Plural nouns. Definite, indefinite and zero articles

– Hello, everyone! Welcome to our lesson!

– We are happy to see you!

– Today we have a guest. It’s my sister Jenna.

– Jenna has just written a letter to her friend Julia.

– Let’s read this letter together and check it for mistakes.

Dear Julia,

Thanks for your letter! It was great to hear from you. You asked me to tell you about my favourite day of week. Well, it’s definitely the Friday.

Firstly, I like the Fridays, because I have PE on this day. In PE we usually play a basketball, which is my favourite sport. Secondly, I like the Fridays, because after the lessons I hang out with a friends from my school. We usually go to someone’s house for _ party or to watch _ film. Most of all I enjoy spending time at a Wendy’s house, because she’s got three fishes and two puppys.

Tell me about your favourite day of week in your next letter. Hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Jenna

Guys, as you can see, Jenna has made a lot of mistakes in her letter. These mistakes are connected with the formation of plural nouns and the usage of definite, indefinite and zero articles.

Let’s correct the mistakes in this letter!

Great! Now the letter is ready to be sent, but we still have to explain these rules to Jenna.

So, today in the lesson we will:

● talk about plural nouns and discuss how to form them;

● talk about the usage of definite, indefinite and zero articles;

And

● put the knowledge into practice.

A plural noun is a word that indicates that there is more than one person, animal, place, thing or idea.

Now let’s answer the question:

What are the plural spelling rules?

1) To make regular nouns plural, we add the suffix -s to singular nouns.

For example:

Dream – dreams

2) If the singular noun ends with -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x or -z, we add the suffix -es to the noun to make it plural.

For instance:

Church – churches

3) If the singular noun ends with “y” and is preceded by a vowel, we add the suffix -s to it.

For example:

Donkey – donkeys

4) If the noun ends with “y” and is preceded by a consonant, we change “y” to “i” and add the suffix -es to it.

For instance:

Enemy – enemies

5) If the noun ends with “f” or “fe”, we change these letters to the letter “v” and add the suffix -es to it.

For example:

Knife – knives

The exceptions are:

Chef – chefs

Chief - chiefs

Proof – proofs

Roof – roofs

Belief – beliefs

6) If the singular noun ends with “o” and is preceded by a vowel, we add the suffix -s to the noun to make it plural.

For instance:

Kangaroo – kangaroos

7) If the noun ends with “o” and is preceded by a consonant, we add the suffix -es to it.

For example:

Hero – heroes

The exceptions are:

Piano – pianos

Photo – photos

Zero – zeros

There are nouns in English that need to be learned and memorized, because they don’t follow the regular rules for forming plurals. These nouns are called “irregular nouns”.

For instance:

Child – children

Woman – women

Man – men

Person – people

Foot – feet

Tooth – teeth

Goose – geese

Ox – oxen

Mouse – mice

Some irregular nouns don’t change their form when they are pluralized.

For example:

Sheep

Deer

Fish

Moose

Swine

Bison

Some nouns in English only have a plural form. These nouns include the names of certain tools, instruments and articles of clothing that have two parts.

The examples of tools and instruments are:

Binoculars, glasses, headphones, scissors, sunglasses, tweezers.

The examples of clothing are:

Jeans, pyjamas, tights, shorts, trousers, pants.

We can use “a pair of” or “pairs of” to refer to one or more examples of these nouns.

For instance:

Kate bought a new pair of binoculars last week.

Jane bought three pairs of shorts for the summer.

Now look at the examples of other nouns that are always in plural form:

Belongings, outskirts, clothes, congratulations, savings, stairs, goods, thanks, ashes, premises, etc.

Some nouns in English refer to a group of people. These nouns are called “collective nouns”.

They can take either a singular verb or a plural verb, depending on whether we see the group as a whole or as individuals. The examples of collective nouns are:

Audience, crew, public, team, government, class, club, committee, company, army, council, crowd, family, jury, police, etc.

For instance:

His family lives in a mansion.

My family are unable to agree on where we should all go on holiday this year.

We’ve talked about plural nouns. Now…

Correct the mistakes in the following sentences!

Let’s check the right answers!

