The tefl institute Assessment question Amplification (Module 1)

The TEFL Institute Assessment 1 Question 3 Amplification (Module 1)

Learning Objective: Module 1: 1.6
Course material reference: Module 1 Lesson 22

Question:
Describe how to indicate 'number' in English grammar
Tip: As well as countable plural and singular nouns, don't forget to talk about uncountable nouns, too. Note: Uncountable nouns are not the same as irregular plural nouns.


Amplification: ‘Number’ in this sense doesn’t mean ‘one, two, three’ - It means number in a linguistic way. Think about all the different ways that ‘number’ can be represented in language and try to give a full overview in your answer. Don’t forget to talk about ‘things’ that cannot be counted (uncountable nouns). Also note that uncountable nouns are not the same as irregular plural nouns (e.g. tooth/teeth, deer/deer, child/children).


Number in grammar is used to describe the quantity, amount of the things, objects in the sentence or in the speech. Usually we can differentiate two types of number, such as: SINGULAR AND PLURAL.
Singular is used when there is one, single object and can be both countable and uncountable which depends on the usage and meaning of the noun. Nouns that are considered as a whole or mass are not counted and used in singular. They may be counted according to the objects they are placed in. For example: a cup of tea, two spoons of sugar, a bottle of milk also
the name of subjects – Economics, Physics, news, luggage, furniture are uncountable singular nouns.
Plural is used when the things, nouns can be counted and there are more than one object, things. Plural is formed by adding -s or -es in the end of the noun. For example: friend – friends, book-books. However there are also irregular nouns that completely change in the plural , such as – child- children, mouse-mice, tooth -teeth but they are still countable.