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4. Colletive nouns
family board enemy crew committee audience crowd party reader
This group of nouns can both be singular and plural, depending on the situations. This class has only 20 students. The class are all gone out to play. Other nouns have singular forms but plural contents, so the verbs to be used must be plural. people, cattle, police, etc.
Chinese are a hard-working people. The cattle are in the shed. Fish are cold-blooded. Why Iraqs police are a menace? The youth of Taiwan have lofty ideals. (loft = ? lofty = dignified, elevated, high, great, etc.)
Uncountable nouns do not usually need an article (a, an), because those articles imply specific individuals
Furniture makes our houses more comfortable.
We had some delicious beef for dinner. Knowledge is power.
Time is money.
Geology is an interesting field of study.
But Uncountable nouns do take the referring to the group or concept as a whole
The air in this room is cool.
The pork in this restaurant is very good. The dirt on the wall is very messy The knowledge we have gained will be useful to us.
a little rain less violence more coffee enough money any homework
More examples
a bottle of water a cup of coffee a carton of milk a loaf of bread a piece of advice a cubic meter of wood a tube of toothpaste an item of information an article/piece of furniture
Exercise 2
Some deformation (is/are) observed in this mountain belt. A box of eggs (is/are) on the table. Fifty years (is/are) not a long time. These windows are made of (glass/glasses). (Many/Much) clothing is needed in cold weather. I ate six (loaves/slices) of bread for breakfast this morning. In the number 198,700,504,000, there are six (0s/0s)
Exercise 3
I like the baby (who/which) is in the cradle. I like the cat and the man (which/that) are coming this way. Mary is the most diligent student (who/that) I have ever seen. I like my sister, (who/which) lives in Taipei. I like my sister, (who/which) is an absolutely true fact. My sister, together with Bob and John, (is/are) gone. The boy, like his father, (sit/sits) still.
meals
Did you have lunch? Missing breakfast is bad for your health.
languages
English is easy to learn. Can you speak French?
sports
Do you play tennis? I really love soccer.
united countries
the United States of America the United Kingdom the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Bon Courage!
Add articles as necessary: 1. Ryokan, who was Zen master, lived simple life in little but at foot of mountain. Thief came to hut when Ryokan was away, but found nothing to steal. Ryokan returned and caught him. You may have come long way to visit me, he told prowler. You should not return empty handed. Please take my clothes as gift. Thief took Ryokans clothes and slunk away. Ryokan was naked, watching moon. Poor fellow, he mused, I wish I could give him this beautiful moon. 2. When we speak of glass, ordinarily we mean transparent, shiny substance that breaks rather easily. We may think of glass in our windows and glass used in our laboratories as being same material. Actually they are not. There are many kinds of glass. One company has developed more than 65,000 kinds of glass.