Контрольная работа: Сategory of number of nouns

Streams of people were pouring out from the SportsGround… [4]

In many instances where the form in – s is used it may be understood either as the plural form of the common case or as the plural possessive. Accordingly, the use of the apostrophe wavers:

a) No apostrophe:

I enjoyed several hourssleep. There is twenty years difference in their age. I had only two shillings pocket money. A bridge of only two planks breadth.

b) An apostrophe:

A five years' child. The Seven Years’War. A two months' baby.

…it was a two-and-a half hours' drive. [21]

5. Plural Identical in Form With the Singular. – Some nouns have one form for both singular and plural (either always or in certain combinations).

Those nouns are partly survivals of the Old English and Latin uninflected plurals, partly forms which came to be used by the analogy of the old unchanged plurals.

The following nouns have one form for both singular and plural:

a) Names of some animals: sheep, deer, swine:

… The sheep on the Downs lay quiet as stones. [21] 'Oh, Elizabeth, look, look! The deer!' '…Oh yes! How funny the little ones are! But how graceful!' [20]

b) The noun fish and nouns denoting some sorts of fish, such as trout,cod, pike, salmon:

One day he caught a beautiful big fish… [11] In the water tiny fish swam between the olive growths of seaweed… [8] I know where trout are rising and where the salmon leap. [24]

To denote kinds of fish the form fishes is used:

There were many fishes in the net. She has bought a large book on our freshwater fishes. These pools swarm with a great variety of fishes .

c) Names indicating number such as dozen, pair, couple, and score (двадцать), when they are preceded by a numeral: two pairof gloves; five scoreof eggs; three dozen of shirts.

But the plural is also used:

Hehad… two pairs of stockings in his bundle. [10]

Note.– After many and few both formsare found: so many pairof wings, a great many pairsof gloves; a few score(s)of heads.

d) We have survivals of the old uninflected plural in kind, sort, and manner. The usual construction is now to keep kind, sort, and manner unchanged, but to use the plural these (those) if the word following of is plural (these kindof tools). But this construction is by many considered grammatically incorrect and therefore in careful literary speech books of that kind are preferred to the colloquial those kindof books:

These kindsof pens. Such kind of duties. Those sort o f speeches.

e) The noun foot (measure of length) is feetin the plural. The plural foot is used when followed by a number indicating inches:

…I'm five foot eleven in my socks. [2] And was she tall enough? Only five foot five. [21]

f) The noun pound (indicating money) has usually the s-plural except when followed by a numeral indicating shillings: two pounds, but: two poundten.

g) The nouns species and series borrowed from the Latin have also one form for both singular and plural:

A series of very, interesting experiments has been made in our laboratory. Two admirable series of the masters of Russian literature have been published recently. What a pretty species of roses! Many beautiful species of roses are cultivated in our garden.

6. Foreign Plurals. – Some nouns keep the plural form of the language (Latin, French or Greek) from which they have been borrowed:

Memorandum [am] – memoranda [э]; datum [am] – data [3]; phenomenon [an] – phenomena [aj; crisis [iz] – crises [i:zj; nucleus [ias] – nuclei [iai]; terminus [as] – termini [ai]; stimulus [as] – stimuli [at]; formula [a] – formulae [i:J; index – indices [i:z].