Entries Tagged as 'Puzzling Plurals'

Puzzling Plurals: Stairs

Upstairs and downstairs have an -s ending, but they actually refer to one location:  another floor of the building.  If stairs, upstairs, or downstairs is the subject, the verb should agree with a singular noun.

  • The upstairs has a home theater. (upstairs in this example is the subject – have agrees with upstairs)
  • Upstairs, there is a home theater. (upstairs in this example refers to the location only – it’s not the subject here)

If the word stair appears first in a compound word, it will not take an -s.

  • staircase, stairwell

If there is just one stair, call it a step (not a stair).  If there is one or a few steps, use the:

  • up the step(s), down the step(s), up the stairs, down the stairs
  • These expressions imply movement rather than location.
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Tags: Grammar, How To, Puzzling Plurals, Speaking in General, Vocabulary by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Resident

The plural of the word resident is residents.  Just add an -s.  Why is it puzzling?  The plural residents sounds like the word residence.  If you get confused, this might help:

  • resident – one person who lives in a place (a resident of Virginia, the resident of this house)
  • residents – people (2 or more) who live in a place (residents of Virginia, the residents of this house)
  • residence – the place where one or more people stay or live (a college student’s permanent residence is in Florida, but their current residence is at the university).
  • residences* – the places where one or more people stay, live, or have lived.

*When you change residence to the plural form, remember to add a syllable /Iz/ when you pronounce it.

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Tags: Puzzling Plurals, Vocabulary, pronunciation tips by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Animals

When you are referring to animals as food, use a non-count noun.

Example: We are having chicken tonight.

When you are referring to animals as adorable creatures, use a plural noun if there is more than one.

Example: How many chickens does your mom have?

Sheep, deer, and fish are irregular, so don’t add an -s even if there is more than one.

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Tags: Puzzling Plurals by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Manners

When using the word “manners” meaning etiquette, it is plural.  Some expressions you might see “manners” in context are:

  • He has good/bad manners.
  • Children are taught manners when they go to restaurants.
  • a person with good manners
  • someone with bad manners
  • It’s important to use good manners at a table.
  • Good manners are different in different countries.

Have a discussion about different acceptable manners in your ESL classes.  The cultural differences among countries and regions are great conversation topics.

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Tags: ESL Quick Lessons, Puzzling Plurals, Speaking in General, Vocabulary by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Nouns with No Singular Form

There are some nouns in English that are only plural.  In other words, they don’t have a singular form.  If they only have a plural form, the verb agrees with a plural.

  • clothes
  • glasses (as in eye glasses or sunglasses)
  • pants
  • scissors

If you want to use the singular form, here are some suggestions:

  • some clothes = an outfit
  • some glasses = a pair of glasses
  • some pants = a pair of pants
  • some scissors = a pair of scissors
Schoenberg, I.E. (2000). Focus on grammar: A basic course for reference and practice.  2nd Ed. Longman.
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Tags: Grammar, Puzzling Plurals, Reading, Vocabulary, Writing, parts of speech by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: News

The noun news, like the word information, is singular.  It looks plural because of the -s ending, and ESL students might think news is plural if the translation in their own language is plural.

Here are some other expressions to consider using.  Note which are plural and which are singular.

  • Synonyms of news which are singular include information, intelligence, and knowledge.
  • Synonyms of news, as in information, which can be plural include:  announcements, broadcasts, bulletins, discoveries, headlines, leads and reports.
  • News that is considered salacious also have singular synonyms such as gossip, the dirt*, the lowdown*, the buzz*, and the talk*.

* slang expressions for gossip

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Tags: Puzzling Plurals, Speaking in General, Vocabulary, Writing by Debra
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“Plans” on Valentine’s Day

Listen: Plans

I asked one of my students what his plans were for the weekend.  His response was, “I have a plan to go to Florida.”   When you talk about what you are doing tonight, this weekend, or on your next vacation, you should make the noun, plans, plural, even if you are just doing one thing.

Examples:

  1. I have plans tonight. I’m going to dinner with my husband. (Even though I’m doing one thing, I still use the plural form plans.)
  2. I’m sorry I can’t attend your party.  My family and I have plans.  (We might do one thing or many things, but I’m still using plans.)
  3. What are your plans for the new office furniture?

So, what are your plans for Valentine’s Day?

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Tags: Puzzling Plurals, Speaking in General, Vocabulary, Writing, esl expressions by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Quick Tip

Click here to listen.

A quick way to improve your grammatical accuracy during speech is to first identify the subject of your sentence.  Your verb must agree with the subject.  Your verb will agree with the number (whether it is plural or not).  So, it’s important to (1) identify the subject, (2) be able to determine its number, and (3) use the appropriate verb form to agree with the subject.

If you work on this, your grammatical accuracy during speech will improve!

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Tags: Critical Thinking, Grammar, How To, Puzzling Plurals, Speaking in General by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: Here and There

The words here and there are not subjects, and therefore can’t be plural or singular. Click here to listen.

Students of English tend to think these words are subjects because they appear at the beginning of a sentence.  In sentences that begin with here or there, the subject appears after the verb.  These are common phrases in English, but the sentence structure is not your typical Subject + Verb + Object construct that you’re used to.

The expressions in here and in there also can’t be used as subjects.  Why?  Well, it’s because they are prepositional phrases.  They might also appear at the beginning of a sentence, but these phrases are used as transitional phrases.  If you use them in a sentence, make sure you use a subject in addition to the phrase.  See these examples:

  • In here, we keep our server and office supplies. (The subject is we)
  • In here keep office supplies. (This sentence doesn’t have a subject; it’s incorrect)

In here, it says 2010 will be a great year!

  • The latest news is in here. (in here is a prepositional phrase)
  • Here, it says stocks are going up. (it is the subject)

Click here for an activity to practice using the expressions here and in here. (also in PDF)

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Tags: Critical Thinking, Grammar, How To, Puzzling Plurals, Speaking in General, Writing, esl expressions by Debra
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Puzzling Plurals: More than one

Click here to listen

Even though more than one implies a plural noun, when the phrase more than one is used as a subject, it is singular.

If you used a number other than one to imply more than one, the subject is plural.  Similarly, the expression more than two is plural. However, if you choose to use the expression more than one as a subject in a sentence, it’s singular. Look at this explanation through examples:

  • More than two were at the party.
  • Two were not going to the party. (Two people = more than one)
  • More than one person was at the party.  (There were 7 people at the party, but I didn’t say, “Seven people were there.”)

If you use the word more followed by any other noun, then the verb will agree with that noun.  Look at these examples:

  • More people are coming, but they will be here later.
  • More food is on its way.  I just ordered two extra pizzas.
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