Nouns

Question

I was wondering if the community can point me in the right direction. I have problems with the usage of plural and singular nouns. (Basically when the noun requires to be in the plural or singular form.) Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to study to alleviate this problem? So far, I have studied determines, articles, quantifiers, and rules for pluralizing nouns.

However, I still find that sometimes I miss adding on the -s at the end of the noun.

Thanks,

P.S. Please feel free to point out any mistakes you find on my post. I cannot improve my grammar skills if I do not know what I am doing wrong.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Would you like to post a few sentences, so that we can see where your problems lie?

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

phxsunstoonI still find that sometimes I miss adding on the -s at the end of the noun.

I think you just need to be more careful. If your native language does not make a distinction, you will have to train yourself to think in terms of "one" or "more than one" by thinking about that every time you see anything!

pen on table - Is it 'a pen' that you see on the table? Or is it 'pens' that you see on the table.
bird in tree - Do you see 'a bird'? Or do you see 'birds'?
mistake in the sentence - Is there 'a mistake' or are there 'mistakes' in the sentence?

If you make yourself aware of this distinction in your daily life, some of it might rub off onto your English.

CJ

Phxsunstoon · Answer

Thank you CJ,

I try to be very careful, but it is hard sometimes. I would practice; however, it just became me placing -s behind the most random word. (probably because I did not understand WHY we were doing it.) I went through elementary school pass college before I ever even heard of determiners. Ever since then, my usage of plurals have improved. However, I do not know if the rule for determiners still apply to nouns following a preposition.

For your example:

pen on table--how I understand this is that since there is no determiner in front of pen it should be pens; however, is that also true for table? pens on tables? I believe yes but not curtain.

bird in tree--birds in trees

Are the rules for subject nouns the same for nouns that are the object of a preposition?

I am sorry if the way I phrase these question are confusing.

CalifJim · Answer

phxsunstoonAre the rules for subject nouns the same for nouns that are the object of a preposition?

Regarding singulars and plurals, yes.

CJ

Nouns

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