5 Number

At the end of this chapter, students will be able to:

€€ differentiate between singular and plural nouns.
€€ change a singular noun into a plural noun and vice versa.
€€ list the key rules regarding changing a singular noun into its plural form.

Rewrite the following sentences changing the highlighted nouns into their plural
forms.
1. The child rode a bicycle.
_____________________________________________________________
2. The woman met the chairman.
_____________________________________________________________
3. The gardener brought a box to the house.
_____________________________________________________________
4. Search for the book on the shelf.
_____________________________________________________________
5. The policeman ran after the thief.
_____________________________________________________________

A singular noun refers to one person, place, animal, thing or idea.

A plural noun refers to more than one person, place, animal, thing or
idea.
Example: monkey—monkeys, potato—potatoes, knife—knives,
photo—photos.

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Let us have a look at the rules to form plurals:
€€ Generally, we add –s to many singular nouns to form their plurals.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
car cars market markets orange oranges
book books apple apples cat cats
girl girls hill hills banana bananas
pen pens mountain mountains apple apples
€€ For nouns ending in –s, –ch, –sh, –ss or –x, we add –es to form their plural forms.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
bus buses bush bushes glass glasses
lens lenses match matches class classes
box boxes fox foxes tax taxes
€€ For nouns ending in –o, we usually add –es to form their plural.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
tomato tomatoes potato potatoes cargo cargoes
mango mangoes volcano volcanoes hero heroes

€€ However, there are some nouns ending with –o that take only–s to form their plural
forms.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
tattoo tattoos photo photos zoo zoos
stereo stereos igloo igloos radio radios

€€ For nouns ending in –y with a consonant before it, we change the –y to –ies to form
their plurals.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
fly flies spy spies history histories
story stories butterfly butterflies puppy puppies
fairy fairies lily lilies cherry cherries
lady ladies fly flies family families

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€€ For nouns ending in –y with a vowel before it, we add –s to form their plurals.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
key keys monkey monkeys boy boys
tray trays donkey donkeys day days
toy toys essay essays holiday holidays
ray rays bay bays hay hays
€€ For nouns ending in –f or –fe, we change the –f or –fe to –ves to form their plurals.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
knife knives scarf scarves thief thieves
wife wives life lives leaf leaves

€€ However, there are some nouns ending in –f that take only –s to form their plurals.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
roof roofs chef chefs chief chiefs
proof proofs sheriff sheriffs cliff cliffs

€€ Some nouns ending in –f take both –s and –ves.

Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
scarf scarfs/ scarves dwarf dwarfs/dwarves hoof hoofs/ hooves

€€ Some nouns change their vowel sound to form the plurals.

Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
man men foot feet goose geese
mouse mice woman women tooth teeth
€€ Some nouns have irregular plural forms.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
child children person people ox oxen

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€€ Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms.
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
fish fish deer deer sheep sheep
luggage luggage furniture furniture aircraft aircraft
dice dice fruit fruit grass grass

€€ For words like grass, fish and fruit, we use grasses, fishes and fruits when we refer
to more than one type of grass, fish or fruit.
€€ For compound nouns, the plural is formed by adding –s or –es at the end of the word.
Singular Plural Singular Plural
firefighter firefighters tiffin box tiffin boxes
spoonful spoonfuls blackboard blackboards
police officer police officers classroom classrooms
carpark carparks playground playgrounds
textbook textbooks software softwares
€€ For some compound nouns, the plural is formed by adding –s to the more important
word.
Singular Plural Singular Plural
sister-in-law sisters-in-law daughter-in-law daughters-in-law
mother-in-law mothers-in-law son-in-law sons-in-law
grown-up grown-ups passer-by passers-by
commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief father-in-law fathers-in-law
€€ For some nouns, we find plural forms with singular meanings.
´´ news ´´ billiards ´´ politics
´´ physics ´´ athletics ´´ headquarters
€€ With nouns that are always used in the plural form, pair of or pairs of is used. For
example, a pair of trousers, a pair of scissors, a pair of spectacles, a pair of earphones,
two pairs of shorts, three pairs of pyjamas, etc.
A. Write the plural forms of the following words.
1. puppy _______________ 2. news _______________
3. zero _______________ 4. roof _______________

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 5. dice _______________ 6. mouse _______________
7. school _______________ 8. luggage _______________
9. life _______________ 10. tooth _______________
11. church _______________ 12. brush _______________
13. class _______________ 14. tax _______________
15. cliff _______________ 16. person _______________
17. innings _______________ 18. orange _______________
19. sister-in-law _______________ 20. loaf _______________
B. Fill in the blanks with the plural form of the nouns given in the brackets.
1. How many ____________ (child) are there in the library?
2. The Deer Park is full of ____________ (deer).
3. There are three different kinds of ____________ (fish) in the tank.
4. We need to buy some ____________ (fork) and ____________ (knife) from the
market.
5. How many ____________ (person) are there in the hall?
6. I have cavities in two of my ____________ (tooth).
7. The ___________ (policeman) have arrested some notorious ___________ (thief).
8. I saw a gaggle of ____________ (goose) running across the highway.
9. The farmer was grazing the ____________ (sheep) in the field.
10. ____________ (wolf) resemble large dogs.
Read the following sentences:
1. I eat an apple every day.
2. He likes to eat rice.
3. Meera was singing a song.
4. Manish was listening to some music.
5. There is a beach near my house.
6. There is some sand in my shoes.
7. We have got enough cups.
8. We have very little water left in the tank.
In the above sentences, the words in blue colour are countable nouns and the words in
green colour are uncountable nouns.

