Model:

Mafia, a secret society and the world's greatest treasures all converge in James Twining's all new jaw–dropping thriller featuring reformed art thief Tom KirkIt begins with a young man hanging from the Ponte Sant" Angelo Rome, his pockets weighed down with lead while the current of the river below slowly tightens the noose around his neck.Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, retired art thief Tom Kirk is asked by an old friend to investigate a case involving the theft of a long lost Caravaggio painting When tragic strikes Tom is left holding. a blood-soaked body.Back in Rome police Lieutenant Allegra Damico has been called to the Parthenon where a second body has been found, but this time the body is surrounded by mannequins When a third body is found crucified upside down in the middle of. the ancient forum Allegra realises there is a sinister link between the murders. Someone is staging famous Caravaggio paintings. Suspecting the detective leading the case is corrupt Allegra begins her own investigation.Spurred on by grief and the desire to avenge the murder of his friend, Tom follows a trail to Rome where he finds Allegra piecing together a similar mystery. Before long they both find themselves submerged in a vast criminal conspiracy involving the police, politicians, the church and a secret society born of a pact between two Mafia families decades before.

Nouns ending in -y with a preceding consonant form the plural by adding the ending -es, and -y changes to -i. For example, a dictionary - dictionary ries .

But: a boy - boys, a day - days(there is a vowel before -y). Some nouns ending in -f, -fe, form the plural by changing -f on -v and adding the ending -es.

a half - halves
a wolf - wolves
a wife - wives

But: roof - roofs, safe - safes.

A number of nouns form their plural in a special way.

Part 2.

"Two cheerful G**SE lived with grandma"
or How not to get confused in the great multitude!

We all know very well the rule for forming plurals - the plural is formed by adding the ending "s" to the noun in singular. But does everyone know that here, as in many other rules, there are several special occasions which ones need to be remembered? Let's look at them and at the same time check the completeness and correctness of our knowledge.

We must remember that what if our noun ends with:
- o, - ch, - sh, -ss or -x,
The plural is formed by adding the ending - es.
Example: tomato (tomato) - tomato es, church (church) - church es, bush (bush) - bush es, kiss (kiss) - kiss es, box (box) - box es.
Just note that if a word of foreign origin ends in -o, we simply add "s":
Example: kilo (kilogram) - kilo s, photo (photography) - photo s, piano (grand piano) - piano s, soprano (soprano) - soprano s.

Besides if the noun ends in -y and before -y there is a consonant, we "y" change to "i" and add -es.
Example: baby (baby, child) - bab ies, fly (fly) - fl ies.

12 nouns ending with -f or -fe, when forming plurals, they “lose” -f or -fe, but they acquire -ves.
Here they are:

• calf(calf),
• half(half),
• knife(knife),
• leaf(tree leaf),
• life(life),
• loaf(loaf, loaf),
• self(by myself),
• sheaf(sheaf, faggot),
• shelf(shelf),
• thief(thief),
• wife(wife),
• wolf(wolf).
Example: life - live es, wife - wiv es, wolf - wolv es etc.

1. You should also remember a number of nouns in which the plural is formed by changing the vowel (and in some cases, by adding the ending - en / - ren). Example:

   • foot(leg, foot) - f ee t,
   • tooth(tooth) - t ee th,
   • man(man, person) - m e n,
   • woman(woman) - wom en,
   • mouse(mouse) - m i ce,
   • goose(goose) - g ee se,
   • louse(louse) - l i ce,
   • child(child) - childr en,
   • ox(bull, ox) - ox en.

2. And lastly Things to remember - nouns deer(deer) and sheep(sheep) have the same form for both singular and plural.
   Example: sheep - sheep, deer - deer.

The plural of nouns is formed usually, by adding the ending - s.

student - student s— students
book - book / book s- books
friend - friend s- Friends

Nouns ending in - X, -s, -ss, -ch, -sh, acquire the ending - es.

waitre ss- waitress / waitress es- waitresses
dre ss- dress es- dresses

The suffix -(e)s is pronounced:

• after voiceless consonants - [s] - texts;
• after voiced consonants and vowels - [z] - days;
• after hissing and whistling consonants - [s], [z], , [∫], , , - branches; boxes ["bɔksiz]; bridges ["bridʒiz].

-y

Nouns ending in consonant plus -y, in the plural they take on the ending - ies.

secreta ry- secretary / secretari es- secretaries
ci ty- city/cit ies- cities

But if the word ends in vowel plus -y, then only - s.

b oh- boy s- boys
d ay- day / day s- days

-f, -fe

If the word ends in - f, -fe, then in the plural appears - ves.

housewi fe- housewife / housewi ves- housewives
wi fe- wife/wi ves- wives

scar f- scarf s- scarves
whar f- wharf s- berths

Hence! Formation of the plural of each specific word in - f(e) check it in the dictionary.

