Unit 3 — “It’s a Giant leap for Mankind” › Language form
The plural form
- تكوين جمع الأسماء بإضافة -s أو -es (planets · matches · heroes)
- تطبيق قواعد الإملاء: y بعد حرف ساكن تصير ies (body → bodies)، وتبقى بعد حرف علّة (day → days)
- جمع الأسماء التي يتغيّر فيها حرف علّة (man → men · crisis → crises) أو يتحوّل فيها f إلى v (life → lives)
- تمييز الأسماء التي تحتفظ بـ f في الجمع (chief → chiefs · belief → beliefs)
- الاسم المعدود وغير المعدود (countable · uncountable)
- الحروف الساكنة وحروف العلّة (consonants · vowels)
- المضارع البسيط مع ضمير الغائب المفرد (he works · she teaches)
1. Regular plurals: -s, -es, -ies
We add -s to form the plural of most nouns: book → books, idea → ideas, planet → planets. The ending is -es when the noun ends in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch or -x: match → matches, bus → buses — and after some nouns ending in -o: hero → heroes. If a noun ends in a consonant + y, the y changes to ie before -s: city → cities. But if it ends in a vowel + y (-ay, -ey, -oy, -uy), the y does not change: play → plays, monkey → monkeys. The same spelling rules give the -s of verbs after he, she, it: teach → teaches, go → goes, carry → carries.
If you were out in space, billions of miles away from our planet, you would see the Earth as a tiny ball moving in a wide path around a star that you might recognize as our Sun. You would also see, at various distances from the Sun, seven other spherical bodies of different sizes — the other planets — all travelling in the same direction in almost circular paths around the Sun. Moving around some of the planets are smaller balls — the satellites or moons of the planets. […] like the rest, the Sun is an incandescent body made up of highly compressed gases. […] When the skies are clear, we can see the twinkling of these other stars at night. […] Earth makes its path around the Sun in just 365 ¼ days. From the Book of Popular Science and Alan E. Nourse, The Giant Planets
| The singular ends in … | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| most endings | + s | book → books · idea → ideas · planet → planets |
| -s · -ss · -sh · -ch · -x | + es | bus → buses · match → matches |
| some nouns in -o | + es | hero → heroes |
| consonant + y | y → ies | city → cities · body → bodies · sky → skies |
| vowel + y | + s | day → days · monkey → monkeys |
Task 1 — Pick out the words ending in -s from the text and classify them according to the rules.Task 1 — Pick out the words ending in -s from the text and classify them according to the rules.استخرج من النصّ الكلمات المنتهية بـ -s وصنّفها حسب القواعد.
| Rule | Words from the text |
|---|---|
| + s | miles · distances · sizes · planets · paths · balls · satellites · moons · stars |
| + es | gases (gas) |
| consonant + y → ies | bodies (body) · skies (sky) |
| vowel + y → s | days (day) |
Billions is a plural too — billion → billions — but in « 365 ¼ days » and « billions of miles » the rule is the simplest one: + s.
2. Irregular plurals
Some nouns change their vowels to form the plural: man → men, crisis → crises, emphasis → emphases. Nouns in -is, frequent in science, make their plural in -es: thesis → theses, hypothesis → hypotheses. Some nouns change the consonant f into v, and add -es: life → lives, leaf → leaves, loaf → loaves. But other nouns keep their f: chief → chiefs. Since some f nouns change and others do not, learn them one by one.
| What changes | Examples |
|---|---|
| a vowel | man → men · woman → women |
| -is becomes -es | crisis → crises · emphasis → emphases · thesis → theses · hypothesis → hypotheses |
| f becomes v, + es | life → lives · leaf → leaves · loaf → loaves |
| nothing: f stays, + s | chief → chiefs · belief → beliefs · proof → proofs |
The (theory) about the creation of the world can be divided into two (category): religious and scientific. The first category is constituted of divine (thesis) elaborated by (man) and (woman) with strong religious (belief). These (man) and (woman) are more interested in divine (mystery) than in producing tangible (fact) about the (origin) of the world and its evolution. The second category is composed of a number of (hypothesis) put forward by astrophysicists and astronomers.
Task 2 — the text in the pluralTask 2 — the text in the pluralالنصّ بعد جمع الأسماء.
The theories about the creation of the world can be divided into two categories: religious and scientific. The first category is constituted of divine theses elaborated by men and women with strong religious beliefs. These men and women are more interested in divine mysteries than in producing tangible facts about the origins of the world and its evolution. The second category is composed of a number of hypotheses put forward by astrophysicists and astronomers.
Two rules at work in one text: y → ies (theories, categories, mysteries) and the irregular plurals (theses, men, women, hypotheses). And belief keeps its f: beliefs.
Task 3 — Give the singular and plural noun forms of the verbs prove and believe.Task 3 — Give the singular and plural noun forms of the verbs prove and believe.ما الاسم المشتقّ من الفعلين في المفرد والجمع؟
- prove → a proof → two proofs
- believe → a belief → two beliefs
Watch the trap: he believes is the verb; strong religious beliefs is the noun. The noun keeps its f.
A model answerA model answer
The planets travel round the Sun in almost circular paths. (+ s) The Sun is made of highly compressed gases. (+ es) On clear nights, the skies are full of heavenly bodies. (y → ies) Astronomers put forward hypotheses about the origin of the universe. (-is → -es) Some men and women have spent their lives watching the stars. (vowel change · f → v)
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