Day: February 18, 2017

Hey guys, today I am going to teach you the difference between singular and plural in the English language with the most used words than you can find in everyday English.

Singular / Plural.

1. book / books; Chair / Chairs; boy / boys, cupboard / cupboards.

• Spealing rule:  For the plural form of most nouns you just need to add ‘s’.

2. Box / Boxes; watch / watches / class / classes; bus / buses.

• Spealing rule: For nouns that end in ch, x, s, or s sounds just add ‘es‘

3. dictionaty / dictionaries.

• Spealing rule: Change y to ‘ies’.

4. Bookshelf / bookshelves; wife / wives.

• Change f to ‘ves‘.

5. Person / people; man / men; woman / women;  child / children. 

• Irregular.

6. Series / series; deer / deer.

• A few nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

7. toy / toys; potato / potatoes.

• Nouns ending in vowels like ‘y‘ or ‘o‘ do not have definite rules

In English we do not usually pronounce the e in –ed endings.

The -ed ending is often pronounced /t/ or /d/. The difference between these endings is very small.

e.g. booked /t/ = (read this word like bookt);

e.g argued /d/ = (read this word as argud).

• We pronounce the e in –ed where there is a t or d before it.

i.e. wanted (read this word like wantid);

i.e. ended (read this word as endid).

* With these verbs -ed=/Id/

 

1. We often use the passive when it is not said, known or important who does an action.

e.g. A lot of films are shot on location. (be + P.P).

• If you want to say who did the action, use BY.

e.g. The book was written by me. (be+Past participle+by).

2. There are two possibilities to say things: in the active or in the passive. Compare:

i.e. The book was written in 2011.= The focus is more on the book. (passive)

i.e. I wrote the book last year.= The focus is more on me. (active)

• We form negatives and questions in the same way as in active sentences.

e.g. A lot of foreign films aren’t subtitled. (Be+not+P.P)

e.g. Is your house being built today? = (To make a question you just need to invest the subject with the verb+Be+P.P).

• Use the passive to talk about processes, formal writing, such as newspaper reports.

i.e. Then the water is heated to 100 degrees. (Be+Past Participle).

• Past Participle is the third part of the verbs, e.g (1.TO BE – 2.WAS/WERE- 3. BEEN)