-o

Words ending with - O, form the plural using the suffix - es, so and - s:

her o- hero / hero es- heroes;
potat o- potato / potato es- potato;

pian o- piano s- piano;
phot o— photo / photo s- photos.

Hence! Look up each specific word in the dictionary.

Special cases

There are also nouns in English that form their plurals irregularly. They have retained their forms since the Old English period. Please note these exceptions:

child child - children children
man man human - men men, people
woman woman - women women
foot leg - feet legs
mouse mouse - mice mice
ox bull - oxen bulls

Some nouns are borrowed from the Greek and Latin alphabets:

crisis- a crisis / crises- crises
phenomenon- phenomenon / phenomenal- phenomena
radius- radius / radii- radii
basis- the basis / bases- basics
thesis- thesis / theses— theses

Many nouns have the same plural and singular forms:

sheep sheep - sheep sheep
works factory - works factories
means means - means facilities

Compound nouns

In complex nouns, when forming the plural, only the last (second) word is transformed.

schoolboy schoolboy - schoolboy s pupils
postman postman men postmen

In complex nouns, when forming the plural, only the more important noun word, which carries the main meaning, changes.

hotel-keeper hotel owner s innkeepers
passer-by passerby s-by passers-by

If compound noun does not contain a noun, but is formed by other parts of speech, then the suffix - s added to last word:

forget-me-not- forget-me-nots / forget-me-nots - forget-me-nots

If a compound noun consists of two nouns connected by a preposition, then the suffix is s is added to one that does not have a preposition:

editor- in-chief — Chief Editor/editor s-in-chief - editors-in-chief;
mother- in-law - mother-in-law / mother s-in-law - mother-in-law;

If a compound noun consists of two nouns without a preposition, then the suffix is s is added to the one whose meaning more closely matches the meaning of the entire compound noun:

lady-bird — ladybugs, lady - Mother of God, bird - little bird.

If we compare the meaning of the constituent nouns with the meaning of the compound word, we will see that the meaning bird closer to the value lady-bird, how lady. Therefore, the suffix -s is added to the last word: lady-birds.

Exceptions

only in singular

In English, real and abstract nouns are usually used only in the singular form:

sugar- sugar
iron- iron
love- Love
friendship- friendship

The following words are used only in the singular form:

advice- advice, tips
information- information, information
progress- success. successes
knowledge- knowledge, knowledge

The following words are used with a singular meaning, although they have a plural form: news- news, news. Names of sciences ending in - ics (physics - physics). Noun vacation— vacation is used only in the singular, although in Russian it is used only in the plural.

Nouns used only in plural

scissors- scissors
trousers- trousers
spectacles- glasses
scales- scales
tongs- tongs
goods- goods, goods
clothes- cloth
stairs- ladder
arms- weapon
riches- wealth, riches
proceeds— revenue

There may be one item or there may be many. In most languages, this means that the noun will change its form at least slightly, and English is no exception.

Plural and singular

Typically, there is a difference in how one or more items are named. Moreover, the need to do this arises so often that it is not even always realized. However, when studying foreign dialects, one of the first and main topics is the formation of the plural. In English this is usually not too difficult to do, but there are various nuances, subtleties and exceptions that need to be kept in mind. It's easy without this

Number forms in English are called Singular and Plural. Some nouns do not have one of these forms at all, while others simply form them in a special way. So, you need to figure out what nouns we are talking about and what their features are.

Nouns: general rule

In order to form the Plural form, the ending is added to the initial -s. This is the most general and simple rule, for example:

• a truck - trucks (trucks);
• a cup - cups (cups);
• a flag - flags (flags).

It is necessary to take into account that after voiceless sounds the ending is read as [s], while in other cases it is read as [z] or.

However, this does not always happen. If a noun ends in s, ch, x, sh, tch, z, then the ending will already be -es, because it’s much more convenient to pronounce:

• a box - boxes (boxes);
• a boss - bosses (chiefs).

Words ending in o also add plural -es:

• a tomato - tomatoes (tomatoes).

Those words that in the singular contained at the end f or fe, in the plural they will change it to v:

• a wolf - wolves (wolves);
• a leaf - leaves (leaves).

It should be noted that this does not always happen, but in most cases. If in doubt, it is better to consult dictionaries or reference books.

In addition, there is also a special rule for nouns ending in y. If the penultimate letter is not a vowel, but the word itself is a proper noun, then y changes to i:

• a pony - ponies (ponies);
• a lady - ladies (lady).

