Lesson 3 - Nouns

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns are words that refer to people, places, things and concepts. In English nouns can refer to one item (singular) or more than one item (plural). The plural of nouns is formed several different ways.

1. Add an s to the end of the noun. This is the most common.
2. Add es to nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh.
3. Nouns that end in y, preceded by a consonant, drop the y and add ies
4. Some nouns that end in f or fe change the f to v as well as adding an s. (half - halves, knife - knives, leaf - leaves, life - lives, loaf - loaves, self - selves, shelf - shelves, thief - thieves, wolf - wolves, scarf - scarves)
5. Change the spelling and pronunciation of the noun. (child - children, foot - feet, mouse - mice, man - men, goose - geese)
6. A few nouns are the same for both the singular and plural form. (fish, deer, series, species)

Examples

Definite and Indefinite Articles

Definite Article

The word the is one of the most common words in the English language. It is called the definite article and is used before a noun to indicate that the noun indicates a specific object or concept.

Indefinite Article

The word an is also very common in the English language. It is called the indefinite article and is used before a noun to indicate the noun is not referring to a specific object or concept, but that category of object in general. When the following word starts with a consonant, the n is dropped. The indefinite article is not used with plural nouns.

Examples