An Analysis On The Difficulties Faced By The Students in Learning Plural Forms Of Noun : A Case Study at the Second Year Students of SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren Tangerang

(A Case Study at the Second Year Students ofSMP al Mubarak PondokAren, Tangerang)

A "Skripsi"

Presented to the Faculty ofTarbiyah and Teach1)rs' Training in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata l (SI)

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DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYAHAND TEACHERS' TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAl\.IIC UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

(A Case Study at the Second Year Students ofSMP al MubarakPondokAren, Tangerang)

A "Skripsi"

Presented to the Faculty ofTarbiyah and Teachers' Training in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata 1 (Sl)

Approved by the Advisor

NIP: 150 244 682

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS' TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

The "Skripsi" (Scientific Paper) entitled "AN ANALYSIS ON THE DIFFICULTIES FACED BY THE STUDENTS IN ﾥｾｅａｒｎｉｎｇ＠ PLURAL FORMS OF NOUN" (A Case Study at the Second Year Students of SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren, Tangerang), written by Siti Munyati, student's registration number: I 04014000341 was examined in the examination session of the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers' Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta on March 2"d, 2009. The "Sluipsi" has been accepted and declared to have fulfilled one of the requirements for academic title of "S.Pd." in English Language Education in the department of English Education.

Jakmia, March 2"d, 2009 Examination Committee:

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CHAIRMAN : Ors. Syauki. M.Pd. NIP: 150 246 289

SECRETARY : Neneng Sunengsih, S.Pd.

NIP: 150 293 232

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EXAMINER I : Ors. Nasrun Mahmud. M.Pd. NIP: 150 041 070

EXAMINER2 : Mas'ud Mada. M.A.

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NIP: 150 012 951

Acknowledged by:

Dean of Tarbiyah and Teachers' Training Faculty

I

Saya yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini,

Nam a

Tempatrrgl. Lahir

NIM

Jurusan/Prodi

Judul Skripsi

Dasen Pembimbing

: Siti Munyati

: Tangerang, 28 Januari 1985

104014000341

Pendidikan Bahasa lnggris

: An Analysis on the Difficulties Faced by the

Students in Learning Plural Forms ofNoun

: Ors. Nasifuddin Djalil, M.Ag.

dengan ini menyatakan bahwa skripsi yang saya buat benar-benar basil karya

sendiri dan saya bertanggung jawab secara akademis alas a.pa yang saya tulis.

Pernyataan ini dibuat sebagai salah satu syarat menempuh Ujian Munaqasah.

Jakarta, 11 Februari 2009

Mahasiswa Ybs.

Siti Munvati

Munyati, Siti. 2009, An Analysis on the Difficulties Fa•ced by the Students in Learning Plural Forms of Noun, Skripsi, Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

Dosen Pembimbing: Drs. Nasifuddin Djalil, M.Ag.

Kata

Kunci: Bentuk-Bentuk Kata Benda Jamak dan Kesulitan Tata Bahasa

Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui da11 menganalisa kesulitan-kesulitan yang dihadapi siswa kelas 8 di SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren, Tangerang dalam mempelajari bentuk-bentuk kata benda jan1ak, dan untuk mendiskusikannya dalam skripsi pennlis.

Siswa yang termasuk dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 32 orang dari kelas 8. Penelitian ini termasuk penelitian kualitatif deskriptif clengan mengunipulkan data-data dari observasi dan test tentang bentuk-bentukjamak. Data dari observasi ditujukan untuk rnendapatkan data yang benar dan akurat rnengenai lokasi dan

populasi ternpat penelitian ini diadakan, dan untuk mengetahui waktu belajar bahasa Inggris siswa. Sedangkan data dari test tentang bentuk-bentuk jamak ditujukan untuk rnengetahui jenis kesulitan siswa kelas 8 SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren, Tangerang, dalam rnernpelajari bentuk-bentuk jamak dari kata benda.

Data-data yang dikurnpulkan dalam penelitian ini dianalisa rnenggunakan distribusi frekuensi relatif yang ditampilkan dalam bentuk tabel persentase. Berdasarkan hasil statistik, didapatkan persentase rata-rata untuk bentuk kata benda yang tidak beraturan yaitu 53,64%, sedangkan umuk bentuk kata benda yang beraturan yaitu 27,03%. Ini berarti kebanyakan siswa mengalami kesulitan dalam rnernpelajari bentuk-bentuk kata benda yang tidak beraturan. Ini dapat dilihat dari jurnlah persentase dari bentuk kata benda yang tidak beraturan lebih besar dari kata benda yang beraturan.

Munyati, Siti. 2009, An Analysis on the Difficulties IFaeed by the Students in Learning Plural Forms of Noun, Skripsi, English Department, The Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers' Training, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta.

Advisor: Drs. Nasifuddin Djalil, M.Ag.

Key Words: Plural Forms and Grammar Difficulty

The purpose of this study is to know and analyze difficulties in learning plural forms of noun at the second year students of SMP al-Mubarak Pondok Aren, Tangerang, and to discuss them in the writer's skripsi.

Sample of the research is 32 students of second year. This research is using descriptive qualitative method by collecting data from the observation and the test about plural forms. Data from the observation is purposed to get the real and the accurate data about location, population or sample where the research is carried out, and the time of students learning. While data from the test about plural forms is purposed to know what kinds of the difficulties are commonly faced by the students of second year of SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren, Tangerang, in learning plural forms of noun.

The data collected in this research are analyzed by using relative frequency distribution, which is described in the table percentage. According to the test result of simple statistical calculation, it is obtained the average percentage for irregular forms is 53.64%, while the average percentage for regular forms is only 27.03%. It means that most students get the difficulty in learning irregular forms of noun. It can be seen from the percentage of irregular forms, which is higher than regular forms.

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In

tlie

name of

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<Beneficent,

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!Merciful

All praise be to Allah, Lord of the world, who has given the writer blessing

until she could finish this skripsi. Peace and blessing be upon The Lovely Prophet

Muhanunad, his family, and his followers.

In this occasion, the writer would like to thank a lot 1to all people who have

supported and helped her. She realizes without their support and help, she could

not be able to finish this skripsi. Her sincerest gratitude and thanks are dedicated

to her beloved parents, H. Abdul Rozak and Siti Rohmah for their love and

support of financial and spiritual, and for her brothers and sisters, Mahfuz, Asep

Nasrullah, Umu Atiyah, and especially Yusrowati who has given a great support

for her in almost every condition.

Furthermore, it is pleasant task for her to extend this acknowledgement to:

1. All lecturers of English Department, who have taught and given their valuable

knowledge and inspiration for the writer during her study.

