English Expertise Series - Tricks of Noun (Part 2)

This article is of our series English Expertise. Go through the tricks of noun (part 2) which will help you in finding the errors and in solving sentence improvement questions.

English Grammar: Tricks of Noun (Part 2)

Rule 5

Peasantry, children, gentry, infantry, cavalry, cattle, and people are certain Nouns that are singular in form but plural in meaning. They take the plural verb.

Note: ‘s’ is never used with these nouns.

Example:

• Cattle are grazing in the field.
• Our infantry has marched forward.
• Police have arrested the thieves.

Note: ‘people’ means ‘a number of people’ while ‘peoples’ means ‘people of different races’.

Rule 6

Scenery, Poetry, Furniture, Advice, Information, Hair, Business, Mischief, Bread, Stationery, Crockery, Luggage, Baggage, Postage, Knowledge, Wastage, Jewellery, Breakage, Equipment, Evidence, Work (works means literary pieces), News, Percentage, Dirt, Dust, Traffic, Electricity, Music, Confectionery, Pottery, Bakery, Behaviour, Word (when used in sense of discussion) Fuel and Cost are uncountable nouns and hence will take singular verb. These nouns will not take article ‘A / An’, ‘many’, ‘few’, ‘number of’ and ‘plural form’.

Example : 

• The scenery of Kashmir has enchanted us.
• I passed the exam but the percentage of marks was not good.
• The mischief committed by him is unpardonable.
• His hair is black.
• I have some equipment that I needed for the project.

Note: Such nouns have no plural form but sometimes we need the Singular/Plural form of some of these nouns. The singular/plural form is made by adding certain words before the uncountable nouns

For example:

• He gave me a piece of information.
• All pieces of information given by her were reliable.
• Many kinds of furniture are available in that shop.
• I want a few articles on jewelry.
• He ate two slices of bread.
• Please show me some items on office stationery.
• The police have found a strand of hair in the car.

Rule 7

When a definite numeral adjective is added before the following nouns, they take singular form.

Ex: Pair, score, gross, stone, hundred, dozen, thousand, million, billion etc.

Example:

• I have two hundred rupees only.
• She purchased three dozen pencils.
• He has already donated five thousand rupees.

If ‘of’ is used with them, such nouns are used in plural form.

Ex: dozens of women, hundreds of people, millions of dollars, scores of shops, many pairs of shoes etc.

• Hundreds of people came to see the fair.
• He donated millions of rupees.
• I have two pairs of shoes.

Rule 8

If a preposition comes after a noun and then the same noun is repeated, the noun should be used in singular form.

Example:

• Town after town was devastated.
• Row upon row of marble looks beautiful.
• He enquired from door to door.
• Ship after ship is arriving.

Note: Towns after towns, rows upon rows, doors to doors, or ships after ships must not be used.

Rule 9

Nouns like a teacher, student, child, clerk, advocate, worker, writer, author, leader, musician etc are common gender nouns. They are used for both male and female. They are also called dual genders. Thus ‘His/ he/ him’ is used for such nouns (when such nouns are used in singular).

Ex:

• Every leader should perform his duty.
• A teacher should practice what he preaches.

Questions asked in the Competitive Exams:

1. They left / their luggages / at home by mistake and went to the railway station.

2. The car could not / ascend the steep hill / because it was in the wrong gears.

3. The ticket window / remained closed / throughout the day.

4. Satyajit Ray, who conceived, co-authored / and directed a number of good films, was / one of India’s most talented filmmaker.

5. I think this /  is not your book. / It is somebody’s else.

6. You should not put / your sign on any paper / that you haven’t read.

Sol:

1. They left their luggage at home by mistake and went to the railway station.

2. The car could not ascend the steep hill because it was in the wrong gear.

3. The ticket counter remained closed throughout the day.

4. Satyajit Ray, who conceived, co-authored and directed a number of good films, was one of the India’s most talented filmmaker.

5. I think this is not your book. It is somebody else’s’.

6. You should not put your signature on any paper that you haven’t read.

English Grammar: Tricks of Noun (Part 1)

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