Professional Documents
Culture Documents
a, an / the
The words a/an and the are "articles". We divide them into
"indefinite" and "definite" like this:
the
an
a, an
the
lunch.
Have you cleaned the car?
James Bond
ordered adrink.
We want to
buy anumbrella.
finish.
Plural Nouns
You may know that a noun identifies a person, place, thing, or idea.
A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea, while a plural noun names
more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
There are a few basic rules to remember when it comes to turning a singular noun into a
plural noun.
1. Most singular nouns need an 's' at the end to become plural.
These are the easy ones. You can just add an 's' to alien, taco, or skateboard, for example,
and you instantly have aliens, tacos, and skateboards.
There's a second rule for nouns that end with certain letters.
2. Singular nouns ending in 's,' 'ss,' 'sh,' 'ch,' 'x,' or 'z' need an 'es' at the end to
become plural.
So, if you have a secretive, alcoholic octopus drinking wine from a glass behind a bush, and
you decide that one of those just isn't enough, you'd have two octopuses drinking from
glasses behind bushes.
The same would be true for a crutch, a box, and a blintz, which would become crutches,
boxes, and blintzes.
Note that some singular nouns ending in 's' or 'z' require that you double the 's' or 'z' before
adding an 'es.' For example, a really bad day might involve you having not one pop quiz, but
two pop quizzes.