2. Ors. Nasifuddin Djalil, M.Ag., as her advisor for his time and sincerity in

guiding and helping her to finish this skripsi.

3. Ors. Syauki, M.Pd., as the head of English Department, Neneng Sunengsih,

S.Pd., as the secretary of English Department, and all staffs in English

Department.

4. Prof. Dr. Dede Rosyada, M.A., as the Dean of Tarbiyah and Teachers'

Training Faculty.

5. H. Nahrawi Mughni, S.Pd.I, as the Principal of SMP al Mubarak, who has

given the writer permission to hold a research in his institution, Ora. Romlah,

as the English teacher of eight class who has helped and has allowed the writer

UIN Jakarta, and the library of Atmajaya University Jakarta who had given

permission to read their books.

7. Also, for my friends in English Department, especially in B class for their

beautiful friendship.

Finally, The writer realizes that this research is far from being perfect.

Therefore, it is a pleasure for her to receive any constructive critics and valuable

suggestion for making her writing better. The writer hopes this skripsi would be

useful for the writer and the readers. Amin.

Tangerang, February 2009

ABSTRAK ... VI

ABSTRACT ... vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ... viii

TABLE OF CONTENT... x

LIST OF TABLES ... xii

LIST OF APPENDICES ... xiii

CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION ... . A. Background of the Study ... . B. Limitation and Formulation of the Study... 3

C. Purpose of the Study ... 4

D. Use of the Study... 4

E. Organization of the Study... 4

CHAPTER II : THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK... 5

A. The Concept of Grammar... 5

B. Plural Form... 7

!. Definition of Plural Form... 7

2. Types of Plural Form ... 7

C. Difficulties in Learning Grammar. ... 38

CHAPTER III : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY... 42

A. Time and Place ... 42

B. Method of the Study ... 42

C. Population and Sample... 42

D. Technique of Collecting Data ... 43

B. Analysis of Data ... 48 C. Interpretation of Data... S2

CHAPTER V : CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS... 55 A. Conclusion... 55 B. Suggestions... SS

BIBLIOGRAPHY... S7

APPENDICES

Tabel I : Plural Forms Area and Each Item... 46

Tabel 2 : Students' Score of Test Result ... 47

Tabel 3 : Frequency of Difficulty in Regular Forms ... 48

Tabel 4 : Frequency of Difficulty in Irregular Forms... 51

[image:11.595.72.439.132.530.2]

1. Test of Plural Forms of Noun 2. Answers Key of the Test

A. Background of tile Study

When we talk about language, it means that we are talking about our identity as human beings, besides its use for expressing both our individuality and our sense of belonging to a group. Young people are immersed in language during their waking hours. They use it to establish relationships, to understand and interpret their environment, and to interact with the world around them. Because of its significance, almost in all countries in the world, it becomes a subject matter at school, including in Indonesia. From the use above, it can be concluded that language is the main means of communication between peoples.

But, so many different languages have developed that language has often been a barrier rather than an aid to understand among peoples. Because there are so many different languages, however, people around the world have a difficult time understanding one another. Some people have wished for a universal international language that speakers all over the world could understand. Their reasons are straightforward and clear. A universal language will build cultural and economic bonds. It will also create better feelings among countries.

international groups of people with purposes and expertise in common."1 Many people in some countries learn English in order to be able to go to the other countries for some reasons such as politics, economy, education, and amusement. In Indonesia, English is the foreign language, which becomes a compulsory language, which has to be acquired and learned by the students in Indonesia besides Indonesian language itself. By acquiring English well, it will be easy for English to be communicated.

In English subject, there are some skills, which have to be mastered by the students, which are called the four basic language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Besides of the four basic skills, the students also have to master language components, namely vocabulary and grammar. Grammar is one of the language components, which has to be mastered by the students.

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Grammar should be taught appropriately because it is the basic element of a language. Without the proper knowledge of grammar, the learners will find many problems to express their ideas and built up sentence of communication. Even, the unknowing about the grammar can cause misunderstanding in conununication. Therefore, the knowledge about grammar is very important not only for the students but also for all the peoples in this world, so that the communication to each other can be informed well.

The problem is not all the students acquire English grammar well because English grammar is different from Indonesian grammar. The majority of the students get some difficulties in making or arranging a sentence in English correctly, so the idea, which will be discussed, is not based on the grammar. This problem is not only found in Elementary School but up to the university. It shows that the problem about grammar is very significant in communication.

The teacher has to find the way to teach grammar in order to make the students interested in grammar, and then it is easier for the teacher to transfer his knowledge to the students, because some students think of a grammar as rather

1

Christopher Brumfit, English ,for International Comrnunicatfon, (Oxford: Pergamon Press,

boring subject. They try to avoid grammar because it is confusing and hard to remember.

Plural form is one of the elements of grammar, which is very important to study, because many people get some difficulties in learning plural form and getting a confusion to use it. It may be because so many types of plural forms in English grammar. The students have to remember all typ1:s and understand about their changing from the singular to plural forms.

From this case, the writer is interested in analyzing the difficulties faced by the students in learning grammar, which is focused on plural forms of noun. In doing this research, the writer chooses the second year students of SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren, Tangerang.

\

To focus on this research, the writer would like to know the students' mastery of plural forms by studying the frequency of difficulty. Thus, the title of this writing is "An Analysis on the Difficulties Faced by the Students in Learning Plural Forms of Noun".

B. Limitation and Formnlation of the Study l. Limitation of the Stndy

To make more effective and efficient of this study, it is essential to limit the problem. Therefore, the writer limits the discussion on the difficulties of plural forms of noun, which is faced by the second year students of SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren, Tangerang.

2. Formulation of the Study

C. Purpose of the Study

The title of this 'skripsi' is An Analysis on the Students' Result Test about Difficulties of Plural Forms of Noun". So, the purpose of the study is to know and analyze difficulties, and to discuss them in the writer's skripsi.

D. Use of the Study

The result of this study is expected to be useful for ｴｨﾷｾ＠ student, especially for the second year of SMP al Mubarak Pondok Aren. This result is also expected to be useful for the teacher of English language so they know their students' ability and proficiency in grammar learning, especially in plural forms.

In addition, hopefully, it might be useful to the institution and the curriculum developers, which it is as feedback in evaluating and designing materials and teaching strategies in order to be better in the future.

E. Organization of the Study

The writer divides this skripsi into five chapters.

Chapter one is Introduction. It is about Background of the Study, Limitation and Formulation of the Study, Purpose of the Study, Use of the Study and Organization of the Study.

Chapter two is Theoretical Framework. It is divided into three sub chapters. The first is The Concept of Grammar, the second is Plural Form, and the third is Difficulties in Learning Grammar.

