Nouns with different singular and plural meanings

Some nouns have different meanings in the singular and plural. Typical examples: air/airs, ash/ashes content/contents custom/customs, damage/damages drawer/drawers fund/funds glass/glasses look/looks, manner/manners, minute/minutes, pain/pains scale/scales saving/savings spectacle/spectacles step/steps, work/works Sometimes the meanings are far apart (air/airs), sometimes they are quite close (fund'funds). One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind You can only reach that cupboard with a pair of steps

Of course, the countable nouns in the above list have their own plurals: dirty looks five minutes sharp pains, two steps, etc.

2 Nouns

Nouns with foreign plurals

There is a natural tendency to make all nouns conform to the regular rules for the pronunciation and spelling of English plurals. The more commonly a noun is used, the more likely this is to happen. Some native English speakers avoid foreign plurals in everyday speech and use them only in scientific and technical contexts.

Nouns of foreign origin with anglicized plurals, e.g.

album,albums, apparatus/apparatuses, genius/geniuses

2.34.2 Nouns with both foreign and anglicized plurals, e.g. -us: cactus/cacti/cactuses, -a: antenna/antennae/antennas -ex/ix: index/indices/indexes appendix/appendices/appendixes -um: medium/media/mediums, -on: automaton/automata/automa' -eu/-eau: adieu/adieux/adieus, plateau/plateaus/plateaux (Izl). Alternative plurals can have different meanings: e.g. antennae is a biological term; antennas can describe e.g. radio aerials.

Nouns with foreign plurals only, e.g.

-us: alumnus/alumni; -a: alumna/alumnae, -um: stratum/strata, -is: analysis/analyses, -on: criterion/criteria

Media + singular or plural verb is used to refer to the press, TV, etc, data is used with a singular or plural verb; agenda is a foreign plural used in the singular in English with a regular plural, agendas.

Compound nouns and their plurals

Plural mainly in the last element

The tendency is to:

- put a plural ending (-s -es, etc.) on the second noun in noun + noun combinations: boyfriends, flower shops, matchboxes, etc. and in gerund + noun combinations: frying pans

- put a plural ending on the noun: onlookers lookers-on, passers

- put a plural ending on the last word when no noun is present: breakdowns forget-me-nots, grown-ups, lay-offs, etc.