plural verb: one bookfalls, two
books fall.
On the other hand, uncountable nouns are usually things which can't easily be
counted, like 'love', 'rice' or 'water'. Uncountable nouns do not make a plural
or change their form, and they are always used with a singular verb.
However, sometimes there's not much logic to whether a noun is countable or
uncountable.
For example, 'work' is uncountable but 'job' is countable. 'Trip' is countable,
but 'travel' is uncountable. 'Word' is countable, but 'vocabulary' is uncountable.
Sometimes, a noun is even different in US English and UK English, like
'Lego' or 'accommodation' (both uncountable in the UK but countable in the
US).

3. Here are some kinds of nouns that are often uncountable:
 Abstract nouns (nouns that talk about ideas): love, happiness, peace,
democracy.
 Subjects from schoolor university: Math, French, history.
 Materials: metal, wood, plastic.
 Liquids: water, coffee, milk.
 Gases:air, oxygen, carbondioxide.
Things that are made up of lots of small pieces: sand, rice, salt.
Here's a list of some uncountable nouns that we often use
UNCOUNTABLE PLURALS
Sometimes in English, we use uncountable nouns in plural forms. This is most
commonly done with liquids and substances. It usually takes on the meaning
of "cups of", "bottles of" or "types of".
Examples:
We'll have two coffees.CUPS OF COFFEE
I bought three waters. BOTTLES OF WATER

4. The company produces two leathers. TYPES OF LEATHER
advice Could you give me some advice?
dust The old table was covered with dust.
electricity Electricity runs through this wire.
equipment Could you give me a list of the equipment we need for the
trip?
evidence What evidence is there against John?
fog I could hardly see because of the thick fog.
fun We had a lot of fun at the party.
furniture I really need to buy some new furniture for my new flat.
happiness How can we increase our happiness?
help The teacher would like some help with moving the chairs.
homework How much homework do you get?
information Could you give me some information about things to do in
London?
knowledge He has such a lot of knowledge about history.
luck I need a bit of luck!
luggage Please put leave your entire luggage at the hotel and we'll pick
it up later.
money How much money do you have in your purse?
news The news is good!John has passed the exam!
pasta I love pasta!
progress We haven't made much progress on our project.
research Julie is doing research in neuroscience.

5. snow There's been a lot of snow this year.
spaghetti Could we have spaghetti with meatballs?
spinach She likes spinach with garlic.
traffic Was there a lot of traffic in central London?
vocabulary Vocabulary is very important in language learning.
work Do you have any work to do this weekend?
WORDS THAT CAN BE BOTHCOUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE
There are certain words which have multiple meanings. It is possible for one
meaning to be countable and the other to be uncountable. Take for example
the word "light":
Many, many words can be used in both an uncountable way and a countable
way. This is especially true of uncountable food and drink, such as 'coffee' or
'yogurt'. When we're talking in general about coffee or yogurt, the words are
uncountable. But, we can use them in a countable way when we mean 'one cup
of' or 'one potof':
 Uncountable: Coffee is my favorite drink.
 Countable: Could you buy two coffees and two teas, please?
 Uncountable: My children eat a lot of yogurt.
 Countable: I bought a pack of six yogurts.

6. Other words that act like this include: water, juice, salad, curry and cake.
Another way that we use uncountable nouns in a countable way is when we
use the word to mean 'a kind of' or 'a type of':
 Uncountable: She loves cheese.
 Countable: That shop sells lots of cheeses (=different kinds of cheese).
Other words that can be used in this way include jam, wood, plastic, bread,
metal, fabric. There are a few words that change their meaning depending on
if they used in a countable way or an uncountable way. For example:
Hair
Countable = one hair
Urg! There's a hair in my food!
Uncountable = all the hair on a
person's head
She has very beautiful hair.
Paper
Countable = a newspaper
I bought all the papers this morning.
Uncountable = paper in general
Could you give me some paper to
write on?
Light
Countable = a single lamp or light
bulb
The Christmas tree was covered in
lights.
Uncountable = light in general
The room was full of light.
Experienc
e
Countable = one event
I travelled to Thailand and it was a
really great experience.
Uncountable = when you've done
something for a long time
She has a lot of experience with
children.

7. NOUNS WHICH ARE ALWAYS PLURAL
Some nouns are always used in a plural form and with a plural verb. You can't
count them in the normal way. Sometimes you can use phrases like 'one pair
of' or 'three pairs of' if you'd like to count them. Nouns like these are often
clothes, or tools that have two parts. Here's a list of words that are always
plural:
Trousers My trousers are too long.
Tights I need to wear tights with this dress.
Shorts He bought some blue shorts.
Scissors There are three pairs of scissors in
the drawer.
Tweezers Could you pass me those tweezers?
Binoculars She gave me some binoculars.
Glasses (for seeing
better)
I've lost my glasses!
Sunglasses My sunglasses are in my bag.
Clothes She put her clothes in the suitcase.
Belongings Whose belongings are these?
Congratulations Many congratulations!