Chapter three is Research Methodology. It consists of Time and Place, Method of the Study, Population and Sample, Technique of Collecting Data and Technique of Analyzing Data.

Chapter four is Research Finding, which consists of Description of Data, Analysis of Data and Interpretation of Data.

A. The Concept of Grammar

Grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combines words (or bits of words) in order to form longer units of meaning. For example, in English the present form of the verb be in the third person has two distinct forms, one is being used with a singular subject, and the other is with a plural; and if the plural are is combined with a singular subject, the result is usually unacceptable or 'ungrammatical'. Thus, a sentence like: 77iis is a book is grammatical, whereas, This are a book is not. There is a set of rules which govern how units of meaning may be constructed in any language: we may say that a learner who ·knows grammar' is one who has mastered and can apply these rules to express him or herself in what would be considered acceptable language forms.1

Grammar is really an analysis of language. It is a study of how a language works. Like a technical manual, a grammar guide provides a breakdown of our language, showing how its various parts operate and how they fit together into sentences. Just as knowledge about the operation of one combustion engine will

1

Penny Ur, Granunar Practice Activities: A Practical Guide for Teachers, (Can1bridge:

teach you the principle behind all combustion engines, so a study of grammar teaches you the basic construction and operation of all sentences.2

The sheer variety of all the different structures that may be labelled ·grammatical' is enormous. Some have exact parallels in the native language and are easily mastered; others have no such parallels but are fairly simple m themselves; while yet others are totally alien and very difficult to grasp. Some have fairly simple forms, but it may be difficult to learn where to use them and where not (the definite aiticle, for example); others have relatively easy meanings, but very varied or difficult forms (the past simple tense). Some involve single-word choices (a/an/some), others entire sentences (conditionals).

When we teach any one of these types of structures, we are-or should be-getting our st11dents to learn quite a large number of different, though related, bits of knowledge and skills: how to recognize the examples of the structure when spoken, how to identify its written form, how to produce both its spoken and written form, how to understand its meaning in context, and produce meaningful sentences using it themselves. All these 'bits' may be presented in the form of a table below:

ASPECTS OF THE TEACHING/LEARNING OF STRUCTURES

Form Meaning

Listening Perception and recognition of Comprehension of what the the spoken form of the structure spoken structure means 111

context

Speaking Production of well-formed Use of the structure to convey examples in speech meanings in speech

Reading Perception and recognition of Comprehension of what the the written form written structure means 111

context

Writing Production of well-formed Use of the structure to convey examples in writing n1ean1ngs 111 \Vr1t1ng. . • . . 3

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2

Patricia Osborn. f/011· Granunar TVorks. (Nc\v York: John \Viley and Sons, !nc., 1989), p. 3.

3

B. Plural Form

1. Definition of Plural Form

Talking about plural forms, it means that we have to talk about number.

Number is the name of the system contrasting singular and plural. In the first

instance, it applies to noun inflection: nouns typically have contrasting

singular and plural forms.4 "A noun that names one person, place, or thing is a singular noun. A noun that names more than one person, place, or thing is a

plural noun".5

Furthermore, plural can be defined as "a grammatical number, typically

referring to more than one of the referent in the real world".6

According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, "Plural is (form of

word) used with reference to more than one".7 While grammatically, "Plural is

designating or of the category of number that refers to more than one person

or thing, or in languages having dual number, more than two".8

From the definitions about plural above, it can be concluded that plural

indicates simply that there is more than one of the person, place, or thing in

the real world.

2. Types of Plural Form

There are many ways of forming the plural of nouns, all of which have

their ancestry in inflectional changes in Old English. M.A. Leiper divides

plural forms into three categories that are regular, irregular, and peculiar

plurals.

a. The most important (regular) are as follows:

1) The great majority of nouns form their plural by adding s to the singular.

4

Rodney I.Juddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, A Student's fntroduc/ion to Eng!;sh Granunar,

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 85.

5

Laidlaw, English, (Illinois: Laidlall" Brothers Publishers, 1987), p. (>0. 6

http:/ I encvcloped ia .thefrcedictionarv. co1n/Engl ish+pl ural, Noven1ber 26th. 2008.

7

t\.S. Hornby, Oxford Ad1·anced Learner's Dictionary o/C'urrent English, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974), p. 643.

Boy, boys; table, tables; book, books.

2) For reasons of euphony, nouns ending with the hissing sounds ofs, x, z, sh, or ch form the plural by adding -es.

Box, boxes; church, churches; marsh, marshes.9

However, if final ch is pronounced [k], only s is added (monarchs, stomachs, epochs).10

3) Nouns in -y preceded by a consonant change y into i before adding -es. When preceded by a vowel, they nouns come under rule "a" above, as valley, valleys.

Count1y, countries; berry, berries; sky, skies.

Note: Names of proper nouns ending in y regularly add s to the form the plural, as Hemys, Mwys, Robys.

4) Nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant generally add -es to form the plural.

Hero, heroes; echo, echoes; Negro, Negroes.

There are many exceptions to this rule, as solo, solos; banjo, banjos; dynamo, dynamos; piano, pianos; soprano, sopranos. However, all nouns in -o preceded by a vowel belong under rule

'"a" above.

5) If a noun ends in -for -fe, it generally changes the for fe to -ves. There are fifteen nouns of this class. They are as follows:

beef calf elf half

knife leaf leaf life

loaf self sheaf shelf

thief wife wolf

Ho\vever, some such words of this class merely add s, as chief, chiefs; gulf, gulfs.11 A few words have either form for the plural (wharves or wharfs, scarfs or scarves).12

9

i\'f.r\. Leiper, A A'ew English .... p. 32. 10

iVfarcella Frank, 1\lodern English ... , p. 13.

11

M.A. Leiper, A New English ... , pp. 32-33.

12 _{tv!arcella Frank,}

b. Irregular and peculiar plurals

Several interesting and less regular methods of pluralizing should be

noted here:

!) Seven nouns form the plural by a change in the stem vowel; man,

n1en; foot, feet; lvon1an, lvo1nen; tooth, teeth; goose, geese; louse,

lice; mouse, nzice.

2) Many nouns borrowed from other languages retained the foreign

plural.

