Nouns that are always plural

Существительные, употребляющиеся только во множественном числе (Nouns which are always plural)

В английском языке, как и во многих других, названия многих парных предметов употребляются только во множественном числе, например, scissors (ножницы), trousers (брюки), glasses/spectacles (очки), tongs (щипцы), scales (весы):

Примечание

Если существительное стоит во множественном числе, то и глагол при нём должен быть во множественном числе: «The scales aren’t weighing correctly … I’m sure of it!» = «Эти весы взвешивают неправильно. Я уверена в этом!»

В английском языке существительные clothes (одежда), goods (товар, товары), stairs (лестница), arms (оружие), riches (богатство, богатства), proceeds (выручка) употребляются, в отличие от русского языка, только во множественном числе:

В английском языке существительные wages (заработная плата) и contents (содержание) употребляются, как правило, во множественном числе, между тем как в русском языке соответствующие существительные употребляются только в единственном числе:

Существительные potatoes (картофель), onions (лук), carrots (морковь), oats (овёс) употребляются, в отличие от русского языка, во множественном числе:

Однако эти существительные могут употребляться и в единственном числе: a potato (картошка, одна штука картофеля), an onion (луковица), a carrot (морковка, один корешок моркови).

Существительные people (люди) и police (полиция), хотя и имеют форму единственного числа, употребляются со значением множественного числа и всегда должны иметь при себе глагол во множественном числе:

Если существительное people имеет значение «народ как нация, верующие одной религии или люди одной расы», то это существительное употребляется в единственном числе и глагол при нём должен быть в единственном числе:

В этом же значении существительное people может также иметь и множественное число. Тогда оно принимает форму peoples:

Существительные, употребляющиеся только в единственном числе (Nouns which are always singular)

В английском языке, как и в русском, имена существительные неисчисляемые, то есть существительные вещественные и отвлечённые, обычно употребляются только в единственном числе, например: sugar (сахар), iron (железо), love (любовь), friendship (дружба).

Следующие существительные употребляются только в единственном числе, хотя в русском языке соответствующие существительные могут употребляться как в единственном, так и во множественном числе: scenery (пейзаж, пейзажи), advice (совет, советы), information (информация, сообщения, сведения), progress (успех, успехи), khowledge (знание, знания). Примеры:

Некоторые существительные имеют внешне форму множественного числа (то есть окончание -s), но по смыслу являются существительными единственного числа:

и другие. Примеры:

Названия наук, оканчивающиеся на -ics (mathematics, physics и т. п.), употребляться в единственном числе. Но если имеется в виду конкретное приложение этой науки, то такие существительные употребляются во множественном числе:

Существительные money (деньги) и hair (волосы) употребляются только в единственном числе, между тем как в русском языке соответствующие существительные употребляются только во множественном числе:

Примечание 1

Существительное hair употребляется как в единственном, так и во множественном числе (в качестве существительного исчисляемого) со значением: a hair (волосок), hairs (волоски).

Примечание 2

Когда говорят о больших суммах денег, то вместо существительного money часто используют форму множественного числа monies или moneys. Это грамматически неправильное употребление множественного числа используется для усиления эмоционального эффекта, когда речь идёт об огромных деньгах. Так же делают, когда кажется, что мало сказать «super», и говорят «super-duper».

Существительное vacation (каникулы) употребляется только в единственном числе, между тем как в русском языке соответствующие существительные употребляются только во множественном числе:

Существительное vacation употребляется во множественном числе только тогда, когда перед ним стоит числительное:

Существительное fruit (фрукты) употребляется, в отличие от русского языка, в единственном числе:

Однако для обозначения различных видов фруктов употребляется множественное число fruits:

Are there nouns that are always plural — have no plural counterpart?

Are there words that have no plural counterpart, because they are, in fact plural? Words like rice or scissors come to mind.

4 Answers 4

There are several different categories of nouns that might be considered to have no plural counterpart. The concept of «plurality» has several dimensions in English—meaning/semantics (does a noun refer to something made up of many identifiable sub-units?), form/morphology (does a noun have a plural suffix, such as -s?), agreement (when the noun is the subject of a clause, does the main verb take a singular form or a plural form?)—and these can all vary somewhat independently from one another.

Count nouns with a single invariant form without the -(e)s suffix

These doesn’t really meet your requirement at all in my opinion, but I thought I’d mention them for the sake of completeness. Some singular nouns like deer have the same surface form in the plural: deer. But the meaning and grammatical agreement are different for the singular and plural forms, so rather than saying that these nouns lack a plural form, I’d say instead that the plural is identical to the singular.

