Noun Plurals
How do you distinguish singular from plural?
A noun is singular if it means one and plural if it means more than one.
“I like your hair.”
Some noun end in as –s but they seem to be singular, e.g., physics, and others
without an –s plural seem to be plural, e.g., several salmon.
Three tests for number in the noun:
1. Singular takes: he/him, she/her, it, this, that
Plural takes they/them, these, those
The beach was covered with white sand. (= it)
Have you studied phonetics? (= it)
Where did you hang my trousers? (= them)
2. The number of a noun can be signaled by a modifier such as several, many,
this, that, these, those, fifteen, or by a pronoun reference such as his, her, its,
their.
We saw many fish swimming under the bridge.
In returning to the field, the sheep changed its direction.
In returning to the field, the sheep changed their direction.
The modifier some can be used with a singular or a plural noun.
He bought some cake.
He bought some cakes.
3. When a noun function as subject of the verb, its number is shown by the
form of the verb.
Measles is a contagious disease.
The fish swims in the pond.
The goods are on the way.
The fish swim in the pond.
If the verb has a form that doesn't’t change for singular or plural (e.g., a past
tense) one can substitute a present tense form or the present or past tense of be.
The goods came (come) late.
The goods came (are) late.
The goods came (were) late.
Collective nouns
They may be either singular or plural in meaning when they are singular in
form. They represent a collection or unit of individuals.
tribe, family, team, committee, faculty, choir
Speakers use singular forms (verbs, pronouns, determiners) in connection
with such nouns when thinking of the unit as a single whole, but they use
plural forms when intending the separate individuals within the unit.
The family (= it, the unit) is sitting at the dinner table.
The family (= they, the individuals) have gathered from many parts
of the country.
Noun possessive
The noun possessive morpheme {-s ps} has the same conditional allomorphs as
the plural: /-s/, /-z/, and /-əәz/, plus a zero allomorph as in students’.
There are different semantics relationships between the possessive noun and
the one that follows:
Relationships
Examples
1. Possession or belongingness
John’s hat, Judy’s home
2. Characterization or description
a cowboy’s walk, men’s coats
3. Origin
Raphael’s painting, Cary’s novel
4. Measure (time, value, space)
an hour’s wait, a dollar’s worth
5. Subject of act
John’s flight (John flew)
The judge’s decision (the judge decides)
6. Object of act
Eliot’s critics were many. (They criticized Eliot)
A noun possessive is ambiguous when it expresses more than one semantic
relationships at the same time.
“His son’s loss grieved him”
1. He lost his son, and this grieved him
2. His son lost something, and his grieved him.
When to use (student’s) or (of the student)?
It depends on personal taste. However, the tendency is to use the inflected form
with animate nouns and the of structure with inanimate nouns.
the dog’s leg
the leg of the table
Noun paradigmatic test:
If a word has two or more form of the noun paradigm, it will be labeled as a noun
daughter
daughter’s
daughters
daughters’
But if it has only one form, such as bravery, it is not a noun by this paradigmatic
test, although it may be shown to be a noun by other tests.