plural

«plural» in Mova's school dictionary: the plural of «cat» — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a plural, plurals; the plural); adjective (plural)

meaning for a pupil

1) Plural means more than one: «cats» is the plural of «cat». tree →

2) The plural of a word is the form it takes when it means more than one. tree →

3) (formal) Plural can also mean having many kinds or groups living together, as in «a plural society». tree →

sense in the lessons

In English grammar lessons pupils learn plural rules: add «-s» (dog, dogs), add «-es» after s, x, z, ch, sh (box, boxes), change «y» to «ies» (baby, babies), «f» to «ves» (leaf, leaves), and learn irregular plurals (child – children, mouse – mice, foot – feet, sheep – sheep). Phrases: «singular and plural», «in the plural», «plural noun», «plural verb». In maths word problems, a plural noun shows there is more than one thing.

examples

• «Cats» is the plural of «cat». tree →
• What is the plural of «mouse»? It is «mice». tree →
• «Sheep» is the same in the singular and the plural. tree →
• Add «-es» to make the plural of «box». tree →
• «We» and «they» are plural pronouns. tree →
• The plural of «baby» is «babies». tree →
• Use a plural verb with a plural subject: «The dogs bark». tree →
• The word «scissors» is always plural. tree →
• [The word terem (plural terema) which occurs twice in this story (rendered the second time by "chamber") deserves a special notice. tree →

note

Opposite: «singular» (just one). Traps: «data» and «media» are old plurals; «news» looks plural but takes a singular verb («the news is good»). Some words have no plural («water», «furniture»). An apostrophe does not make a plural: write «apples», not «apple's». In maths problems, a plural word does not tell you how many; read the number.

In the corpora

• An apostrophe never makes a plural.
• Singular means one; plural means more than one.
• Most nouns add -s for the plural: cat, cats.
• Some nouns are the same in the plural: sheep, deer, moose, aircraft, and usually fish.
• Some words from Latin have old plurals (cactus/cacti, fungus/fungi); the English plural is often accepted too.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «plural» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.