The sentence
The sentence The sentence
2. However, when we are ordering coffee etc., we normally treat it as countable: I’d like a coffee, please. Two coffee, please. One coffee and a glass of milk, please. Normally uncountable nouns used as countables (2): ‘oil/a light oil’ Words like oil and plastic for substances and materials are normally uncountable: Oil is produced in the North Sea. We often use a/an with nouns lide this when we are describing them with an adjective: The North Sea produces a light oil which is highly prized in the oil industry. D. Countable and uncountable nouns Singular equivalents of uncountable nouns: ‘bread/ a loaf’ 1. A word like bread is uncountable. If we want ‘one item’, we use a different word: I’d like some bread, please. – I’d like a loaf (of bread), please. 2. Sometimes we have to say exactly what we want. We cannot say *a clothing*, so we ask for a coat, a shirt, etc. In the same way, we cannot say *a luggage*, *an accommodation*. We have to say what we want. We have to say what we want: e.g. a suitcase, a room. Nouns not normally countable in English: ‘information’ 1. A number of nouns, like information, are countable in many languages, but they we uncountable in English. This means we cannot: - use a/an in front of them: I’d like some information, please. (Not *an information*) - give them a plural: I’d like some information, please. (Not *(some) information*) Other examples: advice, clothing, flu, furniture, hair, homework, housework, jewelry, lightning, luggage, meat, money, news, permission, progress, rubbish, scenery, shopping, soap, spaghetti, thunder, toast, traffic, weather. 2. News is plural in form, but takes a singular verb: The news is bad. (Not *the news are*) Hair (that grows on the head) is singular: My hair is long. (Not *the news are*) We use hairs only for individual strands of hair. There are three hairs on my nose. Partitives: ‘a piece of’, etc. 1. We use partitives to refer to: - one item: a loaf of bread - a part of whole: a slice of bread - a collection of tiems: a packet of biscuits 2. The most common partitives are a piece of and (in everyday speech) a bit of: Can I have a piece of bread/bit of bread/two pieces of bread, please? 3. There are partitives which go with some words but not with others. So we can say a slice of bread, a slice of cake, a slice of meat (but not *a slice of soap*). Partitive can be ‘containers’ (a tin of soup) or can refer to small amounts (a drop of rain). 14
E. Number (singular and plural) (1) Nouns with plurals ending in –s or –es: ‘friend’, ‘matches’ 1. We add –s to form the plural of most nouns. We pronounce –s as /s/ after these sounds: /f/ chiefs; /k/ cakes; /p/ taps; /t/ pets; /ø/ months. We pronounce –s as /z/ after these sounds: /b/ verbs; /d/ friends; /g/ bags; /l/ bells; /m/ names; /n/ lessons; / / songs; vowel (a, e, i, o, u) + s: eyes, or vowel sound + r: chairs. 2. We add –es after nouns ending in –o: potato –potatoes; -s: class – classes; -x: box – boxes; -ch: match – matches; -sh: dish – dishes. We do not pronoune e in plurals like: cakes, clothes, tables, names, eyes. We pronounce the plural as /iz/ after these sounds: /z/: noises; /dz/: oranges; /s/: buses; /∫/: dishes; /t∫/: matches; /ks/: boxes. Nouns with plurals ending in –s or –es: ‘countries’, ‘knives’ 1. Consonant (b, c, d, etc.) + -y becomes –ies: country/countries, strawberry/strawberries. 2. Vowel (a, e, o and u) + -y adds an –s: days, keys, boys, guy. Proper nouns (names spelt with a capital letter) ending in –y just add an –s: Have you met the Kennedys? The last four Januarys have been very cold. 3. We change the endings –for –fe into –ves in the plural with the following nouns: calf/calves, half/halves, knife/knives, leaf/leaves, life/lives, loaf/loaves, self/selves, sheaf/sheaves, shelf/shelves, thief/thieves, wife/wives and wolf/wolves. 4. We add –s or –ves to: hoof – hoofs/hooves, scarf – scarfs/scarves 5. We just add –s to: handkerchief/handkerchiefs, roof/roofs. Nouns ending in –o and some irregular plural forms 1. To nouns ending in –o, we add –es: hero – heroes, potato – potatoes, tomato – tomatoes. Or we add –es or –s: cargo – cargoes or cargos, volcano – volcanoes or volcanos. Or we add only –s: bamboons, photos, pianos, radios, solas, videos, zoos. 2. We change the vowels of some nouns to form the plural: foot/feet, goose/geese, man/men, mouse/mice, tooth/teeth, woman/women. And note: child/children, ox/oxen. 3. Some nouns have the same in –ese and –ss have the same singular and plural forms: a Chinese – the Chinese; a Swiss – the Swiss. F. Number (singular and plural) Collective nouns followed by singular or plural verbs: ‘government’ 1. Words like government and family are collective nouns because they refer to groups. 2. We can use singular or plural verbs with nouns like committee, company, family, government and jury: What will you be doing while the family is (or are) on holiday? These words also have regular plurals: Many families are in need of help. 15
