Nouns and number

All nouns are either singular or plural in number. A singular noun refers to one person, place, thing, or idea and requires a singular verb, while a plural noun refers to more than one person, place, thing, or idea and requires a plural verb.

Forming plural nouns

Many English plural nouns can be formed by adding -s or -es to the singular form, although there are also many exceptions.

cat→cats

These two cats are both black.

Note the plural verb are.

tax→taxes

house→houses

Countable nouns vs. uncountable nouns

Concrete and abstract common nouns can be further classified as either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted, even if the resulting number would be extraordinarily high (like the number of humans in the world). Countable nouns can be singular or plural and can be used with numbers and modifiers like a/an, the, some, any, a few, and many.

Here is a cat.

Here are a few cats.

Here are eight cats.

Uncountable nouns, or mass nouns, are nouns that are impossible to count, whether because they name intangible concepts (e.g., information, animal husbandry, wealth), collections of things that are considered as wholes (e.g., jewelry, equipment, the working class), or homogeneous physical substances (e.g., milk, sand, air). Although most of these nouns are singular in form, because they refer to things that can’t be isolated and counted on their own, they are never used with the singular indefinite article a or an. Singular concrete uncountable nouns can often be expressed in countable units by adding a countable noun like piece (with of). On their own, uncountable nouns can be modified by the definite article, the, or indefinite adjectives like some.

They’d love to rent some property around here.

They’d love to rent a piece of property around here.

Students don’t seem to have much homework these days.

Could you help me move the furniture into the other room?