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Writing Essays is Easy! (Part A)

Many students are terrified at the thought of writing an essay. How do I begin? What do I say?
How do I write a good conclusion? These and other questions crowd the mind!

Yet writing an essay is easy, once you know the correct method to use.

First of all let us understand the structure of an essay. It will be easier if we think of an essay as
being like the human body.

Paragraph1
Head and neck
(introduction, including
thesis statement)

Paragraph 2

----------------------------------
Paragraph 3
----------------------------------
Body and arms Paragraph 4
(Body of the essay
where your points
are developed.)
_Pa_ ra__gra_ph _5__

Legs and feet

(Conclusion)

The introductory paragraph is like the head and neck of the body. In its final sentence we state the
two or three main points that we intend to make in our essay. This sentence is called the essay’s
thesis statement. Just as the neck joins the head to the human body, the thesis statement links the
introduction to the rest of the essay, letting the reader know what to what to expect and so making
it much easier for him or her to follow the essay’s explanation or argument.

Now already you can guess what to do in the body of the essay, can’t you?
Write your guess here____________________________________________________

We simply use the essay’s three body paragraphs to develop each of the points that we made in our
thesis statement. Of course, we must develop our points with the use of examples. So think of the
arms as the examples we should bring in, to strengthen our points.

Now, note that the body of a human being is much larger than the head. In the same way, the body
of the essay, where we develop our points, needs to be at least three times longer than the
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introductory paragraph. (Some students spend most of the first page of an essay on the
introductory paragraph, leaving themselves insufficient time to develop their points fully in the
body of the essay. Don’t fall into that trap!)

At the end of the essay (where the legs are in the human body), we write a concluding paragraph,
summing up and bringing out the significance of our main points. Unlike the human legs, the
concluding paragraph need not be long…

Let us apply this method to planning an actual essay, representing an essay in diagrammatic form,
now. The topic of the essay is: “Discuss two or three ways in which loss of life and property from
hurricanes may be lessened.”

The first thing we do is to jot down briefly our thoughts regarding the two or three main points and
one or two supporting points and examples for each main point we want to make. We quickly jot
these down next to each of the body paragraphs of the essay. Notice that we ignore the
introduction and conclusion at this stage.

1
Introduction – para 1
------------------------------
thesis statement
2
--→ Prepare thoroughly before hurricane season
⎯ Clean out all gullies and drains so that water can run freely
Body paragraph instead of flooding houses. eg: effects of Ivan, of storms last year.
⎯ Fix roofs of public buildings – schools, health centers, etc.
3 --→ Have a strict building code, and enforce it!
⎯ No buildings to be erected in flood - prone areas – eg housing
Body paragraph estate in St. Catherine - community by the sea (Portland cottage.)
―People will protest moving so better to prevent building in
4 hazardous areas
--→ Encourage persons to use shelters, by
Body paragraph ―stocking shelters with foodstuffs
⎯ Having police patrol evacuated areas to protect the property
5 of persons who have left for shelters - many persons are afraid
Concluding paragraph their houses will be looted.
⎯ Make it known in advance that these two measures will be taken

After reviewing the points you have written down, you will realize that it is much easier to write
your thesis statement. For instance, in this case we could write: Loss of lives and damage to
property from hurricanes could be considerably lessened by enforcing a strict building code,
cleaning gullies and drains and doing repairs to public buildings in advance of the hurricane
season, and taking measures to encourage people to use shelters.
Notice that we have decided to shift the order of the paragraphs, stating the building code point
first since this measure would have to be implemented first in time, then the cleaning of gullies and
drains and repairs to buildings prior to the hurricane season, and finally, shortly before the season,
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comes the encouragement to use shelters. By writing your points in this order, your essay will have
a logical flow.

As you can see, we now know where we are going! We have a rough plan for our essay, and the
main points we will argue are condensed into a single sentence, our thesis statement.