Note I: The following nouns from foreign languages retain the foreign plural:

Singular Plural Sing11lai: Plural

Alumna alum me focus foci

Alumnus alumni hypothesis hypotheses

Analysis analyses matrix matrices

Antithesis antitheses nebula nebulIB

Axis axes oasis oases

Bacterium bacteria parenthesis parentheses

Basis bases phenomenon phenomena

Crisis crises radius radii

Datum data stratum strata

Ellipsis ellipses thesis theses

Note 2: Among the commonest of the forei.gn plurals which use the foreign form along with the Anglicized form are as follows:

Singular Foreign form Anglicized form

Apex apices apexes

Appendix appendices appendixes

Automaton automata automatons

Beau beaux beaus

Cherub cherubim cherubs

Formula formulre :formulas

Genus genera gen uses

Index indices indexes

Libretto libretti I ibrettos

[image:22.595.93.436.85.537.2]

Seraph seraphim seraphs

Tableau tableaux tableaus

There is a tendency in much ease to discard the foreign plural, as withformula,formuhe or formulas; bandit, banditti or bandits. 3) Figures, letters, words used as such, etc. form the plural by adding

's:

He uses too many and's. There are three p's in "pepper".

4) The pluralizing of titles varies considerably. Mr. Has for its plural Messrs., which stands for the French Messieurs, as in "the Messrs. Lowell". Mrs. Has no plural; the name following is pluralized, as "the Mrs. Henrys". Miss has for its plural Misses, as "the Misses Hill". The general rule here is that titles remain in the singular, leaving the noun following to indicate plurality.

5) Compound terms, as a rule, pluralize the noun pati qualified and not the distinguishing word or phrase, as, step-son, step-sons; father-in-law, fathers-in-law. Handfuls and similar words are exceptions. Some compound terms take double plurals, as

man-servant, nJen-servants.

6) Some nouns have the same form in both singular and plural, as one deer, two deer; this sheep, those sheep. Examples of this class are heathen, trout, gross, s1vine, grouse, and salmon.

7) Many very common nouns have only the plural form. The commonest of these are: shears, trousers, nuptials, pincers, riches, goody, mumps, bowels, and ethics.

plural agreement, but are singular in meaning, as "The scissors are

sharp'\ "these pincers".

8) Some nouns have two plurals of different meanings. Cloth has cloths and clothes; penny, pennies, and pence; die, dies and dice; brother, brothers and brethren. Consult the dictionary for the difference in meanings of these plurals.

9) Some nouns, which had no plural ending in Old English, have the same form for singular and plural, as deer, sheep. After numerals many nouns of weight and measure use only the singular form, as ten ton, six gross, three pair, four dozen. The influence of this usage is seen in such expressions as "a six-foot pole", "a two-horse

wagon", etc.13

Other types of plural forms is taken from an article "English Plural" in a website, as follows:

a. Regular plurals

The plural morpheme in English is suffixed to the end of most nouns. l) The plural form is usually represented orthographically by adding

-s to the singular form. The phonetic form of the plural morpheme is [z] by default. When the preceding sound is a voiceless consonant, it is pronounced [s]. Examples:

jboy llboys 11/bJrz/

I

lgirl llgirls

I

/g3:lz/,/g3'lzl EJjcats jj/krets/

I

jchairjjchairsJ /tfEazl,/tfEJZ/

13

2) Where a noun ends in a sibilant sound--[s], [Jl, [tf], [z], (3], or [ci3]-the plural is formed by adding (rz] (also pronounced ｲｾｺ｝ＩＬ＠ which is spelled -es if the word does not already end with -e: !dish lldishes W'drJrz/

I

\glass llglasses W'glresrz/

I

rudgejf udges \l1'ci3Aci3rz1J

l p h a s e i B B

Bf

witches /'wrtfrz/

Morphophonetically, these rules are sufficient to describe most English plurals. However, there are several complications introduced in spelling.

3) The -oes rule: most nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant also form their plurals by adding -es (pronounced [z]):

ｾＡｈ･ｲｯ･ｳ＠

I

!potato llpotatoes

I 1volcanoljvolcanoes

Many nouns of foreign origin are exceptions to the -oes rule: !canto IJcantos

I \piano llpianos

!1

\portico llporticos

I

quarto (paper

lquai1os

I

size)

4) The -ies rule: nouns ending in a y preceded by a consonant drop the y and add -ies. (pronounced [iz]) This is taught to many American students with the rhyme: "Change the 'y' to 'i' and add

Note, however, that proper nouns (particularly those for people or places) ending in a y preceded by a consonant form their plurals regularly:

Germanys (as in The two Germanys were unified in

1990; this rule is not commonly adhered to as several

Germany

book titles show, and Sicilies rather than Sicilys is the standard plural of Sicily)

jHarry

I

Harrys (as in There are three Han:vs in our office)

This does not apply to words that are merely capitalized common nouns:

P&O Ferries (from.ferry)

Some other exceptions include lay-bys and stand-bys.

Words ending in ay preceded by a vowel form their plurals regularly:

day

II

days

monkey

II

monkeys

b. Almost-regular plurals

Many nouns ending in a voiceless fricative mutate that sound to a voiced fricative before adding the plural ending. In the case of [f] changing to [v] the mutation is indicated in the orthography as well:

ｅｊｾ＠

/ba:6z/, /bre6z/ (also /ba:8z/, /bre8z/)

jhouse llhouses 11/hauzrz/

J

mouth l!mouths l/mau6z/

J

ｾｪ｣｡ｬｶ･ｳ＠

Jlika:vzi,/krevz/

J

ｾＡｷｯｬｶ･ｳ＠

11/wulvz/

J

In practice, many people do not change the fricative, and instead use regular plurals.

Some retain the voiceless consonant:

Some can do either:

ldwarf !\dwarfs/dwarves

I

ｾ｜ｨｯｯｦｳＯｨｯｯｶ･ｳ＠

I

EC]

roofs/rooves (latter archaic)

ｾＡｳｴ｡ｦｦｳＯｳｴ｡ｶ･ｳ＠

I

ｾ＠

turfs/turves (latter rare)

differentiate the "dwarf' fantasy race in his novels from the cuter and

simpler beings common in fairy tales, but his usage has since spread.

Multiple astronomical dwarf stars and multipk nonmythological short

human beings, however, remain dwarfs.

Note 2: For staff in the sense of "a body of employees", the plural is always staffs; otherwise, both staffs and staves are acceptable, except in compounds; such as flagstaffs. The stave of a barrel or cask is a back-formation from staves, which is its plural. (See the Plural to singular by back-formation section below).

c. Irregular plurals

There are many others less regular ways of forming plurals, usually

stemming from older forms of English or from foreign borrowings.

1) Nouns with identical singular and plural

Some nouns spell their singular and plural exactly alike; these are

regarded by some linguists as regular plurals. Many of these are the

names of animals:

deer

fish (and many individual fish names: cod, mackerel, trout,

etc.)

moose " sheep

swine

The plural deers is listed in some dictionaries. but is considered by many to be an error.

