1. Nouns denoting parts of the body: bowels, tonsils, entrails: His bowels are very sensitive. 2.

Nouns denoting states of mind: hysterics, blues, spirits: High spirits are always appreciated, while hysterics are not at all valued. 3. Proper names in the plural: the Highlands, the Alps, the Netherlands: The Alps are very high mountains. 4. Nouns derived from adjectives: valuables, goods, perishables, the rich, the poor, the needy, the dead.

Collective Nouns are used either with a sg or with a pl verb: army, audience, committee, community, company, council, crew, enemy, family, flock, gaggle ( of geese), gang, government, group, herd, jury, navy, press, public, staff, team, etc

My family is large. (as a whole) My family are at home. (members)

Nouns that have the same form for both sg and pl:

some countable nouns have the same plural and singular form. The most common ones are nouns ending in s/-es:: crossroads, headquarters, means, series, species, works (= factory, factories)

This crossroads is really dangerous for cyclists. OR The crossroads of Budapest are always busy.

This is a busy crossroads. There are several crossroads here.

This means of communication is expensive. OR These means of communication are expensive.

There is a useful means of accomplishing this.

There are several means of accomplishing this.

There is a new Brazilian series on TV. OR There are new series every day.

I am interested in this species of fish. These species of fish are very rare.

The corporation's headquarters are in Boston. Division headquarters has approved the new benefits package. (when reference is to authority rather than to physical location, many people prefer the singular)

- animal names: fruit, fish, sheep, deer, salmon, trout,

His favourite was a big, white sheep. The sheep were grazing in the field.

With some of these nouns, we use THE PLURAL to denote different species or individuals: We studied all the fishes of the Atlantic.

nationalities ending in -ese: Chinese, Japanese, Purtuguese, etc

A Chinese was looking at us. The two Chinese were looking at us.

nouns denoting measurement, quantity, number: dozen, hundred, million, score, stone:

One dozen eggs/ A hundred of people is enough. Two dozen eggs/ Three hundred of people are enough.

Nouns coming from Latin and Greek:

stratum-strata, larva-larvae, datum-data, criterion-criteria, phenomenon-phenomena, curriculum curricula, basis-bases, crisis-crises