Nouns (Lesson 1)

A. Look at the underlined words in the following passage :

Anika is in class seven. She lives in a village of Jamalpur with her parents. She has two sisters. She often takes them to school. She has to help her mother as well. Her father is a small businessman. In her free time, Anika likes to draw pictures and write poems in Bangla. Anika's dream is to become a computer engineer.

These are all nouns. A noun is a word used to refer to people, animals, objects, substances, states, events, ideas and feelings.

B. Nouns can be countable or uncountable. The nouns which can be counted are countable and those which cannot be counted are uncountable

Read the following sentences and say whether the underlined nouns are countable or uncountable:

He has many friends.

Kamal has given me some good news.

Urmi borrowed some books from the library.

Afsana eats bread for breakfast.

Zahid's father is a teacher.

C. Countable nouns have two forms: singular and plural. The singular form refers to one person or thing and the plural form refers to more than one person or thing.

a. How to make plurals

Regular plurals are formed by adding 's' to the singular forms of nouns.
For example

book ----------- books
flower ----------- flowers
teacher ---------- teachers

b. By adding '-es' to nouns ending in '-ss', '-ch', '-s', '-sh' or '-x'. For example:

watch ------------ watches

class ----------- classes

box --------- boxes

c. Nouns ending in consonants and '-y' change to 'ies' in the plurals.For example:

country -------- countries
victory ----------victories
lady ---------- ladies

d. Nouns ending in a vowel and '-y' have an '-s' in the plurals. For example:
boy ---------- boys
day ------- days
key ------- keys

e. Some common nouns have irregular plurals. For example:
child --------- children
foot ------- feet
mouse -----------mice

Give the plurals of the following nouns. One is done for you:

horse ------horses
woman -----------
tooth -------
glass -------
wish -------
truck ---------
pencil-------
friend -------
monkey -------
tomato -------
way--------
eye ---------

D. Rewrite these sentences using plural nouns. One is done for you:

1. A bus is quicker than a rickshaw. / Buses are quicker than rickshaws.
2. A tiger is a ferocious animal./ ___________
3. A banker earns more money than a teacher. / _________
4. A laptop is an expensive piece of equipment. / ______
5. A student has to work hard. / ________
6. A good book helps to pass time. / ______

E. Complete these sentences with a singular or plural noun:

1. The________ stops outside our house. (car / cars).
2. The ________ were waiting for me. (child/children)
3. The ________ are in the shelf. (book/books)
4. Do you know the ________ that lives next door? (man/men)
5. The dentist pulled out the ________ that was hurting. (tooth/teeth)
6. The ________ who was waiting here has gone home. (boy/boys)

F. Complete these sentences with a singular or a plural verb:

1. The children ______ ready for school. (is getting/ are getting)
2. My uncle ______ in the army. (is/are)
3. The flower ______ sweet. (smell/smells)
4. The chocolates we bought ______ very expensive. (was/were)
5. The letters you posted yesterday ______ confidential. (was/were)
6. The young man you met yesterday _______ transferred to this office recently. (has been/ have been)