RULES TO USE NOUN
Some important rules for noun
Rule 1: The following words are uncountable and are normally used in the singular form only. The indefinite article “A or An” Should not be used with them.They have no plural forms. ‘A/An’ not used before them.
Ex: Luggage / Baggage / Breakage / Advice / Furniture / Information / Scenery / Poetry / Work / Soap / Food / Bread / Fish / Paper / Machinery etc.
Incorrect – The Sceneries of Kashmir is very beautiful.
Correct – The Scenery of Kashmir is very beautiful.
Incorrect – I know that he has many informations.
Correct – I know that he has much information / a lot of information.
Incorrect – They gave me a good advice.
Correct – They gave me a piece of good advice.
Incorrect – I want a Soap/Bread.
Correct – I want a piece of Soap/Bread.
Rule 2: The words such as “News / Maths / Ethics / Politics / Phonetics / Economics / Statistics / Measles / Mumps / Rickets / Billiards / Innings” look like plural nouns but give singular meaning. So, they take singular form of verbs.
Correct – Mathematics is a difficult subject.
Correct – But say “His Mathematics are very weak”.
Rule: When preceded by a possessive adjective, the noun takes a plural verb.
Incorrect – Billiards are an interesting game.
Correct – Billiards is an interesting game.
Incorrect – The news are not reliable.
Correct – The news is not reliable.
Rule 3: Some Nouns have the same form whether singular or plural.
Ex: Sheep / Deer / Service / Series / Series / Species /Fish / Apparatus
Incorrect – He saw two sheeps in the zoo.
Correct – He saw two sheep in the zoo
Incorrect – A series of lectures are to be delivered tomorrow.
Correct – A series of lectures is to be delivered tomorrow.
Rule 4: The following nouns are always used in the plural form only
Cattle / People / Police / Electorate / Poultry / Trousers / Scissors / Spectacles / Binoculars / Crackers / Swine / Gentry / Clergy. All these are used with plural form of verbs.
Incorrect – The police is coming towards us now.
Correct – The police are coming towards us now.
Incorrect – The scissor is very sharp.
Correct – The scissors are very sharp.
Rule 5: Add ‘S’ to the main word in compound noun to make it plural.
Sister-in-Law, the plural form is Sisters-in-Law, not Sister-in-Laws
Brother-in- Law, the plural form is Brothers-in-law, not Brothers-in- Laws.
Rule 6: The possessive case of a compound noun is formed by adding ‘S’ to the last word.
Father-in-Law, Father-in-Law’s property.
Sister-in-Law, Sister-in-Law’s property.
Rule 7: After the phrases One of / Some of/ Each of / Either of /Neither of / Any of / None of, a plural form of a noun is used.
One of my best friends (not one of my best friend)
One of the biggest cities (not One of the biggest city)
Each of the boys is (not Each of the boys are)
Either of the teachers is (not Either of the teachers are)
Rule 8: Nouns indicating numerals should be used in singular form “A Dozen eggs / Two Dozen Oranges”. But say Hundreds of eggs / Houses / A hundred rupees / Two hundred rupees.
Rule 9: After collective nouns either a singular or plural form of verb is used.
Correct – The team is strong (here, we are treating the TEAM as an UNIT)
Correct – The team are fighting among themselves (Here, we are saying about the players of the team)
Rule 10: An “Apostrophe” and ‘S’ should be used with living beings only to show possession.
Incorrect – The table’s legs were broken.
(This is wrong, because the table is a non living thing)
Correct – We can say “The legs of the table were broken”
Rule 11: Say, “A five rupee note”, ” A two mile walk”
Rule 12: Don’t say “family members / cousin brother or cousin sister” but say “The members of the family / he or she is my cousin”.
Rule 13: When two nouns are connected by “and”, and are closely related, add an apostrophe and S to the last noun.
Incorrect – Kareena’s and Saif’s house (if you think they are wife and husband then this sentence is wrong)
Correct – Kareena and Saif’s house (as they live in a SINGLE house)
Correct – Incorrect – But you can say “India’s and Pakistan’s population”.
Rule 14. When a singular and a plural noun are joined by ‘or’, ‘nor’, the pronoun must be plural.
Either the student or his teachers failed in his duty. (Incorrect)
Either the student or his teachers failed in their duty. (Correct)
Rule 15. ‘Whose’ is used for living persons and ‘which’ for lifeless objects.
Which novel did you select?
Whose photograph is lying there?