The default form of most nouns is singular, meaning there is only one of it,
but those nouns can also be plural to denote any quantity other than one.
Other nouns cannot be quantified, and these are known as uncountable nouns.
Here are Ten Things to Know about Noun Countability and Quantity.
ONE
Plural usually means more than one;
however, fractions are also expressed through the plural form – even fractions less than one.
Nouns following the word ‘zero’ are plural too,
though nouns following the word ‘no’ could be either singular or plural.
TWO
Regular plurals are created when you add an ‘s’ at the end,
though sometimes the base word requires a bit more adjustment.
For example,
words that end with the [s], [z], [sh], [ch], and [x] sounds need an ‘e’ before the final plural ‘s’;
words that end in a consonant then ‘y’ should change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding ‘es’;
and words that end in ‘f’ should change the ‘f’ to a ‘v’ before adding ‘es’.
THREE
Some nouns change more than just their last letters to become plural and might not even end in an ‘s’.
These are called irregular plurals, and their form depends on the language the word originated from.
Examples include ‘children’, ‘mice’, ‘cacti’, and ‘feet’.
FOUR
Determiners can reflect whether the noun that follows is singular or plural.
‘a’/‘an’, ‘this’ and ‘that’, and ‘one’ are used for singular.
‘these’ and ‘those’, most quantifiers, and every numeral except ‘one’ is used for plural.
And ‘the’, all possessives, and most interrogatives could be used either for singular or for plural.
The quantifiers ‘each’, ‘every’, and ‘either’, are unique in that they acknowledge multiple nouns
but are otherwise treated as singular.
For example, you would say “every guest has arrived,” not “every guests have arrived.”
FIVE
Uncountable nouns include abstract or intangible nouns – like ‘love’, ‘intelligence’, or ‘speed’ –
and nouns that are primarily measured by volume or other non-discrete systems
– such as ‘water’, ‘dough’, or ‘sound’.
Some nouns could be expressed as either countable or uncountable depending on the context,
especially foods (like ‘steak’ or ‘cheese’) or materials (like ‘metal’ or ‘paper’).
SIX
The words ‘number’, ‘things’, ‘many’, and ‘fewer’ are associated with countable nouns,
while the corresponding words ‘amount’, ‘stuff’, ‘much’, and ‘less’ are associated with uncountable nouns.
SEVEN
Uncountable nouns behave like singular nouns in two ways:
first, they can be represented by singular pronouns ‘it’, ‘this’, and ‘that’;
second, the verb or helping verb that accompanies an uncountable subject
needs to end in with an ‘s’ for present tenses.
But unlike singular nouns, uncountables can not be coupled with the determiners ‘a’ or ‘an’.
EIGHT
Some words are ever-plurals, meaning they are countable,
but we only ever refer to them in the plural form.
These include words like ‘leftovers’, ‘riches’, and ‘outskirts’,
as well as two-in-one objects like ‘scissors’, ‘pants’, and ‘glasses’.
Even when there’s only one of them, you can’t use the singular form.
So instead of “one scissor is”, you’d have to say “some scissors are”.
Or you could say “one pair of scissors is”, which brings us to…
NINE
When more than one of the same noun are grouped together,
you could either refer to the multiple nouns in the plural form, or refer to the collection in the singular form.
For instance, you could say either “These desserts look delicious”,
or “This assortment of desserts looks delicious”.
In the second sentence, ‘desserts’ is in a prepositional phrase,
so ‘assortment’ is the noun that has the greater effect on the rest of the sentence.
In a similar way, you can refer to a collection of an uncountable noun
– often by a measurement or a container that holds it –
for a countable usage instead of the uncountable usage.
For example, you might say “I’d like some soup, please,” or “I’d like a bowl of soup,” or “I’d like two bowls of soup.”
TEN
Some collective terms are unique to the specific nouns they refer to;
this is particularly common for animal species.
A group of lions is called a ‘pride’, a group of giraffes is called a ‘tower’, and a group of geese is called a ‘gaggle’.
This has been Ten Things to Know about Noun Countability and Quantity.