1. Singular, Plural, Collective, and Possessive Nouns

2. One author wrote a great book.
A singular noun names a person, place thing, or idea. A plural noun names more than one person, place, thing or idea.
One author wrote a great book.
(singular nouns)
Some authors write a number of books. (plural nouns)

3. Forming Plural Nouns Singular Rule Sample Plural shirt, hat
Add –s to most nouns
shirts, hats
bush, mix
Add –es to nouns ending in
s, ss, sh, ch, x, or z
bushes, mixes
alto, cello, piano
radio
echo, hero
Add –s to musical words ending in o
Add –s to nouns when the letter o is preceded by a vowel
Add –es to nouns when the letter o is preceded by a consonant
altos, cellos, pianos
radios
echoes, heroes
monkey, day
pony, fly,
Add –s to nouns when the letter y is preceded by a vowel
Add –ies to nouns when the letter y is preceded by a consonant
monkeys, days
ponies, flies
shelf, knife
roof, cuff
Change the f to a v and add –es to most nouns that end in f or fe
Add –s to a few nouns that end in f or fe
shelves, knives
roofs, cuffs
sheep, tuna, deer
Some nouns keep the same spelling
woman, foot
The plural forms of some nouns are irregular
women, feet

4. Collective Nouns
Collective noun is the name of a number (or collection) of people, animals, or things taken together and spoken of as one whole. For example, in the phrase "a pride of lions", pride is a collective noun.

5. Subject & Collective Nouns
audience
crowd
crew
jury
class
club
family
group
chorus
orchestra
cast
band
choir
nation
committee
staff

6. Subject & Collective Nouns
antelope/bison/elephants/cows/deer herd
ants colony
bees swarm
birds/ducks/goats flock
chickens brood
coyotes/dogs pack
dolphins/whales pod
fish school
frogs army
hyenas cackle

7. Collective Nouns Practice
1. The team is/are headed to the nationals since winning the state finals. 2. The speech and drama team was/were happy with their performances to the judge. 3. Nearly 25% of the population is/are Muslim. 4. The OMS faculty meets/meet on Monday afternoons to discuss student concerns. 5. Our OMS staff works/work hard to meet their goals and deadlines.

8. Collective Nouns Answers –Practice Questions
1. The team is headed to the nationals since winning the state finals. Team is being used as a unit so a singular verb is required.

9. Collective Nouns Answers –Practice Questions
2. The speech and drama team were happy with their presentations to the judge. Team is plural because separate presentations were given. Also, when the plural their is used, the implication is that the collective noun is being used as a plural.

10. Collective Nouns Answers –Practice Questions
3. Nearly 25% of the population is Muslim. The word population is a collective noun that can take either a singular or plural verb, depending on the intention of the author. The intention here is to indicate that this percentage represents a single group.

11. Collective Nouns Answers –Practice Questions
4. The OMS faculty meets on Monday afternoons to discuss student concerns. Faculty, a collective noun, is acting as a single unit in this sentence.

12. Collective Nouns Answers-Practice Questions
5. Our OMS staff work hard to meet their goals and deadlines. Their is a clue that staff is not acting as a unit. Therefore, the plural work is needed.

13. Make a list of ten singular nouns.
Exchange papers and write the plural form of each noun.

14. Bell Ringer
Correct any misspellings in the following sentence:
Before the autumn leafs began to fall, I took photoes of donkies, gardens of radishs, and other things we don’t see in the citys.

15. Bell Ringer Answers
Correct any misspellings in the following sentence:
Before the autumn leaves began to fall, I took photos of donkeys, gardens of radishes, and other things we don’t see in the cities.

16. Possessive Nouns
A noun that shows ownership or possession is called a possessive noun.
Possessive nouns can be singular or plural.

17. Using Possessive Nouns
A good way to check whether a noun is possessive is to try using the noun in a whose question. For example, Molly’s boots are new. Molly’s is possessive because we can ask, “Whose boots are new?” We then receive the possessive noun answer, “Molly’s”

18. Forming Possessive Nouns
To Form Possessive
Examples
Most singular nouns
Add an apostrophe and -s (‘s)
Karen has new skis.
Karen’s skis are new.
Singular nouns
ending in -s
Add an apostrophe (‘s)
Chris got new skis last year.
Chris’s skis are in the attic.
Plural nouns
Add an apostrophe (‘)
Many skiers wear goggles.
The skiers’ goggles are sturdy.
Plural nouns not
Ending in -s
The men have warm sweaters.
The men’s sweaters are warm.

19. Using Possessive Nouns
Use a possessive noun to shorten the phrase.
the flight of the geese geese’s flight
the cries of the children children's cries
wool from the sheep sheep’s wool
the cottage of the family family’s cottage
the sting of a wasp wasp’s sting
the wings of butterflies butterflies’ wings

20. Creative Writing Using Possessive Nouns
Imagine you recently spent an afternoon exploring a relative’s attic. Write a friendly letter to a cousin telling him or her about the interesting items you found. Mention some items and their original owners, such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles. Underline at least five possessive nouns in the letter.