This category of nouns is relatively small compared to the category of nouns that inflect regularly with the plural suffix -(e)s, but in absolute terms, there are a fair number of invariant nouns, and some of them are pretty common. Many of them refer to animals, such as deer, mentioned above, or sheep. (Some nouns can be used invariantly, but also have a regular plural form, like fish-fishes: these definitely wouldn’t qualify as an answer to this question.) This category is somewhat productive, specifically in the context of game animals (see the following discussion at the «Safaritalk» forum, » What is the correct way to describe wild animals in plural form? «Lion» or «lions»?») and loanwords (a number of loanwords from Japanese can be used invariantly, although many of them do also have anglicized -(e)s plurals).

1. Singular form, plural-ish in meaning or agreement

The next categories are singular in form (morphology) but plural-ish in meaning or verb agreement.

1a. Non-count nouns

(singular form, mass-y or plural meaning, singular verb agreement)

Discussed in other answers. English has many non-count nouns (such as water). Grammatically, nouns like water are treated as singular, not plural, even though you might think some of them should be plural based on their meaning. This includes words like rice, gravel, furniture.

It is possible to create plural forms of these words by adding -(e)s (rices, gravels, furnitures) but doing so requires that they be converted into count nouns, which changes the meaning to «types of rice, types of gravel, types of furniture». Even with this semantic shift, the pluralized form may still sound awkward. (I can’t think of any natural context where I would use furnitures, for example.) So you could say that these words lack plural counterparts.

1b. Collective nouns

(singular form, plural meaning, singular or plural verb agreement depending on the variety of English spoken)

2. Plural form, singular-ish meaning or agreement

The next categories are plural in form (morphology) but singular-ish in meaning or verb agreement.

2a. Pluralia tantum

(plural form, singular-ish meaning, plural or singular verb agreement depending on the word)

Some words in English are plural in form, but not normally used in the singular. These are often called pluralia tantum (singular: plurale tantum), Latin for «plural only».

There are several types.

2a.i Semantic duals

(plural form, dual-ish meaning, plural verb agreement)

The first refer to things that can be conceptualized as single objects, but that have two noticeable parts, such as pants, trousers, scissors, pliers, tongs, tweezers, spectacles, glasses, eyeglasses, sunglasses. The preceding words take plural verb agreement in standard English. These nouns are generally not used in the singular by themselves (or in the case of glasses, the singular form glass is only used as another word with another meaning). However, some of them do have singular forms that may be used in compound words such as scissor-kick (which coexists with scissors-kick) or trouser press. Glasses case seems to always be used instead of glass case. Here’s another question about this class of words: Does (or did) “a trouser” or “a scissor” have a meaning?

2a.ii The word «clothes»

Clothes used to be the plural of cloth, but it has changed so significantly in meaning and pronunciation that it is now considered a distinct word that remains plural, but has no corresponding singular form, even when it is used as an attributive noun as in clothes closet. The plural of the word cloth in modern English is cloths.

2a.iii Disease words and other miscellaneous abstract nouns

(plural form, singular-ish or non-count meaning, singular verb agreement)

The next type have the plural suffix -s, but refer to somewhat abstract or formless concepts, and usually take singular verb agreement in modern English. This includes the diseases measles, mumps, rickets, and shingles, some nouns that end in -ics such as mathematics and physics, and the noun news. I haven’t found much use of these in the singular even as the first element of compound words (for example, we use the plural in the compounds measles vaccine, mathematics teacher, aerobics class). Here is a Google Ngram Viewer graph comparing the relative frequencies of scissor, trouser, measle and mump.

2a.vi Latin pluralia tantum loanwords

(plural form, singular meaning, unclear verb agreement)

The next words I’ll discuss are more obscure. From Latin, the words kalends/calends, nones, and ides are all plural in form, but singular in meaning (referring to specific days in the months of the Roman calendar). Because of this, their names in Latin, from which these English words are derived, had no singular counterparts. Despite this, singular forms such as calend or ide have been attested in English, but they are now considered obsolete. Whether the forms ending with s are treated as plural or singular for the purpose of verb agreement seems unclear; Wikipedia uses singular agreement, but other sources (here for example) seem to avoid this.