Fish does have a regular plural form, but it differs in meaning from the unmarked plural; fishes refers to several species or other taxonomic types, while fish (plural) is used to describe multiple individual animals: one would say "the order of fishes", but "five fish in an

miracle of the loaves and fishes, for example, and is also sometimes used for rhetorical emphasis, as in phrases like sleep with the fishes.

Other nouns that have identical singular and plural forms include: aircraft

blues

cannon (sometimes cannons) head

Note 3: Referring to individual songs in the blues musical style: "play me a blues"; "he sang three blues and a calypso".

Note 4: Referring, in the plural, to animals in a herd: "fifty head of cattle".

2) Irregular -(e)n plurals

The plural of a few nouns can also be formed from the singular by adding -n or -en, stemming from the obsolete Old English weak declension:

(paiticularly when referring to a team of draft ox oxen animals, sometimes oxes e.g. in a metaphorical

sense)

(archaic/regional; actually earlier plural "kye" cow kine [cf. Scots "kye" - "'co\vs"] plus -en suffix,

forming a double plural)

I

eye

II

eyen

I

(rare, found in some regional dialects)

I

I

shoe

II

shoon

II

(rare/dialectal)

ｾ＠

B

(rare/dialectal, used by Rudyard Kipling in housen

Puck of Pook's Hill)

I

brother

I

brethren

I

II

II

fraternal order)

EJ

children (actually earlier plural "cildra/cildru" plus -en suffix, forming a double plural)

3) Umlaut plurals

The plural is sometimes formed by simply changing the vowel sound of the singular, in a process called umlaut (these are sometimes called mutated plurals):

I

foot

II

feet

I'

I

goose

II

geese

I

I

louse

II

lice

I

I

man

II

men

I

I

mouse

II

_mice

I

I

tooth

II

teeth

I

I

woman

II

women

I

JWouse is sometimes pluralized mouses in discussions of the

computer mouse; however, mice is just as common.

4) Irregular plurals ji·om Latin and Greek

plurals are listed, together with the anglicized forms when they are more common.

(a) Final a becomes -ae (also -i:e), or just adds -s:

I

alumna

II

alumnae

_J

I

formula

II

formulae/formulas

I

I

encyclopedia

II

encyclopedias (encyclopediae is rare)

(b) Final ex or ix becomes -ices (pronounced [r,si:z] or [G,siz]), or just adds -es:

ｾｉ＠

indices

II

/'rndr,si:z/

I

or indexes

I

matrix

I

matrices

I

/'mertrr,si:z/

II

I

I

vertex

II

vertices

I

/'v3 :tr,si :z/,/'vstr,si:z/11

I

Some people treat process as If It belonged to this class, pronouncing processes /'prasr,si:z/ instead of standard /'prascsrz/. Since the word comes from Latin processus, whose plural is again processus, but now with a long u (fouith declension), this pronunciation is without etymological basis.

(c) Final is becomes es (pronounced [.i:z]:

EJEJI

/'a;k,si:z/

I

E J \ c r i s e s

I

/'krar,si:z/

ｾＶ＠

/'tcs,ti :z/

(d) Final ies remains unchanged: series \\ series \ species

II

species \

( e) Final on becomes -a:

I

automaton

II

automata

ｾ＠

I

criterion

II

criteria

ｾ＠

I

phenomenon

II

phenomena (more below)

I

polyhedron

II

polyhedra

ｾ＠

(f) Final um becomes -a, or just adds -s:

I

addendum

II

addenda

agenda (agenda is now a common

agendun1 shortening for a list of agenda, and has its own plural, agendas)

plural use and some recommend treating it

only as a singular in connection with

computers.)

I

forum

II

fora/forums

media (in communications and computers;

medium now often treated as a singular mass noun)/

mediums (spiritualists)

memorandum memoranda/memorandums

I

(g) Final us becomes -i (second declension) or -era or -ora (third declension), or just adds

-es

(especially in fourth declension, where it would otherwise be the same as the singular):

I

alumnus

II

alumni

I

corpus

II

corpora

I

genus

II

genera

prospectus prospectuses (plural pro.s :pee/us is rare)

I

radius

II

radii

I

VISCUS

II

viscera

Virus had no plural ending in Latm; the plural 111 English is

usually viruses.

cactuses/cacti (in Arizona 1nany people

cactus avoid either choice with cactus as both singular and plural.)

I

Fungus

II

fungi

Hippopotamus hippopotamuses/hippopotami

although it is strictly speaking unfounded, because it is not a Latin noun of the second declension, but rather a Latinized form o, Greek OKTc01rovr;, The theoretically correct form octopodes is rarely used.)

platypuses (same as octopus: platypi occurs but is etymologically incorrect, and Platypus

plat;podes, while technically correct, is even rarer than octopodes)

I

Terminus

I

termini/terminuses

I

Uterus

II

uteri/uteruses

,

Colloquial usages based 111 a humorous fashion on the second

declension include Elvii to refer to multiple Elvis impersonators and Loti, used by to refer to Lotus automobiles in the plural.

(h) Final as in one case of a noun of Greek origin changes to

-antes:

I

Atlas

I

Atlantes (statues of the hero):.

I

atlas

I

Atlases (map collections)

(i) Final ma in nouns of Greek origin can add -ta, although -s is usually also acceptable, and in many cases more common.

I

stigma

I

stigmata/stigmas

\ stoma

I

stomata/stomas

I

schema! schemata/schemas

I

dogma

I

dogmata/dogmas

5) Irregular plurals from other languages

(a) Some nouns of French origin add -x:

EJjBeaux

I

jbureau

I

bureaus or bureaux chateau IChateaux

I

(b) Nouns of Slavic origin add -a or -i according to native rules, or just -s:

kniazhestvo kniazhestva/kniazhestvosj lkobzar !lkobzari/kobzars

I

loblast lloblasti/oblasts

I

(c) Nouns of Hebrew ongm add -im or -at (generally m/f) according to native rules, or just -s:

!cherub

I

Cherubim/cherubs jmatzohj matzot/matzos !seraph

j

Seraphim/seraphs

"

Note that at is pronounced os in the Ashkenazi dialect.

(d) Many nouns of Japanese origin have no plural form and do not change:

lbenshi llBenshi

I

iotaku llOtaku

I

ｾｾ＠

( e) In New Zealand English, nouns of Maori origin can either take an -s or have no separate plural form. Words more connected to Maori culture and used in that context tend to retain the same form, while names of flora and fauna may or may not take an -s, depending on context. Omission is regarded by many as more correct:

lldwi llkiwi/kiwis

I

kowhai lkowhai/kowhais

I

!Maori

j

Maoril(occasio11ally Maoris)

lmarae llMarae

I

Ll\tuis/tui

I

jwaka !!Waka

l1

Note 5: When referring to the bird, kiwi may or may not take an -s; when used as an informal term for a New Zea!ander, it always takes an -s.