8. UNCOUNT NOUNS THAT END IN –S
Some uncountable nouns end in -s so they look like plurals even though they
are singular nouns.
These nouns generally refer to:
Subjects of study: mathematics, physics, economics, etc.
Activities: gymnastics, athletics, etc.
Games: cards, darts, billiards, etc.
Diseases: mumps, measles, rabies, etc.
Economics is a very difficult subject.
Billiards is easier than poolor snooker.
GROUP NOUNS
Some nouns, like army, refer to groups of people, animals or things, and we
can use them either as singular nouns or as plural nouns.
army audience Committee company crew enemy
family flock Gang government group herd
media public Regiment staff team

9. We can use these group nouns either as singular nouns or as plural nouns:
My family is very dear to me.
I have a large family. They are very dear to me. (= The members of my
family)
 The government is very unpopular.
Sometimes we think of the group as a single thing:
The audience always enjoys the show.
The group consists oftwo men and three women.
Sometimes we think of the group as several individuals;
The audience clapped their hands.
The largest group are the boys.
The names of many organizations and teams are also group nouns, but they
are usually plural in spokenEnglish:
Barcelona are winning 2-0.
The United Oil Company are putting prices up by 12%.

10. TWO-PART NOUNS
A few plural nouns, like binoculars, refer to things that have two parts.
glasses jeans knickers pincers pants pliers
Pyjamas scissors Shorts spectacles tights trainers
Trousers tweezers
These binoculars were very expensive
Thosetrousers are too long.
To make it clear we are talking about one of these items, we use a pairof …
I need a new pair of spectacles.
I’ve bought a pair of blue jeans.
If we want to talk about more than one, we use pairsof … :
We’ve got three pairs of scissors, butthey are all blunt.
I always carry two pairs of binoculars.
EXAMPLES:
Here are some mistakes students often make in the use of nouns.
Incorrect: She likes to feed the poors.

11. Correct: She likes to feed the poor.
Incorrect: He is working for the blinds.
Correct: He is working for the blind.
Expressions like the poor, the blind, the deaf etc., are always plural. We
don’thave to make their plural forms by adding –s to them.
Incorrect: I told these news to my father.
Correct: I told this news to my father.
News is a singular uncountable noun. Therefore it has to be used with a
singular determiner.
Incorrect: The teacher gave us many advices.
Correct: The teacher gave us some advice.
Advice is an uncountable noun. It does not have a plural form. The determiner
many is only used with plural countable nouns.
Incorrect: I have a five dollars note.
Correct: I have a five dollar note.
Incorrect: She has bought two dozens apples.
Correct: She has bought two dozen apples.
Incorrect: I saw many deers in the jungle.
Correct: I saw many deer in the jungle.
The nouns sheepand deer have identical singular and plural forms.

12. Incorrect: Bring me some bloating.
Correct: Bring me some bloating paper.
Incorrect: The boy is in the boarding.
Correct: The boyis in the boarding house.
Incorrect: Please put your sign here.
Correct: Please put your signature here.
Incorrect: She is my cousin sister.
Correct: She is my cousin.
Expressions like cousinsisterand cousinbrother are wrong.
EXCERSICES
Each sentence given below contains one or more grammatical mistakes. Find
out the mistake and rewrite the sentence correctly.
1. I heard these news in the morning.
2. One of my friend wants to go to France.
3. Each of these children know the answer by-heart.
4. He is most intelligent boyin our class.

13. 5. She is junior than me.
6. This fabric is superior than that fabric.
7. I went to the store to buy some stationeries.
8. Measles are infectious.
9. This poem is full of vivid imageries.
10. He didn’t want to listen to my advices.
Answers
1. I heard this news in the morning.
2. One of my friends wants to go to France.
3. Each of these children knows the answer by-heart. (The determiners each,
every, either and neither take a singular verb.)
4. He is the most intelligent boy in our class. (Superlative adjectives take the
article the.)
5. She is junior to me. (The adjectives junior and senior take the preposition
to, not than.)
6. This fabric is superior to that fabric. (The adjectives superior and inferior
take the preposition to, not than.)
7. I went to the store to buy some stationery. (Stationery does not have a plural
form.)

14. 8. Measles is infectious. (The names of most illnesses, including those ending
in –s, are singular in English.)
9. This poem is full of vivid imagery. (Imagery is uncountable in English and
therefore it does not have a plural form.)
10. He didn’t want to listen to my advice. (Advice is an uncountable noun and
therefore it does not have a plural form. Advice cannot be used with the article
an. To show the singular aspectof the noun, use the phrase a piece of advice.
To show the plural aspect, use the phrase some advice.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ENGLISH PRACTICE.(2015). Recuperado el 29 de 06 de 2015, de
http://www.englishpractice.com/common-mistakes/errors-nouns/
EnglishGrammar.org. (2015). Obtenido de
http://www.englishgrammar.org/common-mistakes-nouns-adjectives/
Council, B. (2015). Learnenglish. Recuperado el 29 de 06 de 2015, de
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/nouns/common-
problems-countuncount-nouns

15. dynamics, l. (s.f.). Englishpage. Recuperado el 29 de 06 de 2015, de
http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/countable-uncountable-nouns.htm
Seonaid. (s.f.). Perfec English Grammar. Recuperadoel 29 de 06 de 2015, de
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/nouns.html