It becomes so much easier, now to write the essay. First we write a simple introduction. For
example: During the past two years Jamaica has been hit by hurricane Ivan, the storm Emily and
several less intense storms and low-pressure systems. The high winds and flooding which
accompanied such weather systems have caused loss of lives and immense and costly damage to
Jamaica and several other Caribbean islands. Much of the damage is still to be repaired, yet
meteorologists have warned that the Atlantic is likely to experience an increased number of
hurricanes each summer during the next thirty years. This is a matter of great concern to us in the
Caribbean. However, the loss of lives and damage to property from hurricanes could be
considerably lessened by enforcing a strict building code, cleaning gullies and drains and doing
repairs to public buildings in advance of the hurricane season, and taking measures to encourage
people to use shelters.

Do you see how the thesis statement has been incorporated as the final sentence of the introductory
paragraph?

(You can improve your thesis statements and introductions by reading your textbook,
Fundamentals of English, p 13-15 and 18-20.)

After writing our introduction we simply consult our essay plan and write about each of our main
points, using a separate body paragraph for each one.

At the end we summarize the essence of what we have been saying. We don’t simply repeat our
thesis statement! We need to express ourselves in a fresh manner. For instance, we could end by
saying: At present most of our hurricane preparations tend to be done in a rush, just before the
season begins. It is now clear, however, that effective hurricane preparation must be a year -
round activity. Most of the measures proposed above will need to be taken well in advance of each
hurricane season; indeed, a building code can only be enforced through consistent monitoring.
Yet, as the old proverb reminds us, a stitch in time saves nine!

(Fundamentals of English p 30-31 will help you to write better conclusions.)

Activity: Now, select one of the Writing Assignments A-E on page 17 of your textbook, and write
on the following page, beside the diagram, an essay plan and below it a thesis statement for your
topic, using the method we have demonstrated.
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Para 1- Introduction My Essay Plan

⎯ Thesis Statement
Para 2

-----------------------------
Para 3

------------------------------
Para 4

Conclusion

Thesis Statement:

________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Now write an introductory paragraph, placing your thesis statement as its final sentence:

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________

Finally, write your concluding paragraph.

_______________________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________

Week 1 Essay Assignment: Write the essay set by your tutor, using the above method.

Please write below, your thoughts about the above Section. Was it clear, easy to understand, or
difficult? Was it interesting or boring? Was it helpful to you or not? Were there any particular parts
of it that were not clear? – if so, please state which parts. Please do this at the end of every
Section….

My Thoughts about this Section

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Revising Parts of Speech

1) Nouns: words that name persons, places, things or qualities, eg: child, country, bottle, justice.

Proper nouns: the names of particular persons, places or things, example: Julette, Jamaica, Island
Spice Seasonings.

2) Pronouns: words that stand in place of nouns, example: George – pronoun he, flower – it,
Sandra and Sam – they, etc.

3) Adjectives: words that describe nouns, example: a turbulent sea, an attractive outfit, etc.
(Limiting adjectives: eg: a, and the, are also called articles.

4) Prepositions: connecting words that show the relationships between persons or objects,
example: below the farm, after dinner, towards my goal, beside the table.

5) Verbs: words that describe actions, or states of being, eg: the athlete runs, the student wrote
(actions), I am happy, she seems well (states of being).

6) Adverbs: words that describe how actions are performed, eg: the
athlete runs swiftly, the clock struck loudly, I chat happily.

7) Conjunctions: link words or groups of words, eg: I walk down the steps and across the car
park; she studies but reluctantly.

8) Interjections: words used to express sudden emotion, or to catch the reader’s attention, eg:
Oh! No! Cho! Ouch!