(f) In Canada and Alaska, some words borrowed from lnuktitut retain traditional plurals (see also Plurals of names of peoples, below):

EJEJ

inukshuk//inukshuit

(g) Nouns from languages that have donated few words to English, and that are spoken by relatively few English speakers, generally form plurals as if they were native English words:

jcanoe l!Canoes

ｉｾ］］］］Ｚ＠

I igloo Jllgloos

I jkangaroo IJKangaroos

I

lkayak llKayaks

I

!kindergarten llKindergartens

I \pizza J\rizzas

I ilsauna jjsaunas

I

6) Words better known i11 the plural

Original singular Original plural/ _{C:·mmon plural} common singular

!Thou llYou

I E IAgendum llagenda

I

agendas

!Alga llAlgae

II

algae

!Candelabrum llcandelabra !lcandelabras jDatum

II

Data "data (mass noun)

1jGraffito llGraffiti

I graffiti (mass noun)

I

llnsigne lllnsignia I insignias

I

I Opus llOpera Jloperas

ｾ＠

jranino _IJPanini

I

paninis (currently gaining use) Jraparazzo

II

paparazzi J paparazzi

Note 6: An agenda commonly 1s used to mean a bst of agenda. Note 7: A single piece of data is sometimes referred to as a data point.

I

nuptial

II

_nuptials

I

I

phalanx

II

_phalanges

I

tiding

IJ

tidings

I

I

victual

II

_victuals

I

I

viscus

II

_viscera

I

Note 8: In medical terminology, a phalanx is any bone of the finger or toe. A military phalanx is pluralized phalanxes.

A related phenomenon is the confusion of a foreign plural for its singular form:

I

criterion J/ criteria

I

phenomenon J phenomena J

symposium J symposia

I

1vfagazine was derived from Arabic via French. It was originally plural, but in English, it is always regarded as singular.

cl. Plurals of numbers

Plurals of numbers differ according to how they are used. The following rules apply to dozen, score, hundred, thousand, million, and similar terms:

(I) When modified by a number, the plural is not inflected, that is, has no -s added. Hence one hundred, two hundred, etc. For vaguer large numbers, one may say several hundred or many hundreds. (2) When used alone, or followed by a prepositional phrase, the plural

(3) The preposition of is used when speaking of non-specific items identified by pronouns: two hundred of these, three dozen of those. The of is not used for a number of specific items: three hundred oriental rugs. However, ifthe pronoun is included with the specific item, the of is used:five million o.fthose dollar bills.

e. Nouns used attributively

Nouns used attributively to qualify other nouns are generally in the singular, even though for example, a dog catcher catches more than one dog, and a department store has more than one department. This is true even for some binary nouns where the singular form is not found in isolation, such as trouser press or scissor kick. It is also true where the attribute noun is itself qualified with a number, such as a twenty-dollar bill, a ten-foot pole or a tlVo-man tent. The plural is used for pluralia tantum nouns; a glasses case is for eyeglasses, while a glass case is made of glass. The plural may also be used to emphasise the plurality of the attribute, especially in British English: a careers advisor, a languages expert. The plural is also more common with irregular plurals for certain attributions: women killers are women, whereas woman killers kill women.

f. Defective nouns

Some nouns have no singular form. Such a noun is called a plurale tantum (see also Words better known in the plural above):

billiards, clothes, measles, thanks, vittles

Some of these do have singular adjective forms, such as billiard ball. In addition, some are treated as singular in construction, e.g., "billiards is a game played on a table with billiard balls and a cue", ''measles is an infectious disease". Thanks is usually treated as plural.

A particular set of nouns, describing things having two parts, comprises the major group ofpluralia tantum in modern English:

Note that these words are interchangeable with a pair of scissors, a pair of trousers, and so forth. In the U.S. fashion industry it is common to refer to a single pair of pants as a pant -though this is a back-formation, the English word (deriving from the French pantalon) was originally singular. In the same field, one half of a pair of scissors separated from the other half is, rather illogically, referred to as a half-scissor. Tweezers used to be part of this group, but tweezer has come into common usage since the second half of the twentieth century.

Mass nouns (or uncountable nouns) do not represent distinct objects, so the singular and plural semantics do not apply in the same way. Some examples:

(I) Abstract nouns

goodness, idleness, honesty, deceit, freshness, bitterness, information, obscurity, wisdom, cunning

(2) Arts and sciences

chemistry, geometry, surgery, mechanics, optics, blues, jazz, rock and roll, impressionism, surrealism

(3) Chemical elements and other physical entities:

antimony, gold, oxygen, equipment, furniture, gear, species, air, water, sand, traffic

Some mass nouns can be pluralized, but the meaning thereof may change slightly. For example, when I have two pieces of sand, I do not have two sands; I have sand. There is more sand in your pile, not more sands. However, there could be "sands of Africa"--either many distinct stretches of sand, or distinct types of sand of interest to geologists or builders, or simply the allusive sands of Afi'ica.

UfN

SYAHID .!AKA.P.TA

There is only one class of atoms called oxygen, but there are several

isotopes of oxygen, which might be referred to as different oxygens. In

casual speech, oxygen might be used as shotihand for "oxygen atoms", but in this case it is not a mass noun, so it is entirely sensible to refer to

multiple oxygens in the same molecule.

Specie and species make a fascinating case. Both words come from a Latin word meaning "kind'', but they do not form a singular-plural pair;

they are separate nouns. Coins, such as nickels, euros (see Linguistic

issues concerning the euro), and cents are specie, but there is no plural. The idea is "payment in kind". In addition, species, the "kinds of living things". is the same in singular and plural.

g. Plurals of compound nouns

I) The majority of English compound nouns have one basic term, or

head, with which they end, and are pluralized in typical fashion:

jable seaman JJable seamen

jheadbanger jJheadbangers

J

yellow-dog contract jjYellow-dog contracts

2) A compound that has one head, with which it begins, usually

pluralizes its head:

Jattorney general ltorneys general I

J

lb ill of attainder

j

bills of attainder

J

icou11 martial llcourts martial

J

!governor-general

j

governors-general

J

!Passerby

II

passersby

J

!ship of the line iiships of the line

l

\minister-president

I

ministers-president] !knight-errant

I

knights-errant

ｾ＠

procurator fiscal

(in

J

Scotland) procurators fiscal ' =

It is common in informal speech to instead pluralize the last word in the manner typical of most English nouns, but in edited prose, the forms given above are preferred.