- Page 1 and 2: The sentence A: Sentence word order
- Page 3 and 4: Verb + object + ‘to’ + noun or
- Page 5 and 6: Noun clause derived from questions
- Page 7 and 8: 3. In sentences like: Our new secre
- Page 9 and 10: Adverbial clauses of purpose with
- Page 11 and 12: t 2. We sometimes use the past part
- Page 13: Apostrophe s(‘s) or compound noun
- Page 17 and 18: 3. We still have a few male and fem
- Page 19 and 20: Articles A. The indefinite article:
- Page 21 and 22: ‘The’ to refer to things that a
- Page 23 and 24: 2. Zero for: countries (Turkey), st
- Page 25 and 26: C. ‘It’ and ‘one/some/any/non
- Page 27 and 28: 2. Verbs such as get up, sit down,
- Page 29 and 30: Quantity A. Quantifiers + countable
- Page 31 and 32: ‘Not …any’, ‘no’ and ‘n
- Page 33 and 34: ‘None of’ and ‘neither of’
- Page 35 and 36: Adjectives A. Formation of adjectiv
- Page 37 and 38: D. Adjectives after ‘be’, ‘se
- Page 39 and 40: Adverbs A. Adverbs of manner Adverb
- Page 41 and 42: ‘During’, in’ and ‘for’ 1
- Page 43 and 44: F. Intensifiers ‘Very’, ‘too
- Page 45 and 46: 2. If we begin a sentence with a
- Page 47 and 48: B. Prepositions of movement and pos
- Page 49 and 50: D. Particular prepositions, particl
- Page 51 and 52: E. Particular prepositions, particl
- Page 53 and 54: d. Please put these dishes away. (a
- Page 55 and 56: 4. There are five groups of stative
- Page 57 and 58: 4. Repeated actions with e.g. alway
- Page 59 and 60: G. The simple future tense Some use
- Page 61 and 62: The future-in-the-past Sometimes we
- Page 63 and 64: Be, Have, Do A. ‘Be’ as a full
2. However, when we are ordering coffee etc., we normally treat it as countable:<br />
I’d like a coffee, please. Two coffee, please. One coffee and a glass of milk, please.<br />
Normally uncountable nouns used as countables (2): ‘oil/a light oil’<br />
Words like oil and plastic for substances and materials are normally uncountable:<br />
Oil is produced in the North Sea.<br />
We often use a/an with nouns lide this when we are describing them with an adjective:<br />
<strong>The</strong> North Sea produces a light oil which is highly prized in the oil industry.<br />
D. Countable and uncountable nouns<br />
Singular equivalents of uncountable nouns: ‘bread/ a loaf’<br />
1. A word like bread is uncountable. If we want ‘one item’, we use a different word:<br />
I’d like some bread, please. – I’d like a loaf (of bread), please.<br />
2. Sometimes we have to say exactly what we want. We cannot say *a clothing*, so we ask for<br />
a coat, a shirt, etc. In the same way, we cannot say *a luggage*, *an accommodation*. We<br />
have to say what we want. We have to say what we want: e.g. a suitcase, a room.<br />
Nouns not normally countable in English: ‘information’<br />
1. A number of nouns, like information, are countable in many languages, but they we<br />
uncountable in English. This means we cannot:<br />
- use a/an in front of them: I’d like some information, please. (Not *an information*)<br />
- give them a plural: I’d like some information, please. (Not *(some) information*)<br />
Other examples: advice, clothing, flu, furniture, hair, homework, housework, jewelry,<br />
lightning, luggage, meat, money, news, permission, progress, rubbish,<br />
scenery, shopping, soap, spaghetti, thunder, toast, traffic, weather.<br />
2. News is plural in form, but takes a singular verb: <strong>The</strong> news is bad. (Not *the news are*)<br />
Hair (that grows on the head) is singular: My hair is long. (Not *the news are*)<br />
We use hairs only for individual strands of hair. <strong>The</strong>re are three hairs on my nose.<br />
Partitives: ‘a piece of’, etc.<br />
1. We use partitives to refer to:<br />
- one item: a loaf of bread<br />
- a part of whole: a slice of bread<br />
- a collection of tiems: a packet of biscuits<br />
2. <strong>The</strong> most common partitives are a piece of and (in everyday speech) a bit of:<br />
Can I have a piece of bread/bit of bread/two pieces of bread, please?<br />
3. <strong>The</strong>re are partitives which go with some words but not with others. So we can say<br />
a slice of bread, a slice of cake, a slice of meat (but not *a slice of soap*).<br />
Partitive can be ‘containers’ (a tin of soup) or can refer to small amounts (a drop of rain).<br />
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