Write down your own examples

Six nouns:____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Four proper nouns: ___________________________________________
Four pronouns: ___________________________________________________________
Four adjectives: ___________________________________________________________
Five prepositions: ________________________________________________________
Five action verbs and one verb of being: _______________________________________
Six adverbs: _____________________________________________________________
Four conjunctions: ________________________________________________________
Three interjections: ___________________________________________
Two limiting adjectives (articles): _______________________________
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Now write 4 sentences. In each sentence underline the noun and the verb.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Write the same 4 sentences, adding an adjective to describe the noun and an adverb to describe
how the action was done.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Choose two of your four sentences and re-write them, substituting
pronouns for their nouns.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Link two sentences with a conjunction.

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Write two sentences using prepositions.

_______________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Sentences, Subjects and Predicates

A simple sentence expresses a complete thought. Sentences can be very brief, eg: Jesus wept.
Birds fly. Come! They can also be very long and complicated. However, every sentence must have
a subject and a predicate. The subject is the person, place, thing or quality we are talking about (a
noun or pronoun). It can be one or many persons, places or things. Jesus was one person; birds are
many; in the sentence ‘Come!’ the subject ‘you’ is understood – it may refer to one person or
many.
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Let us look at how another text explains this. It says:
In simple sentences the subject comes first and the predicate next. The predicate tells something
that the subject does, did or will do or is, was or will be.
Look at the following simple sentence:
The boys play football.
What is the subject? The boys
What is the predicate? Play football
Note that everything which is not the subject, is the predicate.
In the following sentences underline the subject once and put the predicate in parentheses. The first
one is done for you.
1. College students (have to study English.)
2. Technology is an interesting field.
3. Some people like swimming early.
4. Sharon likes swimming late.
5. I take a shower every day.
The predicate of the simple sentence must have a verb alone or a verb followed by other words.
In examples 1-4 the predicate is the verb alone.
1. The musicians performed.
2. Henry smiles.
3. Our dog bites.
4. Nothing helps.
5. The building shakes.
Usually the verb of a predicate is followed by other words….
6. This milk is cold.
7. The job seems easy.
8. These problems are difficult.
9. Marsha is hungry….

(An English Workshop, by Monica E. Taylor p13-14)

Underline the subjects and circle the predicates in the following sentences.

1. Tail lights glow in the dark as the line of cars wait at the busy border crossing.
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2. Tourism lures foreign investors but the country does not really benefit from their presence.
3. Here dreams collide and converge but really come to fruition.
4. Nostalgia is a necessary condition of exile.
5. The peninsula sticks out like a sore thumb….

(Language Proficiency for Tertiary Level, by Paula Morgan, p126)

Phrases and Clauses

Phrases
Phrases are groups of related words that do not contain a complete verb. They do not express a
complete thought… eg
my brand new car the sad old horse over the wall around the block
playing the fool buying the book

Clauses
Clauses are groups of related words that do contain a complete verb.
Independent clauses express a complete thought and can stand by themselves as sentences.
Subordinate or dependent clauses serve as part of a sentence but do not express a complete
thought and cannot stand by themselves…
Independent clauses: the weather was warm and dry
John got free tickets to the play
They took the wrong road
(As you can see, these independent clauses could be sentences – they make sense by themselves.)
Subordinate clauses: by the time June arrived
because he works at the theatre
when they came to the turn
(These dependent clauses do not make sense by themselves. They cannot stand on their own as
sentences. Yet, if we link them with independent clauses we can easily create complete sentences.)

Complete Sentences: By the time June arrived, the weather was warm and dry.
John got free tickets to the play, because he works at the theatre.
When they came to the turn, they took the wrong road.

(Essentials of English Grammar, by L. Sue Baugh p 51-52)

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Communicating Clearly: Our most Important Writing Achievement

The reason why human language developed was to allow persons to communicate their thoughts
and feelings to each other. If we don’t achieve this, then there is really no purpose in speaking, is
there? And the same is true when we write. If our reader ends up confused, it is as if we haven’t
reached first base in our game of rounders! The most brilliant ideas are of no use if they are
misunderstood, or if no one can understand them at all, don’t you agree?
Look at the following sentence:

Brazil has won the Football World Cup several times because of its team’s coach it will
not win it again.