3) If a compound can be thought to have two heads, both of them tend to be pluralized when the first head has an irregular plural form: \man-child !\men-children

\manservant l!Menservants

I

woman doctorjjwomen doctors

4) Two-headed compounds in which the first head has a standard plural form, however, tend to pluralize only the final head:

\city-state llcity-states

I

nurse-practitioner nurse-practitioners !scholar-poet llscholar-poets

I

5) In military usage, the term general, as part of an officer's title, is etymologically an adjective, but it has been adopted as a noun and thus a head, so compound titles employing it are pluralized at the end:

6) For compounds of three or more words that have a head (or a term functioning as a head) with an irregular plural form, only that term is pluralized:

!\man-about-town \\men-about-town

l

Iman-of-war \lmen-of-war

l

woman of the street Women of the street

J

7) For many other compounds of three or more words with a head at the front--especially in cases where the compound is ad hoc and/or the head is metaphorical-it is generally regarded as acceptable to pluralize either the first major term or the last (if open when singular, such compounds tend to take hyphens when plural in the latter case):

llrnm on rye llhams on rye/ham-on-ryes

J

ｾ｡｣ｫＭｩｮＭｴｨ･Ｍ｢ｯｸ＠

lpacks-in-the-box,ljack-in-the-boxes

I

ｾ｡｣ｫＭｩｮＭｴｨ･Ｍｰｵｬ＠

pit

\p

acks-i n-the-pul pit/jack-in-the-pulpits

8) With a few extended compounds, both terms may be pluralized-again, with an alternative (which may be more prevalent, e.g., heads of state):

!head of state I heads of states/heads of state

I

Ison of a bitch

I

sons of bitches/son-of-a-bitches

I

9) With extended compounds constructed around o •, only the last term is pluralized (or left unchanged if it is already plural):

cat-a' -nine-tails ljcat-o' -nine-tails

will-o' -the-wisp will-o' -the-wisps

h. Plurals (and singulars) of headless nouns

In The Language Instinct, linguist Steven Pinker discusses what he calls "headless words", typically bahuvrihi compounds, like lowlife and Red Sox, in which life and sox are not heads semantically; that is, a lowlife is not a type of life, nor are Red Sox a group of similarly colored socks. When the common form of such a word is singular, it is treated as if it has a regular plural, even if the final constituent of the word is usually pluralized in a nonregular fashion. Thus, more than one lowlife are lowlifes, not "lowlives". A related process can be observed with the compound maple leaf, pluralized in its common-noun form as maple leaves; when it is adopted as the name of an ice··hockey team, its plural

becomes Maple Leafs. Other examples include: jflatfoot llflatfoots

I

sabertooth sabertooths still life still lifes tenderfoot tenderfoots

An exception 1s Blackfoot, of which the plural can be Blac/geet, though that form of the name is officially rejected by the Blackfoot First Nations of Canada.

metaphorical relationship in this case, with many computer-pointing devices resembling rodents with tails.

i. Nouns with multiple plurals

Some nouns have two plurals, one used to refer to a number of things considered individually, the other to refer to a number of things collectively. In some cases, one of the two is nowadays archaic or dialectal.

!brother

II

brothers

!I

brethren

I

jcannon !lcannons

II

Cannon

I

'Child ''children llChilder

I

I

Cloth llcloths "Clothes

I

jcow

!I

cows

II

kine

I

jrne

II

dice

II

dies

I

!Fish

II

fish

II

fishes

I

iris (pl ant)

I

_iris

II

irises

I'

I

penny

II

pennies

II

pence

I

!person

!I

persons llPeople

I

!Pig llpigs

II

Swine

I

jsow

II

sows

II

Swine

I

Note 9: Childer has all but disappeared, but can still be seen in Childermas (Jnnocents'Day).

Note 10: Clothes refers collectively to all of a household's washable cloth articles, but is now used almost exclusively of garments.

number generator. Dice is also the accepted plural form of die in the semiconductor industry.

Note 13: For multiple plants, iris is used, but irises is used for multiple blossoms.

Note 14: If you have several (British) one-penny pieces you have several pennies. Pence is used for an amount of money, which can be made up of

a number of coins of different denominations: one penny and one five-penny piece are together worth six pence. The suffixed minor currency unit of 'p' (/pi/) is often vocalised, where such small divisions of currency are discussed in common speech, and used for both the singular and the 'amount plural', but 'number plurals' build upon the base values and any omission of the unit shifts the plural to the coin's numerator (e.g. "I have a one /pi/ and three twenty lpizl and two fifties in my pocket. I can't believe I only have one pound, sixty-one /pi/ left after last night."). In written speech, a number of coins might be "two I Ops", although those that prefer to use apostrophes for initial isms may decide to use the "two I Op 's" variant.

Note 15: Penny and pennies also refer to one or more U.S. one-cent pieces, though in American usage, a nickel is worth five cents, not five pence. Note 16: The word people is usually treated as the suppletive plural of person (one person, many people). However, in legal and other formal contexts, the plural of person is persons; furthermore, people can also be a singular noun with its own plural (for example, "We are many persons, from many peoples").

j. Plurals of symbols and initialisms

Individual letters and abbreviations whose plural would be ambiguous if only an -s were added are pluralized by adding-'s.

Opinion is divided on whether to extend this use of the apostrophe to related but nonambiguous cases, such as the plurals of numerals (e.g., 1990's vs. 1990s) and words used as terms (e.g., ''his writing uses a lot of but's" vs. "his writing uses a lot of buts"). Some writers favor the use of the apostrophe as consistent with its application in ambiguous cases; others say it confuses the plural with the possessive -'s and should be avoided whenever possible in pluralization, a view with which The Chicago Manual of Style concurs.

Acronyms are initialisms used as if they are words. Clearly, it is not desirable to pluralize the acronym laser as laser's. Thus, the most consistent approach for pluralizing acronyms is to simply add a lowercase -s as a suffix. This works well even for acronyms <:nding with ans, as with CASs (pronounced "kazzes"), while still making it possible to use the possessive form (- 's) for acronyms without confusion. The traditional style of pluralizing single letters with - 's was naturally extended to acronyms when they were commonly written with periods. This form is still preferred by some people for all initialisms and thus --'s as a suffix is often seen in informal usage.

k. Plural to singular by back-formation

Kudos is a singular Greek word meaning praise, but is often taken to be a plural. At present, however, kudo is considered an error, though the usage is becoming more common as kudos becomes better known. The name of the Greek sandwich style gyros is, increasingly, undergoing a similar transformation.

I. Plurals of names of peoples

There are several different rules for this.

1) In discussing peoples whose demonym takes -man or -woman, there are three options: pluralize to -men or ··women if referring to individuals, and use the root alone if referring to the whole nation, or add people.