1. They are advertising two pairs of glasses for the price of one.

2. In the past, farmers used oxen to help plough the fields.

3. They live on the outskirts of Frankfurt, almost in the countryside.

4. The government is hoping that online voting will attract more young people to vote.

5. The government are all very nervous about the report, which will be published tomorrow.

6. My sister Judy loves wearing scarves around her neck.

7. Jill’s cats love to chase and catch mice in our alleyway.

Now let’s discuss when we can use the indefinite article “a/an”.

1. We use “a/an” to introduce a person or thing for the first time.

For example:

Jill, look! There is a mouse on your sofa.

2. “A/an” can be used when it means “one” and refers to a single unit of measure or a single object or person.

For instance:

I would like an orange and three apples, please!

3. We use “a/an” if we talk about a person or thing, which we can’t or don’t want to be specific about.

For example:

A woman called you three hours ago.

4. “A/an” can be used when we want to indicate membership. In this case, we can talk about religion, nationality, profession and politics.

For instance:

Elizabeth is a Conservative.

5. The article “a/an” is used with the exclamations, which include countable nouns.

For example:

I have a surprise for you!

6. We use “a/an” with whole numbers, fractions, money, weights and measures.

For instance:

He charged a dollar for a shoeshine.

7. “A/an” can be used in front of proper nouns to express uncertainty about the person’s identity, to refer to the characteristic features of the person or to refer to a work of art created by the person.

For example:

He was an Einstein of his time.

Now let’s discuss when we can use the definite article “the”.

1. We use the article “the” when a particular noun has already been mentioned previously.

For example:

I saw a girl yesterday. The girl looked like Hermione Granger.  

2. “The” is used before a noun to indicate that the identity of the noun is known to the reader.

For instance:

Julia, can you pass me the salt, please?

3. The article “the” is used when the noun refers to something or someone that is unique.

For example:

The sun was very bright yesterday.

The exception is the word “space”.

For instance: go to space, be in space, etc.

4. We use “the” when an adjective, phrase or clause describing the noun clarifies or restricts its identity.

For example:

The rice we bought in the Thai shop is much better than the supermarket rice.

5. “The” is used to talk about a group of people. In this case, we use such words as “rich”, “poor”, “unemployed”, etc.

For instance:

The poor don’t have enough money to afford the food.

6. The definite article “the” can be used with the names of musical instruments.

For example:

Brandon enjoys playing the guitar.

7. “The” is used with the nouns followed by a descriptive word or phrase, which makes them definite. In this case, we use such words as “all”, “the whole”, “the same”, “the wrong”, etc.

For instance:

Joseph sits in the same chair every night.

Pay attention! There is also a zero article in the English language. The term “zero article” refers to noun phrases that have no articles.

Let’s discuss when we don’t need to use articles.

1. We use zero article with plural nouns when we refer to things in general.

For instance:

We have to protect wild animals.

2. We don’t use articles when we refer in general to something abstract or uncountable.

For example:

Julia enjoys eating Japanese food.

3. Zero article is used after the determiners such as “any”, “some”, “my”, “his”, “this”, “that”, etc.

For instance:

Charles is looking for his dictionary. Have you got it?

4. We use zero article when we talk about months and days of week.

For example:

The growing season is from April to September.

5. When we talk about the activity that happens in a building rather than about the building itself, we don’t use the articles.

For instance:

She didn’t want to be in hospital, but she was too ill to go home.

6. We don’t use articles before the word “work” when we talk about the place where we do our job.

For example:

My parents go to work at 8 a.m. every morning.

7. We use zero article when talking about sports and games.

For instance:

Let’s go and play basketball.

We’ve discussed in general when to use definite, indefinite and zero articles. Now…

Complete the sentences with A/AN, THE or ZERO ARTICLE!

1. We lay on … grass and watched … stars.

2. When I was at … school, we didn’t have computers.

3. I ate … hamburger yesterday. … hamburger was really delicious.

4. … young need to be encouraged and supported in society.

5. … advice you gave me about Madison was very useful.

6. I would like … apple and two lemons, please!

7. My sister goes to … work at 9 a.m. every morning.

Let’s check the right answers!

1. The, the

2. Zero article

3. A, the

4. The

5. The

6. An

7. Zero article

– Well done, everyone! Now you know more about the formation of plural nouns and the usage of definite, indefinite and zero articles.

– That’s all for today. Goodbye, friends.