The meaning of the sentence above is far from clear. In fact, it can have two opposite meanings,
depending on where you decide to place a full stop which has been accidentally omitted by the
writer. Re-write the sentence, placing a full stop so that it becomes two clear, meaningful
sentences. Then do it again, shifting the full stop so that you have two clear sentences again, but
with an opposite meaning!

1. _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Congratulations if you were able to create four clear sentences, the first two and the second two
having opposite meanings. Now do you see how important it is to place full stops, question signs
and exclamation signs (signs that we call end marks, for they come at the end of each sentence) in
the correct places, so as to make our meaning clear? Some persons omit end marks altogether;
others put them in the wrong places, and others again write commas instead of end marks. But a
comma simply indicates a brief pause during the expression of a thought whereas an end mark
indicates the end of a thought, so putting a comma instead of a full stop can cause great confusion!
By the way, the four sentences that you should have written above were:
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1) Brazil has won the Football world cup several times because of its team’s coach. It will not
win it again.
2) Brazil has won the Football World Cup several times. Because of its team’s coach, it will
not win it again.

Run-on Sentences and Fused Sentences

Now, correct the following short passages so that they make sense. A simple sentence should
contain only one complete thought, so if the writer is running on from thought to thought using
only commas to separate them (we call these run-on sentences) or using no punctuation at all
(these are called fused sentences), then you will need to put an end mark whenever you see that a
thought ends. This is easiest to accomplish correctly if you read the passage aloud. Once you
understand it, place the end marks where you think they should go. Then read it again, being
careful to stop at each end mark, before continuing your reading. If the passage makes clear sense
to you, then you have probably done it correctly!

1. Representatives of the Jamaican Police Federation walked out of the wage negotiations
with officials of the Ministry of Finance and Planning yesterday the government made
them no new wage offer for the contact period 2004 to 2006.

2. Joshua Hanson was born in Manchester, he has been farming for more than 22 years.

3. When they arrived at the camp site they were shocked by what they saw the cabin had been
totally destroyed by the storm.

4. Commissioner Forbes returned to the island earlier this week, he announced that the police
and the military had collaborated to capture one of Jamaica’s most wanted criminals.

(Did you remember to change the common letter to a capital letter at the beginning of the word
following your end mark?)
(An English Workshop, p 59-61)
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Fused Sentences
A.) Identify the eight fused sentences in the following student passage: place a full stop or
comma where it should go.

Being environmentally conscious does not mean simply joining in demonstrations it does not mean
to expensive banquets and concerts to raise funds for various causes it does not mean buying
products only for companies which are environmentally friendly. It is the small changes in lifestyle
that really make the difference. Each individual and family and community needs to make the
effort to conserve and preserve the environment in every possible way everyone can practice
recycling. It does not take much effort to separate garbage for recycling purposes and it can also
mean a small additional income for the household. Instead of throwing everything out, family
members can recycle by turning something old into something useful soft drink bottles can be
turned into planters worn fabric can be turned into rugs and quilts coconut fibre and branches and
shells can be turned into brooms, mats and creative decorations. The family can develop an
environmentally responsible lifestyle we can save the environment and save money we may not
save a large sum by each effort but every little bit adds up over the long haul.

If you wish to know more about this topic, see L.P.T.L. by P. Morgan, chap 8,
session 3, p319-327

Sentence Fragments
We have looked at long sentences whose meaning is confused because they contain more than one
thought and these thoughts are not properly separated by end marks. But there are also cases
where what is written is meaningless because we have written only a piece of a thought.
Look at the words below for instance. Do they make up a complete thought?
1. Although she ran as fast as she could
2. Whether or not I like it
If you answered no, they do not make a complete thought, you are correct!
In the case of 1, we are left asking what happened although she ran as fast as she could? In the case
of 2, the reader must wonder what is it that is going to happen whether or not I like it? These
words do not make up complete thoughts, therefore. And since a sentence must contain a complete
thought, they are only parts of sentences, not complete sentences. We call them sentence
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fragments. But we can make them into complete sentences by adding further meaningful words
either before or following the ones given. Please do this now.
1.)

