Unit 12 - Plural Nouns

Plural Nouns


Unit 12 - Plural Nouns

1.

What's on your shopping list?

4 tomatoes, some carrots, 2 kilos of potatoes, 6 oranges, some cherries, 2 bottles of grape juice, a box of strawberries, 6 bottles of water, and some chicken. What about you?

Er, 5 pizzas and some soda.

Let's go to the supermarket together. You need help!
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2.
I need some new clothes.

Me too, I need some trousers and shirts.

I need shoes, a couple of scarves for winter, and two dresses.

So let's go shopping this afternoon.

Good idea!
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3.
What do we need for tonight?

We need french fries, burgers, and some soda.

How about some fruit and potato chips?

OK, sounds great.

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Key Vocabulary

shopping
list
tomatoes
carrots
kilo
potatoes
oranges
cherries
bottle
grape
juice
box
strawberries
water
pizza
soda

supermarket
need
new clothes
trousers
shirt
shoes
couple
scarf
scarves
winter
dress
this
good idea
tonight
potato chips

Unit 12 Grammar

-s ending - Plurals are generally made by adding -s to the noun. For example:
Cat - cats, tree - trees, building - buildings.

There are a number of exceptions to this rule, here are some of the most common ones.

-es ending: Nouns ending with -o, -s, -x, -z, -ch, and -sh usually add -es to the noun. For example:
tomatoes, dresses, foxes, quizzes, watches, stashes.

- ies ending: Nouns ending with a consonant + -y usually replace the -y with -ies. For example:
country - countries, party - parties.

- ves ending: Some nouns ending in -f replace the -f with -ves. For example:
wife - wives, knife - knives, elf - elves.

As always, memorizing these rules is probably less helpful and much less interesting than exposing yourself to real English usage and learning them at the same time.


Grammar Exercises


Exercise 1

Write the plural form of these nouns.

Example: tree - trees

1. bird

2. girl

3. house

4. tomato

5. fox

6. dress

7. child

8. woman

9. country

10. building

Answers
1. = "birds";
2. = "girls";
3. = "houses";
4. = "tomatoes";
5. = "foxes";
6. = "dresses";
7. = "children";
8. = "women";
9. = "countries";
10. = "buildings";

Exercise 2

Write the plural form of the nouns in brackets.

Example: I have some oranges. (orange)

1. Do you like ? (cherry)

2. Where are my ? (key)

3. Tara goes to at the weekend. (party)

4. Don't play with . (knife)

5. Jim has three at home. (dog)

6. He needs new . (shoe)

7. One fish, two . (fish)

8. Italy has beautiful . (city)

9. I like , they're really fun. (quiz)

10. The are finished. (question)

Answers
1. = "cherries";
2. = "keys";
3. = "parties";
4. = "knives";
5. = "dogs";
6. = "shoes";
7. = "fish";
8. = "cities";
9. = "quizzes";
10. = "questions";