1. Certain countable nouns are always singular. Hence they take singular verbs.

Example. Luggage (bag, suitcase can be counted) furniture, scenery, evidence, information,
evidence, equipment, news, poetry, pottery, innings, knowledge, bread, machinery, hair.
Examples
1. He gave me a lot of informations.
2. He gave me an information
Both are wrong
3. He gave me two pieces of information
4. All the evidence were/ was against him.
All the students are. Countable plural. Uncountable noun singular and be used
5. I want to buy some furnitures.
6. Each furniture was damaged.
Each is used for countable and furniture is uncountable
Each piece of furniture was damaged.
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7. The poetries of Wordsworth are very interesting. (Poetry and is)
8. The scenery/ sceneries of Kashmir is/are beautiful. (Scenery/ is)
9. Some of the luggages were lying at the station. (Luggage, was)
10. All his hair/ hairs is/are black.
We can't count hair ( uncountable)
Strands of hair (countable)
11. England defeated India by one innings
12. England defeated India by two innings.
13. These days news is/ are travelling faster.
2. Some nouns are plural in form hence they take plural verbs.
Examples. Trousers, scissors, binoculars, tidings, cavalry, infantry, clergy, gentry, shambles
(confusion), spectacles, alms, vermin (insect), tongs, poultry, cattle, fireworks, remains, savings,
goods, goggles, Shorts, pants.
Examples.
1. Spectacles is/are are costly item.
2. A pair of spectacles is/ are available. (is)
3. I want another spectacles. Spectacles are uncountable and another is countable. Another pair
of spectacles will be correct
4. Alms was/ were given to the poor. (Were)
5. Vermin does/do damage to the crops. (Do)
6. Where is/ are my trousers? (Are)
7. Cattle/ cattles is/are grazing in the field ( cattle/are)
8. The poultry/ poultries is/are for sale ( are)
9. His whole life was in shamble. (Shambles)
Note: offspring (children) brethren, personnel
Examples
i. How many offspring, offsprings does a lion have? (Offspring)
ii. The brethrens of locality are always at daggers' drawn. (Brethren)
iii. The train which met with an accident was carrying some army personnels/ personnel.
3. Some nouns are singular as well as plural
All these can act as singular and plural
Examples. Jury (court bench, interview panel), team, council, audience, committee, wages
(salary sense plural, wages (punishment singular), mathematics, politics, statistics, police, bench,
panel, civics
Police: If police refer to department or organisation (singular) and Police (officers) plural
Policeman ( is) policemen (are)
1. The police is/ are investigating the case
2. The police is/ are patrolling in the city.
3. I saw five police near the house. (Policemen)
4. The team has/have reached Australia. (Has)
5. The team has/ have tried the uniforms. (Have)
6. India is the largest democracy. India have 11 players.
7. The audience is/are from different parts of the world. (Are)
8. The audience is/are divided is opinion.
9. The audience is/are unanimous(collective)in opinion.
10. The wages of sin is / are punishment.
11. The wages of the workers is/ are low.
12. Mathematics is/ are an interesting subject
13. The mathematics (calculation) of the tax returns is/ are available.
Compound Nouns
In order to maks compound noun plural, we have to add s/es/ies to the root words.
 Brother/s brother s-in-law. In laws
Singular plural Singular plural
Son-in-law sons-in-law Brother-in-law brothers-in-law
Commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief Passer by passers by
Onlooker onlookers Maid-servant maid-servants
Step-daughter step-daughters Book fair book fairs
Member of Parliament members of Parliament Chief Minister Chief Ministers
Landlord landlords Girl student Girl Students (girl friend)
Remember when man and woman come in a sentence. Like man soldier, soldier is a
common gender (man and woman) we will make plural of both. Man soldier men soldiers
Woman soldier women soldiers
Man athlete men-athletes
Woman athlete women athletes
Man servant men servants
Sometimes we will not make plural of both like man hater and woman hater. Man haters and
woman haters. (Confusion comes in mind when will we make plural of both and when we won't
make plural) when we talk about profession like soldier, servant, teacher etc we will make the
plural of both but haters and lovers are not professions.
Man hater man haters
Woman lover woman lovers
Bed-room bed-rooms
Book-shelf book-shelves
Man-of-war Men-of-war
Note: (1) Haves and Haves not (nots)
Haves mean rich people, haves not mean which are not rich. Stress on the word will be plural.
(2) Whereabout whereabouts (criminal locations)
The population of Pakistan is divided into two classes: haves and have nots
Note:
If two nouns (same nouns) are joined by preposition, the noun on either side is singular and the
verb is also singular
Examples:
1. Women after women spoke against the cruel practices of dowry. (Woman , woman)
2. Days by days , he is becoming weaker. (Day by day)
3. Piles on piles of books was/ were arranged. (Pile)
4. Pages after pages of the book was/ were read.
5. He enquired from doors to doors.
Note:
There are some nouns which have one meaning in singular and another in plural form. Like
wood and woods have different meanings.
Examples: (a) the tiger lives in the wood/ woods
(b) the woods is/are lovely, dark and deep. (Woods as a word is plural)
(2) Spectacle: sight/ scene/ view
Spectacles ( eye- glasses)
Examples: (a) spectacles is/ are available
(b) A pair of spectacles is/are available
(3) Surrounding: enclosure
Surroundings: neighbouring areas.
Example: The surrounding/ surroundings of Kashmir is/are beautiful (plural)
4. People means persons.
Peoples: The human beings of a particular nation or community or ethnic group.
Examples: (a) people were dancing in the street
(b) friendly contacts between different peoples help in cultural and economic interchange.
(5) work: (job, task) works ( creations, accomplishments)
Examples: (a) I have a lot of work to do
(b) The works of Shakespeare have beem appreciated by all.
(6) Iron: metal Irons (chains, fetters, shackles)
Example: (a) The prisoner was in iron/irons
(7) Alphabet: A set of letters ( A to Z)
Alphabets: basics / fundamentals of any subject
Example: a. He learnt the alphabet/ alphabets at the age of 2.
(8) Sand: a type of soil sands: deserts
Examples: those who live on sand/ sands are used to the heat of summer.
(9) water: colourless, transparent liquid
Waters: seas, oceans, rivers