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 Nouns that can be counted are called countable nouns.
Nouns that cannot be counted are uncountable nouns.

Let us go through a list of some uncountable nouns.

music art love happiness rain news luggage information
advice butter sugar salt wool power money currency
gas cold music travel work scenery leather toothpaste
honey hot hair flour pepper jam cotton electricity
pasta rubber ink traffic tea juice sunshine furniture
Let us have a quick look at how we use countable and uncountable nouns in singular
and plural forms.
€€ A countable noun can be both singular or plural. For example,

´´ I eat an apple every day. ´´ I like apples.

€€ An uncountable noun has only a singular form. For example,

´´ He eats rice every day. ´´ He loves to eat rice.

There are many words and expressions used to express the quantity and the amount of
an uncountable noun. For example, much, many, most, some, any, enough, each, every,
large, big, vast, huge, tiny, small, little, few, a lot of, lots of, plenty of, a great deal of, a large
number of, a bit of, a little, a few, a huge amount, etc.
Now, let us use some of the above-mentioned words in sentences.
´´ There isn’t much jam left in the jar.

´´ I have got lots of friends in Delhi.

´´ There is a little salt in my bottle.

´´ Is there any butter left in the fridge?

C. Write whether the underlined nouns are countable or uncountable.

1. The children are playing basketball. countable
2. I like to have coffee. __________________
3. Teachers work hard to teach children. __________________
4. She has placed the packet of butter on the table. __________________
5. Mother has fixed the handle of the cup with glue. __________________
6. The servers in the restaurant are very efficient. __________________
7. The price of oil has increased. __________________

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 8. Some parents have come to meet the principal. __________________
9. I drank two glasses of water after playing. __________________
10. My sister has apple juice regularly. __________________
Read the following sentences:
1. I have a cup of tea in the morning.
2. Please get me a loaf of bread from the market.
3. Give me a scoop of ice cream.
4. The father slammed the door in a fit of anger.
In the above sentences, the coloured expressions are called partitive nouns.

Partitive nouns are expressions that show a part or quantity of something.

Let us go through a list of partitives with appropriate uncountable nouns.

a fit of anger a work of art a piece of advice a pane of glass
a piece of land a loaf of bread a breath of fresh air a cup of coffee
a lock of hair a game of chess a bit of fun a scoop of ice cream
an article of faith a bar of chocolate a clove of garlic a carton of eggs
a pang of guilt a pang of hunger a blade of grass a block of wood/ice
a pat of butter a lump of coal a jar of honey/jam a glass of juice
a scrap of evidence a speck of dust a glimmer of hope an act of kindness
a drop of blood a morsel of food a sense of humour a piece of land
a peal of laughter a dose of medicine a dab of perfume a pile of rubbish
a flash of lightning a bottle/litre of milk a shower of rain a pinch of salt
a ray of light a piece of music a lump/spoonful of a minute/wall of
sugar silence
a work of literature a coat of paint a bowl of rice a cloud of smoke
a stroke of luck a piece of paper a clap of thunder a ray of sunshine
a feeling of sorrow a game of tennis a sign of respect a grain of truth
a ball of wool a cup of tea a feeling of sorrow a pearl of wisdom
a bowl of soup a gust of wind a day of work a cube of sugar
D. Fill in the blanks with suitable partitive nouns. One has been done for you.
1. I need a cup of coffee as I am tired.
2. Bring me a ____________ of bread from the market.

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 3. There is a ____________ of dirt on your shirt.
4. They won the match because of a ____________ of luck.
5. Give Mother a ____________ of water, she is thirsty.
6. Place the ____________ of rice inside the fridge.
7. Give me a ____________ of paper to write the names.
8. How much does a ____________ of eggs cost?
9. A sparrow is sitting on that ____________ of grass.
10. This is a beautiful ____________ of art.
E. Separate the words given below into countable and uncountable nouns.
sugar pencil butter water chair cash luggage
rice banana honey bottle soup hair air
book snow comb oil rain tea box
Countable Nouns Uncountable Nouns

F. Change the following sentences from plural to singular. Make other changes
wherever required. One has been done for you.
1. The women were working on the grounds.
The woman was working on the ground.
2. Remove the pictures from the walls.
_____________________________________________________________

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 3. The chefs prepared some tasty desserts.

_____________________________________________________________
4. The officers with the armies fought bravely.

_____________________________________________________________
5. The birds have built their nests in the chimneys.

_____________________________________________________________
6. The luggage of the children is placed in the rooms.

_____________________________________________________________
7. The people gave the children presents on their birthdays.

_____________________________________________________________
8. Rita ate strawberries and cherries for her lunch.

_____________________________________________________________
NCF C-4.1, C-4.2

Productivity & Accountability

Act as a young word detective! Your mission is to hunt for singular and plural nouns in
your favourite book!
Your Mission: Set your timer for 10 minutes and open your favourite storybook to any
page. Read the page carefully, looking for singular and plural nouns.
In your notebook, make two columns: Singular and Plural. Try to find at least 5 singular
and 5 plural nouns and write them down in the correct column before the timer goes off!
Bonus Challenge: For each noun you find, write a short sentence using its opposite form
(singular if you found plural, or plural if you found singular).
At the end of your mission, answer these questions in your notebook:
1. How many singular nouns did you find?
2. How many plural nouns did you find?
3. What was the most interesting or unusual word you discovered?
4. Did you complete the bonus challenge? If yes, which sentence was your favourite?

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