• a monkey - monkeys (monkeys);
• Mary - Marys (Mary, Mary).

These are the most simple examples how nouns are formed in English. Next we will talk about more complex examples in which various subtleties will have to be taken into account.

Compound nouns

Another type of word invariably causes difficulty. It's about about compound nouns such as daughter-in-law, good-for-nothing, etc. Many simply add the ending -s to the entire structure, but this is not true. In this case, you need to highlight the main word and work with it. That is the right options will daughters-in-law(daughters-in-law), but, for example, good-for-nothings(idlers) because there is no nominal part. As you can see, forming the Plural form is not that difficult even for compound words. The main thing is to know about this rule and be able to apply it.

Loan words

The stumbling block in the topic of the plural form is the concepts that came
from Latin, Greek, etc. Memorizing them can be difficult, but almost all of them belong to special scientific vocabulary, so you most likely will not be able to encounter them in ordinary text. Examples could be:

• a criterion - criteria (criteria);
• an index - indexes.

As you can see, in this case, the formation of the plural of nouns in English coincides with how this form looked in the original source. If in doubt, it is better to look in the dictionary, especially since the same words in different topics will behave differently. For example, the noun antenna in electronics forms antennae, and in biology - antennas.

Exceptions

Unfortunately, the plural of nouns in English does not always fall under one of the above rules. There are also exceptions. The most famous and most used in general vocabulary are the following:

• a tooth - teeth (teeth);
• a foot - feet (feet);
• a child - children (child - children);
• a (wo)man - (wo)men (woman/man);
• a mouse - mice (mice);
• a penny - pence (penny);
• a sheep - sheep (sheep);
• a goose - geese (geese);
• a swine - swine (pigs);
• a deer - deer (deer);
• an ox - oxen (bulls).

There are a number of other words that also have a special form,
but they are used much less frequently. Since the list is quite small, it's easier to just memorize it. And then you won’t have to think about what form the plural forms in English in this or that case.

In addition, the same category includes names of nationalities ending with -se or -ss. Examples could be:

• a Japanese - Japanese (Japanese);
• a Swiss - Swiss (Swiss);
• a Portuguese - Portuguese (Portuguese);
• a Chinese - Chinese (Chinese).

Features of collective nouns

Another special category has no nuances in the formation of the Plural form itself. But grammatically it can appear in both Singular and Plural situations in different meanings. By the way, the nationality of the interlocutor has an even greater influence on this.

The fact is that in the UK and the USA the perception of collective nouns is seriously different: the British are more likely to be individualists, while the Americans are more inclined to collectivism. In grammar, this is expressed by agreeing the predicate with the subject.

The collective category includes words such as crew, committee, family, team, class, company, corporation, etc. If it is understood that the noun expresses a single policy or action of the team, then Singular is used. If we are talking about many people who are part of a family, team, etc., then the plural is used. In the English language, as already mentioned, there are quite a lot of nuances and subtleties that are not always easy to remember so as not to make mistakes.

If you really don’t want to make mistakes, it’s easier to replace collective nouns with constructions that are close in meaning. Students can be used instead of class, and team can be changed to players. In other cases, simply members or participants will do. Agreement of verbs with these words should not cause problems.

Only the one thing

Uncountable nouns and generally abstract concepts often become. If everything is more or less clear with real ones, then with the rest - not so much.

This variety includes hair (not in the meaning of “individual hairs”), money, information, water, progress, relationship, advice, knowledge, etc. It is worth mentioning separately about those that end in -s: news, mathematics, physics, politics, statistics, etc. The plural in English in this case is not formed at all, and agreement occurs in the singular:

• You information is quite interesting.
• Physics is an important science.

Words like fruit and fish, which were mentioned earlier, will either form a plural in different cases or not, depending on the semantics. " different kinds"they will add at the end -s, but if we are simply talking about a quantity greater than one, then no.

Since there are quite a lot of examples that fall under this rule, if you suspect that a particular word is forming a plural in an unusual way in English or does not do so, it is better to double-check yourself. After all, even experienced translators and speakers sometimes make mistakes. What can we say about those who are just starting to learn a language, but practice will help.

Plural only

This category also has a fairly large number of examples, including among collective nouns: military, police, people, clothes, goods, etc. In addition, this also includes items that can be called paired: scissors (scissors), braces (braces), trousers (trousers) and some others. Obviously, it makes no sense to talk about how the plural is formed in English using these examples, because they are already there. It is important to keep these examples in mind and agree with them correctly.

Language is a living substance that is constantly changing. Some rules disappear, but others appear to replace them. It is quite possible that the pluralization of nouns in the English language in a few decades will follow completely different principles.