1
Make the plural of a noun you have not seen
Add -s; add -es, as in boxes; change -y to -ies, as in cities. Right for 1,866 of 1,887 nouns.
Course · English
Nouns and Articles
Four small questions about nouns: how to make the plural, the form that means more than one; which nouns have none; whether it is a or an; and when the goes before the only one. Each is a rule that you can score on printed words, with every miss shown.
a rule, the share it gets right,
and the words it misses
plural: -s, -es, -ies 1866 of 1887
a or an by sound 493 of 493
a or an by letter 486 of 493
the with an -est word 127 of 142
What this course is about
- Subject
- English
- Lessons
- 4
- Format
- Interactive
Overview
What you will be able to do
By the end you can make a plural, choose a small word in front of a noun, and say how often each of your rules is right.
2
Name the 21 nouns the rule misses and the kinds they make
Old plural forms, f words, words from Greek, and two single cases. Each group is short enough to learn.
3
Say why two extra rules made the score worse
Potato gained and photo lost. The count found that; the feeling that the rule made sense did not.
4
Say which nouns have no plural, and which small words they refuse
Seventy-five in the word list, sorted into the kinds a student needs, with the limits of the list stated.
5
Choose a or an by the next sound
Right on 493 of 493 printed lines, against 486 for the letter rule.
6
Put the before an -est word, and say when most means very
Right on 127 of 142 lines with an -est word, and on 40 of 122 with most, where 45 lines have a.
Lessons
4 lessons
Plurals first, because the rule is the one from Tense Tables, applied to nouns. Then the small words in front of a noun, which need the sound of the next word.
One Noun, Two NounsThree small rules make a plural, and the words that break them are a short list.Not marked
Nouns With No PluralSome nouns never take -s, and students write informations anyway.Not marked
A or An: by Sound, Not by LetterThe rule you were taught is about letters, and letters are the wrong thing to look at.Not marked
The Before the Only OneYou say the tallest, and you also say a most interesting young man.Not marked
Recommended background
The course called Tense Tables, because the plural rule is the -s rule again, on nouns. Nothing else is needed. The counting never goes past working out a share.
Practice suggestions
Make the plural or choose the small word yourself before you read the rule, then check. The lab prints the rule beside each answer, so you can see whether you had the right reason as well as the right form.
Read the table of misses before the rest of the lesson. Each list is short, and each one is a group with a reason. The groups are the lesson.
Change the rule in the lab and watch the score move. Two of the three improvements to the plural rule make it worse, and only the count shows that.
What it does not cover
Choosing a or the by meaning. Whether a noun has been mentioned before, or whether you mean any one or one in particular, depends on what the writer has in mind, and no count of printed words can see that.
Whether a noun counts in the sentence in front of you. Time counts in one sense and not in another, and the course shows that with a quoted count. It cannot tell you which sense a writer means.
Much and many, few and little. The course says which goes with a noun that has no plural, as a plain statement. It does not score it.
Every plural that breaks the rule. The word list holds about two thousand common nouns, so rare nouns, which more often have an old or borrowed plural, are not in the table.