3. Foreign words where only the plural form has been established in English

(Latinate plural forms, plural-ish meaning, plural verb agreement)

The word mores (pronounced «MOAR-eaze» /ˈmɔriːz/, or by some people, «MOAR-ayze» /ˈmɔreɪz/) is derived from a Latin plural and seems to always take plural agreement in English. There was a corresponding singular form in Latin (mos), but it is never used in English. A back-formed English singular more is occasionally seen, but is not widely accepted by prescriptive guides to usage.

Another word like this is manes (two syllables), which comes from a Latin plural-only word for the spirits of the dead. The American Heritage dictionary lists a second definition «(used with a sing. verb) The revered spirit of one who has died» but it seems to be less common.

The Top Ten: Nouns that are always plural

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This list was compiled by Simon Thomas of Oxford Dictionaries, who is on Twitter as @stuck_inabook. It’s a lovely collection of language quirks, into which you will notice I have squeezed rather more than 10 examples…

1. Trousers

There was once a singular trouse. Other similar garments are also plural: pants, shorts, leggings, jeans, flares, tights, overalls and dungarees.

2. Clothes

To quote the Oxford English Dictionary, «a collective plural without a singular; to express the latter, a phrase such as ‘article of clothing’ is used».

3. Cahoots

Origin uncertain, but a link has been suggested with the French cahute – hut, shack.

4. Shenanigans

The singular shenanigan is found in the letters of Mark Twain, but it has fallen out of use almost completely.

5. Glasses

The same is true of binoculars, spectacles and goggles.

6. Loggerheads

May relate to a late 17th-century use meaning «long-handled iron instrument for heating liquids and tar», when wielded as a weapon.

7. Scissors

The singular scissor is mostly a verb. Many other two-bladed tools are also plural: pliers, forceps, shears, tweezers and tongs.

8. Amends

You might make amends by paying damages; while damage is a common mass noun, the sense of «a sum of money in compensation for a loss or injury» is now only plural.

9. Smithereens

10. Thanks

Although the verb thank is common, you wouldn’t give somebody a single thank – although examples are found as late as the 19th century.

Next week: Towns everyone’s heard of but can’t place on a map

Coming soon: Songs whose titles are only in the final words (such as ‘Up the Junction’ by Squeeze). Send your suggestions, and ideas for future Top 10s, to top10@independent.co.uk

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Nouns that are always plural

Some nouns are always plural and take a plural verb. We normally use THE with them.

The talks are going ahead between the Government and the unions. The authorities (власти) had refused them their civil rights.

Sometimes the noun has only a plural form.

His clothes are dirty but he is actually well of. I believe congratulations are in order!

Below are some common plural nouns. (We use the with many of them).

We normally use MY, HER, HIS, etc. not THE with these plural nouns:

We often use some plural nouns without an article or determiner.

We can use some words with or without THE depending on the context:

The goods in the airport lounge are sold duty-free. Goods must be paid for before leaving.

The expenses for her trip were paid by the firm. Imagine the trip – no work and all expenses paid!

Clothes and tools

Many clothes, tools and equipment are designed with two parts joined together. We use them as plurals with –s and a plural verb:

His glasses are new. Bring me the pliers which are on the table. The scissors are in the drawer. She was wearing shorts which were too big for her. My trousers are dirty.

Other examples include:

To refer to a single item we say:

A pair of scissors, a pair of glasses, a pair of jeans, a pair of tights

When we use the expression a pair of with a plural noun, the verb that follows is singular if it is in the same clause and plural if it is in a relative clause:

This pair of jeans is new. I bought a pair of jeans which were much cheaper.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns refer to a group of people or things, e.g. army, committee, team. We can think of them as either a single unit or as members of a group:

. Majority believes that we are in no danger

The majority of the students have passed the exams well.

If the word majority is used alone it is usually singular, if it is followed by a plural noun, it is plural

Here is a list of common collective nouns:

These words take only a plural verb:

Cattle are kept for their meat. The people are very pleased. The police have been called in.

Exercises

I. Fill in each space with an appropriate word from the box

II. Complete the sentences with the appropriate verb, article or pronoun.

is one of the most important.

Exercises

I. Complete the sentences. Put in a/an or some.

Model: I really ought to do some housework.

1 The people who camped in the filed have left _________ rubbish.

2 I’ve been working on the business plan. I’ve made _____ progress.

3 The visitors are here for two nights. They’re looking for____ accommodation.

4 That shop has ______ nice sofa.

5 You’ll have to pay extra for the taxi because you’ve got _____ luggage.

6 The flat is quite empty. I need ________ furniture.

7 I can’t possibly fit this guitar into _____ suitcase.

8 You need _____ luck to win at this game.

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