's - Apostrophe

Singular:

Add 's:
Examples:
Mandy's brother John plays football.
My teacher's name is Alex Liang.

Plural:

Add the apostrophe ' to regular plural forms:
Examples:
The girls' room is very nice.
The Smiths' car is black.

Add 's to irregular plural forms:
Examples:
The children's books are over there.
Men's clothes are on the third floor.

If there are multiple nouns, add an 's only to the last noun:
Peter and John's mother is a teacher.


Exercise:

Write apostrophe 's into the gaps. Example: I met _______ sister yesterday. (Mandy) Answer: I met Mandy's sister yesterday. 1) This is book. (Peter) 2) Let's go to the . (Smiths) 3) The room is upstairs. (children) 4) sister is twelve years old. (John) 5) and bags have blue stickers. (Susan - Steve) 6) shoes are on the second floor. (men) 7) My car was not expensive. (parents) 8) CD player is new. (Charles) 9) This is the bike. (boy) 10) These are the pencils. (boys)
Answer: 1) This is Peter's book. 2) Let's go to the Smiths'. 3) The children's room is upstairs. 4) John's sister is twelve years old. 5) Susan and Steve's bags have blue stickers. 6) Men's shoes are on the second floor. 7) My parents' car was not expensive. 8) Charles's CD player is new. 9) This is the boy's bike. 10) These are the boys' pencils.

 Singular & Plural

singular + -s

singular	plural
a car	two cars
a cassette	two cassettes
a lamp	two lamps
a hat	two hats
a cup	two cups

Add -es after sibilants:

singular	plural
a box	two boxes
a sandwich	two sandwiches
a suitcase	two suitcases
a rose	two roses
a garage	two garages

Substitute 'y' after consonant with -ies:

singular	plural
a city	two cities
a lady	two ladies

Add -s after vowel + y:

singular	plural
a boy	two boys
a day	two days

There are two forms of the plural of the word penny:
pennies -> You refer to the coins.
pence -> You refer to the price (how much sth. is).

Nouns on '-f' or '-fe':

add -s		substitute with -ves
singular	plural	singular	plural
a roof	two roofs	a thief	two thieves
a cliff	two cliffs	a wife	two wives
a sheriff	two sheriffs	a shelf	two shelves

 

There are two forms possible:

scarf - scarfs/scarves
hoof - hoofs/hooves

Add -s for words ending in -ff.

Always use a dictionary if you are not sure.

Nouns on '-o' form the plural by adding' -s' or '-es'.

add -s		substitute with -ves
singular	plural	singular	plural
a disco	two discos	a tomato	two tomatoes
a piano	two pianos	a potato	two potatoes
a photo	two photos	a hero	two heroes

*Some nouns can have two plural forms:
  buffalo - buffalos/buffaloes
  mosquito - mosquitos/mosquitoes
  tornado - tornados/tornadoes
There is no rule when to use -s or -es. We often add -s with technical words.

Irregular plural forms: singular plural a man two men a woman two women a child two children a mouse two mice a tooth two teeth a goose two geese a foot two feet an ox two oxen

Gender

Here are some masculine and feminine nouns for people.

Male	Female
actor	actress
boy	girl
bridegroom	bride
brother	sister
emperor	empress
father	mother
grandfather	grandmother
host	hostess
husband	wife
king	queen
landlord	landlady
man	woman
nephew	niece
policeman	policewoman
prince	princess
son	daughter
steward	stewardess
uncle	aunt
wizard	witch

 


 

Here are some masculine and feminine nouns for animals.

Animal	Masculine	Feminine
bear	boar	sow
cat	tom	queen
cattle	bull	cow
chicken	rooster	hen
deer	buck or stag	doe or hind
donkey	jack	jenny
duck	drake	duck
elephant	bull	cow
fox	dog	vixen
goose	gander	goose
horse	stallion	mare
leopard	leopard	leopardess
lion	lion	lioness
peacock	peacock	peahen
pig	boar	sow
rabbit	buck	doe
sheep	ram	ewe
swan	cob	pen
tiger	tiger	tigress
whale	bull	cow

 


 

Here are some common gender nouns that

used for both males and females.

babies	dancers
students	parents
reporters	teachers
singers	engineers
lawyers	artists

 


 

Here are some neuter gender nouns that are 

used for objects and places.

hospital	school
knife	chair
cave	floor
phone	fire
pen	stick

Masculine and feminine nouns

View more presentations from Maximoff

Learn 'Have' & 'Has'

Learn English the fun way using animated videos 
to help you understand the right usage of the words
'Has' and 'Have'. 
'Have' is used with I, You, Many. 
'Has' is used with He, She.

Singular and Plural Nouns

A singular noun names one person, place, or thing.

Example:  A lizard crawls on top of the rock.

There is only one lizard in the sentence, so the word lizard is a singular noun.

Also, there is only one rock in the sentence, so the word rock is a singular

noun too.

A plural noun names more than one person, place, or thing.

Example: Two rabbits ran through the trees.

There is more than one rabbit, so the word rabbits are a plural noun.

Also, there is more than one tree, so the word trees are a plural noun too.

Underline the noun in each sentence below. On the line next to the sentence, tell whether the noun is singular or plural.

1. The squirrel is running fast. _______________________

2. Three of the plates are round. _______________________

3. My grandmother is very kind. _______________________

4. They gave her a nice gift. _______________________

5. Answer the telephone, please. _______________________

6. My crayons are broken. _______________________

7. Have you seen my keys? _______________________

8. That map is old. _______________________

9. It flew in the sky. _______________________

10. There are ten fish. _______________________

ANSWER KEY

1. The squirrel is running fast.      (singular)

2. Three of the plates are round.   (plural)

3. My grandmother is very kind.   (singular)

4. They gave her a nice gift.          (singular)

5. Answer the telephone, please.  (singular)

6. My crayons are broken.             (plural)

7. Have you seen my keys?           (plural)

8. That map is old.                          (singular)

9. It flew in the sky.                         (singular)

10. There are ten fish.                    (plural)