Dutchman Dutchmen

!the

ｄｵｴ･ｾ＠

Dutchwoman Dutchwomen Englishman _Englishmen

ｅｾ＠

the Englishi Englishwoman Englishwomen

J

Frenchman Frenchmen

the French Frenchwoman Frenchwomen

Irishman Irishmen

the Irish Irishwoman Irishwomen

Scotsman Scotsmen

!the Scots] Scotswoman Scotswomen

Welshman Welshmen

!the Welsjl Welshwoman Welshwomen

One can say "a Scots(wo)man" or "a Scot", '·Scots(wo)men", "Scottish people", or "Scots", and "the Scottish" or "the Scots". (Scotch is considered old fashioned.)

calls for the elimination of terminal letters so the pluralizing suffix can be connected directly with the last consonant of the root):

EJEJ

the Danes

ｾ＠

the Danish

EJEJ

the Finns

ｾ＠

Finns

the Finnish the Spaniards Spaniard Spaniards

the Spanish (much more common)

BEJ

the Swedes

ｾ＠

Swedes

the Swedish

3) Names of peoples that end in -ese take no plural:

!Chinese

I

Chinese

the Chinese Chinese people

!Japanese

I

Japanese

the Japanese] Japanese people

Other names of peoples that have no plural form include Swiss

andQuebecois.

4) Most names for Native Americans are not pluralized: Blood

5) Some exceptions include Algonquins, Aztecs, Chippewas, Crees, Hurons, Mohawks, and Oneidas. Note also the following words borrowed from Inuktitut:

llnuk lllnuit

I

\rqalummiuq

I

Iqalummiut ("inhabitant of Iqaluit")

I

jNunavimmiuq

I

Nunavimmiut ("inhabitant ofNunavik") jNunavummiuq

j

Nunavummiut ("inhabitant of Nunavut")

6) Names of most other peoples of the world are pluralized using the normal English rules.

m. Discretionary plurals

A number of words like army, company, crowd, fleet, government, majority, mess, number, pack, and party may refer either to a single entity or the members of the set that compose it. Tlrns, as H. W. Fowler describes, in British English they are "treated as singular or plural at discretion"; Fowler notes that occasionally a "delicate distinction" is made possible by discretionary plurals: "The Cabinet is divided is better, because in the order of thought a whole must precede division; and The Cabinet are agreed is better, because it takes two or more to agree".

n. Snob plurals

Another type of irregular plural occurs in the register of the English upper classes in the context of field sports, where the singular form is used in place of the plural, as in "two lion" or "five pheasant". Eric Partridge refers to these as "snob plurals" and conjectures that they may have developed by analogy with the common English irregular plural animal

\vords '"deer", "'sheep" and ''trout".

English rule of adding -(e)s, and, second, by the likelihood they are being so used to enhance the status of the speaker. While speaking to a group of monolingual Anglophone friends, someone talking about a recent trip to Russia who says, "We visited five oblasti", is most likely using a snob plural. Latinate plurals for nouns of Greek origin mentioned earlier in this article are often employed as snob plura!s--e.g., cacti or hippopotami--although for substantial numbers of speakers, i:hey are simply the unmarked usages. The use of non-standard plurals can be one convenient way to communicate the claim that the speaker has a certain level of knowledge associated with sophistication and, more generally, prestige. Because the pragmatics of this usage are heavily dependent on context, it's impossible to say that a particular use of pluralization is, or is not, a snob plural in the absence of situational information. Someone speaking at an academic conference to fellow Slavicists might use ob/asti without the expectation of enhanced social status and, therefore .. not be using a snob plural (on the other hand, the speaker might fear a loss of social status for using "oblasts"). Articles in encyclopaedias are, overall, written for the general reader and avoid fonns of plural that would likely confuse those not already familiar with the topic.14

From the classifications above, it can be seen some similarities between the classification of plural forms according to Leiper and an article "English Plural" in a website. The similarities are at: regular and irregular plurals. On the other hand, it can be said that these are general forms of plural noun.

C. Difficulties in Learning Grammar

·'Difficult to learn" refers both to the time a student takes to learn a particular structure and the consistency with which s/he uses it. We all are aware that language learning takes time (and energy and support and input and opp01tunities for output) with some aspects of the new language coming earlier in the process

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and with less effort-and therefore being called "easy"-wh ile other aspects of the language come later with more effort and with inconsistencies in production-and therefore being called "difficult".

As learners we have experienced and as teachers we have observed, the change in "difficulty/ease" for a particular item in different contexts. Students can handle a particular bit of grammar "easily" in exercises....especially in sentence-level drills and short bursts of production but cannot handle that structure in expanded contexts such as in writing whole pieces (paragraphs, essays, etc.). The same student might find subject-verb agreement a snap in drills but cannot identify the subjects of her/his own sentences and cannot consistently decide which verbs needs to have an added -s.

Some students also think that certain items of grammar "easy" not because they can use them consistently but because they have heard so much about them over so many years. The concept of the grammar is familiar to them-even when their ability to produce the grammar is inconsistent.

Naturally enough, learners from different linguistic backgrounds will have different nominees for the "ease/difficult" matrix. While speakers of Chinese and of Spanish will all have difficulties with the English article system, their problems come with different aspects of the system. 15

Here some typical difficulties for learners, specifically about nouns:

l. Comprehension

For many learners, not knowing the meaning of specific nouns they come across is a major problem. Problems with the grammar of nouns, however, rarely impedes understanding.

2. Speaking and writing

a) Word endings

Many adjectives have related noun forms (e.g. beautiful: beauty, cautious: caution). Learners sometimes make plausible and intelligent

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guesses about the form of these nouns, but their guess may be mistaken (e.g. *jealousness; *angriness; *youngtime).

b) Countable and uncountable 11ou11s

Learners sometimes use uncountable nouns as though they were countable (e.g. *Two inputs, *How many money? *an information, *a good weather).

Learners may be misled by their own language (e.g. the equivalent of an uncountable word in English such as money may be countable), or something may simply seem logical to them (e.g. information 'ought' to be countable).

They sometimes use plural nouns as though they were singular (e.g. *The people is here).

With people there are the additional problems that:

(I) The word doesn't look like its singular equivalent (person).

(2) Some languages have a very similar word which is singular (e.g. French peuple).

(3) With a different but related meaning, people can be singular in English. The French are a people who enjoy good food.

They sometimes use plural nouns as though they were uncountable (e.g. *Her clothes was torn).

c) Choosing the wrong plural form

Learners may make regular plural forms of nouns that are irregular (e.g. *a lot of womans, *three childrens).

d) Using 1101111s to modijj> nouns

They sometimes over-use 's (e.g. *a computer's keyboard, *a wine's glass). They sometimes use 'something of something' (e.g. *A flight of British Airways).

Learners who do use nouns to modify