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Number in English Grammar With Examples PDF
Number in English Grammar With Examples PDF
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Hello Readers, today in this new lesson of English grammar, we will be going to learn What
is Number in English Grammar, and Types of the number, and also see how to change from
Singular to Plural number and Plural to Singular number. So let's start with the Definition of
Number. To download the lesson in PDF format, please find the downloadable link attached
below in the article.
Definition of Number:
The number is a grammatical category of pronouns, nouns, adjectives, and verb agreement
for expressing count distinctions.
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In simpler terms, it's meant to show whether the object of discussion is one or more than
one. Where the object is one, the number is referred to as singular and where it's more than
one it becomes plural.
Types of Number:
There are basically two types of Number, and that is singular and plural.
While singular refers to a single count of a pronoun or noun, plural refers to a count of more
than one pronoun or noun.
Examples include:
Kid – kids.
Wife – Wives.
Chair – Chairs.
Father – Fathers.
Child – Children.
The first column of words represents a singular number, while the second column
represents a plural number.
Personal pronouns [External Link] have their own inflexion for a number that determines
whether they're singular or plural. Most commonly, only the personal pronouns in the first
and third person have a plural form. For the second person pronoun, only the reflexive
pronoun yourself has a plural form, yourselves.
Examples in a sentence:
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For nouns, the rules are as follows:
Rule 1: Adding an “s” at the end of the noun or pronoun.
This is the simplest of the rules, where you simply add an “s” at the end of the word and
that’s it.
Examples include:
Rule 2: Where the pronoun or noun ends with an s, sh, ch, x or z, you add an “es” to
make it plural.
Examples include:
Rule 3: Where the noun ends with a “ch”, but the “ch” is pronounced as a “k” you
simply add an “s” instead of an “es”.
Examples Includes:
Rule 4: Where the noun ends with a “y” that’s preceded by a consonant, you replace
the “y” with an “i” before adding an “es”.
Examples include:
Rule 5: Where the noun ends with a “y” that’s preceded by a vowel instead of a
consonant, you add an “s” at the end.
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Examples include:
Rule 6: Where the noun or pronoun ends with an “f” or “fe”, you simply replaces the
“f” or “fe” with a “v” before adding an “es”.
Examples Include:
Rule 7: Where the noun ends with an “o” that’s preceded by a consonant, you simply
add an “es” to make it plural.
Examples include:
Exception 1
Of course, there are a few exceptions to this rule. At times, a word may end with an “o” that’s
preceded by a consonant, but fail to follow the rule. These nouns can only be pluralized by
adding an “s” at the end instead and they include words such as photo, piano, radio, memo,
and canto – all of which require only an “s” at the end to change to plural form (e.g. photos,
pianos, radios, memos, and cantos).
Exception 2
Some nouns that end with an “o” that’s preceded by a consonant, you have the option to
either add an “s” or “es” at the end of the word and still be grammatically correct.
Examples include:
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Rule 8: Where the noun ends with an “o” that’s preceded by a vowel instead of a
consonant, you simply add an “s” to pluralize it.
Examples include:
Rule 9: Some nouns will require you to change the middle vowel to pluralize them.
Examples include:
Rule 10: Some nouns can be pluralized by adding an “en”, “ren”, or “no” at the end.
Verb Agreement:
The subject-verb agreement can be defined as the number of agreement between subject
and verb. Which is to say that both of them have to be either in singular or plural form to be
grammatically correct.
Speaking of which, in the present tense, verbs form their plural in the opposite way as nouns.
So instead of adding an "s" at the end to pluralize them, you add it to make them singular.
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Examples in a sentence:
This is all about Number in English Grammar, I hope you are able to understand the lesson
if you still have any doubts please feel free to comment down below.
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