2. The historian xenophon used shorthand to write the memoirs of the philosopher socrutus.
3. Later, a roman, marcus tullius tiro, invented a system to record the speeches made by the great orator cicero.
4. Many people in this period learned shorthand, including julius caesor.
5. In the eighteenth century, because of the industrial revolution, the use of shorthand grew in popularity in business administration.
6. The popularity of shorthand continued to grow in europe with the result that over 400 systems exist for the english language alone.
Countable Nouns and Their Plurals
Countable nouns form one of the two classes of common nouns.
1. A countable noun is a noun that you can count. You can talk about one, two, more, several, many, seventeen, and so on. Countable nouns have a plural form,
A few countable nouns occur in the plural form only and cannot be counted, examples are clothes, pants, Jeans, shorts, and pajamas.
2. The most common way to form a plural countable noun is to add -s or -es, it even when there is a numeral included to signify more than one.
Never add a plural -s ending to an adjective:
"They bought some specials gifts.
3. For countable nouns ending in a consonant + -y, change the -v to -ies.
However, when a vowel precedes -y just add -s for the plural form:
4. Add -es to countable nouns ending in a consonant + -o. For countable nouns ending in -f or -fe, change the ~f to a -v and add -es.
5. Some countable nouns have highly irregular plural forms and do not end in -s.
Use your dictionary to check any plural forms that you are not sure of.
6. Very rarely, you need an apostrophe before the -s to form the plural. You do this only when you form the plural of a letter of the alphabet or the plural of a word referred to as a word rather than the concept it represents.
I like to get Q’s in Scrabble.
This paragraph has too many and's in it.
In all other cases, an apostrophe with a noun signals possession, not number.
Task 2. Give the plural form of the following nouns. Use a dictionary to check your answers. Do not rely on general patterns; these often have exceptions.
Foot, house, mouse, woman, goose.
Belief, comedy, donkey, radio, hoof, thief, tomato.
Plurals of the nouns of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew origin are often used in English scientific writing even though their English plurals may exist in general use.
D Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns form the second of the two classes of common nouns.
1. Uncountable nouns are used for nouns describing a mass, a natural substance, food, an abstract concept, a game, a disease, or a subject of study. Some examples follow.
A mass: clothing, equipment, furniture, garbage, homework, jewelry', luggage, machinery, money, scenery, traffic, transportation
A natural substance: air, blood, coal, copper, cotton, hair, heat, ice, iron, silver; water, wood, wool
Food; bacon, beef, bread, coffee, milk, rice, sugar
An abstract concept: advice, courage, education, fun, happiness, health, honesty, information, knowledge, success
A game: checkers, chess, soccer, tennis
A disease: arthritis, diabetes, influenza, measles, smallpox
A subject of study: biology, economics, history, physics, statistics
Countable and uncountable nouns vary from language to language. Also, nouns that are countable in English, such as furniture, information, and hair, may be uncountable in other languages.
Uncountable nouns have no plural form. You can use nouns such as pieces, items.
or bits to indicate exact quantities.
She took a great deal of luggage on her trip, (singular; uncountable)
She took ten pieces of luggage on her trip.
Luggage has no plural form; the countable noun piece is used to indicate the number of items.
Note that even the uncountable nouns that end in -s in the list in item D such as diabetes and physics) are singular and uncountable.
Some countable nouns can be considered as countable or uncountable, depending on the context. Used as an uncountable noun, they refer to the concept in general; used as a countable noun, they refer to a particular one. Uncountable:
Chocolate is fattening. (All chocolate: generalization about a mass noun.)
Countable: He ate a chocolate. (One piece, one serving in a box of chocolates.) He ate four more chocolates.
Uncountable: Life is precious. (Generalization: life as a concept.)
Countable: She leads a busy life. (Specifically the type of life she leads is a busy one. It could be a boring life, a dangerous life, and so on.)
People say that a cat has nine lives.
Task 3. In the context of each of the following sentences, adapted from Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, indicate in the spaces after the nouns whether they are countable (C) or uncountable (U).
Levi Strauss came to California in the 1850s dining the Gold Rush to make clothes for the miners (-). He knew that they would wear out their clothes quickly, so he made them out of canvas (-), which was used at the time to make tents (-). Later he replaced the canvas with denim – a softer fabric (-) originating from the city of Nimes in (-) France. In Europe this fabric was known as “serge de Nimes" and because of the way (-) it was pronounced, it came to be known as denim in (-) America. Strauss began to dye the miners' pants blue so that stains would not show, and this color increased their popularity (-). To achieve a snug fit cowboys (-) would soak them in water (-), then put them on and lie in the sun to shrink the material (-) as it dried.
E. Quantity words
Some quantity words can he used only with uncountable nouns, with countable singular nouns, or with countable plural nouns. Others can be used with both uncountable nouns and countable plural nouns. Refer to the following chart for correct usage.
Note the difference between few and a few, little and a little. Few and little have a negative connotation and mean hardly any or almost no. A few and it little are positive and mean some.
She has few friends. She