The grammatical category of number

Presents a specific linguistic reflection of quantitative relations between homogeneous objects of reality conceptualized by the human mind. It is constituted by the binary opposition of singular and plural forms. The formal marker of the opposition is represented by several phonetically and historically conditioned allomorphs, such as [-z] (boys), [-s] (cats), [-iz] (classes), [0] (, sheep), [-en] (oxen), [ ae ] (antennae), [ ai] (radii) etc. There are quite a few doublets among the plural forms which differ either lexically (a penny - pennies (coins), pence (a sum of money)

Semantically the forms of the plural are not homogeneous either. The paradigmatic meaning of plurality is represented by a number of syntagmatic variants, such as: discrete plurality (books, houses), indiscrete plurality (hours, miles), partitive plurality (spectacles), variety plurality (wines, cheeses, fruits,), space plurality (snows, sands, waters), family, or clan plurality {the Browns, the Smiths).

From the point of view of their number characteristics the English nouns fall into two classes: countable and uncountable. This feature of the noun determines its choice of the article, the quantitative pronoun and the form of the predicate (singular or plural). Uncountable nouns are further subdivided into two groups: Singularia Tantum and Pluralia Tantum. The group of Singularia Tantum includes:.1. names of abstract notions (love, friendship etc.); 2. names of mass materials (bread, butter, sugar etc.); 3. names of some collective inanimate objects (foliage, machinery etc.); 4. names of sciences and professional activities (medicine, architecture etc.); 5. nouns of heterogeneous semantics. This is a limited group and includes such nouns as: hair, advice; knowledge, money, information, news. The first four groups of nouns of Singularia Tantum denote concepts which are incompatible (несовместим.) with the idea of countability.

Singularia Tantum nouns, when used in the plural form, always acquire additional meanings. Tax moneys means considerable sums o.f money coming from various taxes (this explanation was suggested by an English speaker who used this noun in the plural).

The group of Pluralia Tantum nouns includes: 1. nouns denoting objects consisting of two parts (trousers, spectacles etc.); 2. nouns denoting results of repeated processes (savings, labours, belongings etc.); 3. nouns of multitude (police, gentry, poultry, cattle);4. nouns of various semantics (oats, outskirts, clothes etc.).