2.)

Now, read the section of your Textbook, Fundamentals of English, entitled Sentence Fragments (p
48-49), and below, write the sentences from the Exercise on p49, changing them so that they will
make sense. Sometimes you will have to add words to complete a thought and therefore create a
sentence. But at other times all you need to do is to remove the full stop which separates the
independent clause, which makes sense on its own, from the dependent clause, which doesn’t.
Sometimes you will need to substitute a comma for the full stop, and at other times you won’t.
Remember, the most important thing is that what you write will now make sense!

PS when you remove a full stop you will also remember to remove the capital letter, which follows
it, won’t you?

Now read your textbook, p 48-50 and do the exercise below:

a.)

b.)

c.)

d.)

e.)

f.)

g.)

h.)

i.)

j.)

k.)

Here is more practice with sentence fragments. Each word group in the student paragraph below is
numbered. In the space provided, write C if a word group is a complete sentence; write F if it is a
fragment. You will find seven fragments in the paragraph.
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A Disastrous First Date

1. ________ My first date with Donna was a disaster. 2 I decided to take her to a
2. ________ small Italian restaurant. 3 That my friends told me had
3. ________ reasonable prices. 4I looked over the menu and realized I could
4. ________ not pronounce the names of the dishes. 5Such as ‘veal picante’ and
5. ________ ‘fettucini Alfredo’. 6Then I noticed a burning smell. 7The candle on the
6. ________ table was starting to blacken. 8And scorch the back of my menu.
7. ________ 9Trying to be casual, I quickly poured half my glass of water onto the
8. ________ menu. 10When the waiter returned to our table. 11He asked me if I
9. ________ wanted to order some wine. 12I ordered a bottle of Blue Nun. 13The only
10. ________ wine that I had heard of and could pronounce. 14The waiter brought the
11. ________ wine, poured a small amount into my glass, and waited. 15I said, “You
12. ________ don’t have to stand there. We can pour the wine ourselves.” 16After
13. ________ the waiter put down the wine bottle and left. 17Donna told me I was
14. ________ supposed to taste the wine. 18Feeling like a complete fool. 19I managed
15. ________ to get through dinner. 20However, for weeks afterward, I felt like
16. ________ jumping out of a tenth- story window.
17. ________
18. ________
19. ________
20. ________ (Source: UC010 past course documents)

Assignment: On separate paper, correct the fragments you have found. Attach each fragment to
the sentence that comes before or after it, or make whatever change is needed to turn the fragment
into a sentence. Hand it in inside this workbook at the end of week 1.

Sentence Fragments because of missing Verbs

When speaking Creole or Jamaican Patois it is normal for us to sometimes leave out a verb, or
part of the verb in a sentence. Look at the Creole sentences below, and fill in the missing verb.

1. Students in the Junior Secondary system performing better each year.

_________________________________________________________
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2. The underpaid teachers very busy with more tasks than they can accomplish.
_________________________________________________________

Determine which of these word groups contain sentence fragment errors and correct
them to form complete sentences.
1. Packed to capacity with old documents and other flammable material. The
parliament building was a fire hazard.
2. Although the grass looks greener on the other side. I prefer to take my chances here.
3. Streaks of lightening, peals of thunder and buckets of rain.
4. Especially when the temperature soars in the middle of the dry season.
5. The Dole Chadee murder trial was momentous in Caribbean common law.
6. Kamal and Fiona running around town and charging exorbitant bills to the company
account.
7. Feting and wining, the national pastimes.
8. The Mighty Sparrow one of my favourite calypsonians. He sang Í am A Slave”
when he was a very young man.
9. Though they visited the botanical gardens and enjoyed the popular beaches for
which the islands are famous.
10. To visit the island at that time of year and not to participate in the national festival.

