Invariable Nouns

Singular invariables (singularia tantum). Here belong:

1) material nouns: sand, gold;

2) abstract nouns: music, homework;

3) substantivized adjectives with abstract meaning: the inevitable, the evident;

4) proper names: London, the Thames;

5) some diseases: diabetes, mumps, measles, rabies, rickets, shingles;

6) some games: bowls, billiards, draughts, darts, skittles;

7) the word news;

8) subject names in - ics: aerobics, classics, genetics, linguistics, mathematics, phonetics, statistics, etc. Some of these nouns are occasionally used in the plural, when you are talking about a particular person’s work or activities: His politics are uncertain. The statistics are optimistic.

9) some proper nouns: Athens, Brussels, Wales, the United States, the United Nations.

10) collective nouns: money, advice, weather, jewellery, information, fruit. But: the fruits of my investigation. This drink is made from four tropical fruits. The tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit.