Nouns

Nouns are words that identify the names of persons, places, animals, things, events, and ideas. Nouns can be singular which pertains to
one noun, or plural, which pertains to two or more nouns.

Regular Plurals of Nouns

Most words in the English language are pluralized by adding -s to the singular form of the noun. These nouns are called regular nouns.
There are rules to follow in forming the plural form of regular nouns. These are the following:

1. Adding -s to the noun.

Most regular nouns are added -s at the end of the words to make them plural.

book → books (They brought their favorite books to read.)

element → elements (We studied the Earth’s most abundant elements.)
pen → pens (He has a collection of colorful pens.)

In these examples, most regular nouns are added -s at the end of the words to make them plural.

2. For nouns ending in s, x, ch, sh, and consonant + o, add -es.

brush → brushes (The artist cleaned his brushes before storing them.)
potato → potatoes (My mother bought a sack of potatoes this morning.)
tax → taxes (We must pay our taxes as responsible citizens.)

In the examples given, the word brush ends in sh, potato ends in the consonant t followed by the vowel o, and taxes end in x.
Because of this, -es should be added at the end of these words to make them plural.

3. For nouns ending in vowels + o, add -s.

studio → studios (We visited different band studios this afternoon.)

video → videos (Take more videos for our year-end party.)
radio → radios (I found a cool store that sells vintage radios.)

In these examples, studio, video, and radio are all nouns that end in vowels + o. In this case, -s will be added to make them plural.

4. For nouns ending in a consonant + y, replace y with -ies.

baby → babies (These babies look so adorable.)

memory → memories (All we have are memories from the camping trip.)
try → tries (I have three tries to make this right.)

In these examples, the words baby, memory, and try are words that end in a consonant and the letter y. To make it plural, change y
to i and add -es at the end of the noun.

Irregular Plurals of Nouns

Irregular nouns are another category of nouns. The distinction between this type of noun and regular nouns is that they are pluralized
differently other than adding -s or -es. The following are the rules for pluralizing irregular nouns:

1. For nouns ending with -fe or -f, replace -f or -fe with -ves.

knife → knives (The chef uses different knives to filet a big fish.)
leaf → leaves (My younger sister tore the leaves of her notebook to shreds.)
calf → calves (The newborn calves are resting beside their mother.)

In the following examples, the words knife, leaf, and calf are nouns that end in either -fe or -f. In this case, these letters should be
replaced by -ves to make the words plural. However, some words are exemptions to this rule.

2. Some words ending in -f or -fe can be pluralized by adding -s at the end of the word.

roof- roofs (The rain fell heavily on the roofs of the houses.)
dwarf -dwarfs (The garden was populated with colorful dwarfs.)
safe -safes (The bank vault contained numerous safes, each securely locked.)

3. For nouns that need additional or change of letters.

Some nouns have to add more letters or change some letters in the word to make them plural.
 tooth → teeth (I am going to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned.)
child → children (Let the children play while they are young.)
man → men (Men are responsible for the invention of many things.)

Notice that, the words tooth, child, and man in these examples needed to change some or add letters in their spelling to transform
to their plural form.

4. For nouns ending in -x are pluralized with -ices.

index → indices (I looked over a volume of indices.)

vortex → vortices (Several objects in space are vortices.)

Although some words ending in -x are considered regular nouns, there are words ending in x, such as the examples given, that
should be changed to -ices when pluralized.

5. For nouns that have the same singular and plural forms.

deer → deer (My dad wanted to hunt some deer someday.)

sheep → sheep (Dana was amazed to see the sheep lining in front of her.)
scissors → scissors (Can you buy me two scissors when you drop by the bookstore?)

In these examples, the words deer, sheep, and scissors retained their singular spelling even in plural form.

6. For nouns that can be singular and plural in forms.

fish → fish/fishes (In the aquarium, there were various species of fish, including colorful fishes darting around.)
shrimp → shrimp/shrimps (I enjoy grilling shrimp and frying shrimps with different seasonings for variety.)
quail → quail/quails (The quail lays eggs while other quails roam the garden.)

Nouns can either retain the original spelling or add -s at the end of the word.

Poem
A poem is like a painting made with words. The person who writes poems is called a poet. Poets write poems to express their thoughts
and feelings about a particular topic in a very special and creative way.

The Basic Elements of Poetry

1. Speaker
The writer or the poet is not always the speaker in the poem. A poet may also use another person or character as the persona in the
poem.

2. Tone
This refers to the emotion expressed through words and lines in the poem. Common tones in poetry are joy, sadness, confusion, and
love.

3. Figurative Language
Figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, irony, and hyperbole can be used by a poet to express their ideas in a more
vivid, concise, and imaginative manner.

4. Sound
When a poem is recited, its musicality appeals to the auditory senses of the reader. A poem’s musicality is achieved through the use
of the following:

7. Rhyme refers to two or more words that have similar end sounds. In poetry, these words are found at the end of each line.

Example.
In the meadow, soft and green,
A little stream flows, serene.
Birds above sing their tune,
Underneath the golden moon,
Nature's beauty, a tranquil scene.

8. Rhythm refers to the pattern of sound created when reading or reciting a poem. In the following lines from “The Pied Piper of
Hamelin” by Robert Browning, the strongly stressed syllables are marked with a slash mark.
 Example.

9. Sound Devices in poetry include onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance,

and consonance.

5. Structure/ Form
Poems are normally written in stanzas. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem. A line
may contain only a word, a phrase, or a complete sentence,

1. Stanza
It refers to a group of lines in a poem. Stanzas are usually separated by spaces from other groups of lines. The table below
shows what we call a group of lines in a stanza based on the number of lines included in it.

Type of stanza Number of stanzas

couplet two-line stanza
tercet three-line stanza
quatrain four-line stanza
quintet five-line stanza
sestet six-line stanza
septet seven-line stanza

2. Form
In poetry, form is the physical structure of a poem and what it looks like on a page. Poetry has several forms. A limerick and
haiku are examples of forms each with a distinct number of lines and stanzas.

a. A limerick is composed of five lines. It has a rhyming pattern of (aabba).

Example.
There was an old owl from the park (a)
Whose hoots were quite famously stark (a)
He'd sit on a limb (b)
When the daylight grew dim, (b)
And his songs pierced the night like a spark. (a)

b. The haiku is a poem (which originated in Japan) that has three lines. Haiku has five (5) syllables in the first line, its
second line has seven (7) syllables, and the third line has five (5) syllables.
Example.
Autumn leaves whisper,
Dancing in the evening breeze,
Nature's fleeting grace.

c. A free verse does not use regular rhyme, rhythm, or division into stanzas