(Language Proficiency for Tertiary Level, by Paula Morgan, p299-300 & 308-9)

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Nouns: Talking about One thing, and More than One

Nouns are very important words in any language, for they are words that give names to persons,
places and things. The first words a baby says are nouns: “Dada”, “Mama”, “baba”, or “baby”.
Simple words like ball and dog are nouns; so are more sophisticated words like ‘computer’,
‘anthropologist’, ‘prefix’ and ‘indictment’. Nouns also name qualities like freedom, evil, character
and beauty.

Nouns are easy to spot. If you can write ‘the’ before a word and it makes sense, then it is a noun.
This works for all nouns except Proper nouns – the names of particular persons (eg: Kimone),
animals (Ruff) or places (Port Antonio), for days of the week and months of the year, and for some
uncountable nouns.

Nouns can refer to either one thing or person, or more than one. When it refers to one we say it is
singular, in number. When it refers to more than one we say it is plural. What we need to know as
Creole speakers, is that the English method of referring to more than one person or thing is
different from the Creole method. Look at the following examples.

Creole English
De guinep dem The guineps
Those church Those churches
Some leaf Some leaves
A whole heap a pickney A lot of children
Five University Five universities

How do we show in Creole, that we are referring to more than one guinep, church and so on? We
do so by adding words like ‘dem’ (them), ‘those’, ‘five’, ‘some’, and ‘a whole heap’, which show
clearly that we are referring to more than one. However in Creole or Patois the noun itself does not
change. So the Creole grammar rule is: when referring to more than one person or thing we leave
the noun as it is, and add a word or phrase to indicate that more than one is being referred to.

Now, how do we show in English, that we are referring to more than one? We do so by changing
the noun itself. Look again: we have written ‘guineps’, ‘churches’, ‘universities’, ‘leaves’ and
‘children’. The English grammar rule is: when referring to more than one person or thing, we
change the noun itself, either by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’ to the end of the noun or by altering the
noun in another way. The noun must almost always be changed, even if other words are also
present to indicate more than one.

Once we are clear on the difference between Creole and English, we have only to learn the various
ways in which nouns are altered in English, to refer to more than one. The Caribbean author, Merle
Hodge, explains the English forms very simply and clearly, in her book, The Knots in English.
Read her explanation, re-printed below:

‘Nouns and pronouns can refer to either one thing or person, or more than one. Here we will
concentrate on nouns. When a noun refers to one thing or person, we say that it is singular in
number. When a noun refers to more than one thing or person, we say that it is plural in number.
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In English the normal way of showing that a noun is plural is to put an s on the end of it:

singular: year plural: years

The s ending is a plural marker.

When the noun stands bare (without an s added to it), the noun is singular – usually.

Exercise – C.1
Identify singular and plural nouns in the following sentences (underline each noun and write an s
or a p above the word to indicate singular or plural):.

(a) The sink was full of dirty dishes and nobody wanted to wash them.
(b) In response to the pressure of public opinion, they have submitted another
report.
(c) The child climbed onto counters, pulled things off shelves and ran around the
legs of customers.
(d) And perched upon the centre-table, pretending to be an ornament, was a large
overfed ginger cat with a collar around its neck.
(e) There will be food, drinks, games, and above all, music.

C2. Different ways of adding s

1. For most English nouns you simply add an s to make the plural. This is not so for all nouns,
however.

Study the following patterns in order to avoid spelling problems.

2. Words ending with sh, ch, x, s

Look at these words:

bush, church, tax, bus.

Try simply adding an s to each. How will you now pronounce the word?
You can’t – it’s too awkward. You need another sound in between:

bushes, churches, taxes, buses.

How will you know when to add es?

You add es for the plural if the noun ends with any of these: sh, ch, x, s.

wish ditch box thermos

lash coach reflex kiss
brush bench hoax chorus
leash clutch sex business
dish porch fox mass
On the other hand, do not add es when you don’t have to. These are wrong:
X clockes, numberes, wordes
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3. Words ending with o

3.1 You also put es onto most words which end with o:

mango – mangoes
potato – potatoes
hero – heroes

3.2 But there are others to which you simply add the s:

piano – pianos
photo – photos pimento – pimentos
radio - radios
When in doubt, use the dictionary.

4.Words ending with y

When words end with y and you have to add an s, be on your guard.

4.1 If there is a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) right before the y, then there is no problem. You
simply add the s:

bay – bays
monkey – monkeys
toy – toys
guy – guys

4.2 But if the letter before the y is a consonant, then you have to do something different.
When the y follows a consonant, this y is a separate syllable.

Look at these words:

baby – babies
study – studies
country – countries
uncertainty – uncertainties
spy – spies

What has happened here?

First we changed the y at the end of the word into an i.

Then we add es.
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4.3 Practise with these nouns. Take off the y and add ies to make them plural:

gallery lady
enemy gully
dolly nursery
twenty fly
difficulty story

4.4 Then make these plural:

joy alley
way decoy
donkey pulley
buoy holiday
tray storey

5. Words ending with f, fe

5.1 In some (not all) words ending with f or fe, you have to change the f to v to make the
plural ending.

In these words the plural ending is ves:

knife – knives calf – calves shelf – shelves

wife – wives half – halves loaf – loaves
life – lives self – selves thief - thieves

5.2 BUT: roofs, beliefs, safes, puffs

When in doubt, use the dictionary.

C2 Practice
Write out the plural forms of the following nouns:

(a) decoy, match, possibility, leaf, beach

(b) stitch, dictionary, chief, dish, party.
(c) highway, wharf, company, fax, family
(d) holiday,loss,assembly,scarf,class
(e) cliff,patch,attorney,wolf,copy
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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C3 Other Plural Forms

1. Some nouns follow different rules, adding neither s nor es for the plural. Some
nouns have a different plural marker, and some have no plural marker at all.

2. Words from Latin and Greek

Some nouns which come from Latin and Greek change their endings as in Latin
and Greek:

criterion – criteria crisis – crises

medium – media index – indices
stimulus – stimuli alumna – alumnae

2.1 Some words like these have two plurals. For example the pural of medium
can be either media or mediums.
2.2 Some foreign words have regular English plurals only, e.g. virus – viruses

3. Plural ending en

A few nouns add en for the plural

ox – oxen
child – children

4. Internal change

In some nouns the plural is not shown by an ending. Instead, a change takes inside the
word:

tooth – teeth
foot – feet
man – men
woman – women
mouse – mice

5. No change

A few others remain the same whether singular or plural.

deer – deer
sheep – sheep
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species –species

6. No singular

People, police and cattle are some commonly used nouns which ae plural but have no s
ending and no singular form.
For the singular of people we have to use person, man, or woman.
For the singular of police we use police officer, policeman or policewoman.
For the singular of cattle we must name the individual animal: cow, bull, heifer, etc.

NB. When the word people means “nation” or “race”, it has a plural form – peoples:

The peoples of the world.

Based on the lists given below, write sentences turning all nouns into the plural, and all
plural nouns into the singular. Beware! Some of these nouns have regular plurals, some
have irregular plurals and some have two plurals. You will need to use the dictionary.

(a) campus, synopsis, phenomena, focus, geese

(b) memorandum, people, basis, cactus, formulae
(c) stadium, analyses, metamorphosis, curricula, chorus
(d) larvae, nucleus, syllabus, symposia, appendix
(e) lice, hypothesis, electron, fishermen, antenna

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(The Knots in English, pp49-55 and p56-57)

Assignment: Practice writing, using the English plural form of nouns. Write half a page
below on ‘The things I love most’. Name at least five things you love and say what it is
that makes them appealing to you. Write about all the things you love in the plural form,
whether it is blue skies or world cup football matches.

The Things I love Most