cantidad plural
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EXPRESIÓN DE LA CANTIDAD
1. INTRODUCTION
2. PLURAL IN ADJECTIVES
3. PLURAL IN PRONOUNS
4. PLURAL IN VERBS5. PLURAL IN NOUN
Regular plural
Irregular pluralForeign Plurals
6. USE OF SINGULAR AND PLURAL IN NOUNS
"Singularia Tantum" /"Pluralia Tantum
Zero PluralDifferentiated Plurals
7. COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE
Definition
Semantic aspectPartitive Constructions
1. INTRODUCTION
In English only two numbers are distinguished, singular, which denotes "one" and plural, which
denotes "more than one". The survivals of a dual number are few.
The two numbers are distinguished in: nouns, pronouns and verbs but not as a rule in adjectives and
never in adverbs.
2. PLURAL IN ADJECTIVES
The only quantitative words in which distinction between the two numbers exist or has existed in
modern English period are:
little (bread) few (loaves)less (courage) fewer (pins)
much (money) many (books)
The adjective several is generally used to qualify a plural word. Both, of course, is plural but all and
whole may be used with singular and plural nouns, eg. all the money, all the men; one whole year, the
whole lambs. And such numerical adjectives as four, forty, ... are always plural.
3. PLURAL IN PRONOUNS
The irregularity of pronominal inflection makes it necessary to enumerate here all the forms.
SINGULAR PLURAL
I, me myself
you (thou, thee) yourself he, him himself
she, her herself
we, us ourselves
you (ye) yourselvesthey, them themselves
these
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it itself thisthat
one
thoseones
4. PLURALS IN VERBS
No distinction is made between the two numbers except in the present tense, and there it is found in the
3rd person singular only, which ends genarally in "-s". In the past simple we have the solitary example
"was", plural "were", in all other verbs the plural is like the singular.
5. PLURAL IN NOUNS
5.1 REGULAR PLURAL is formed by means of an "-s" suffix.
Spelling: The plural suffix is written "-s" after most nouns including nouns ending in silent "e". There
are, however, several classes of exceptions:
? The ending is spelled "-es" after nouns ending in sibilants, unless the noun is written with a silent"e". -s ?? gas, gases -ch ? porch, porches
-z ? buzz, buzzes -sh ? bush, bushes
-x ? box, boxes -ze ? size, sizes
? "-y" + "s" becomes "-ys": after vowels (days) and in proper nouns (the Kennedys).
? "-y" + "s" becomes "- ies" after consonant, eg. spy, spies; fly, flies.
? Doubling of consonants in a few words: quiz, quizzes.
? Apostrophe ('s) in letters (dot your i's) and numerals (in the 1970's / 1970s).
? The regular plural suffix of nouns in "-o" has two spellings: "-os" and "-oes". In the following
cases the spelling is "-os":
- after a vowel: Kangaroos, radios, studios,...
- in proper names: Romeos, Eskimos, ...- in abbreviations: kilos, photos, pros, pianos, ...
5.2 IRREGULAR PLURALS. The particular plurals of some nouns have to be learned as individual
lexical items, we can find:
? Mutation, which involves a change of the media vowel, for example: foot - feet; tooth - teeth,woman - women; man - men; mouse - mice.
? "-en" plural, this occurs in nouns such as: child - children; ox - oxen.
5.3 FOREIGN PLURALS Many foreign words, especially Latin and Greek, keep their origianl
naminative plurals, though in the more familiar words there is a strong tendency to form a regular
English plural.
? Singular "-a", plural "-ae": alga,-ae, formula, -ae, penumbra, -ae
? Singular "-us", plural "-i" /ai/: cactus, -i /-uses; stimulus, -i
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? Singular "-us", plural "-us": apparatus -us /-uses
? Singular "-um/-on" (Greek), plural "-a": aquarium, -a /-ums; criterion, -a. But there are some
words that have the singular with "-um", that only take "-s" plural: decorum,-s; millenium, -s;
museum, -s
? Singular "-is", plural "-es": basis, bases; analysis, analyses; crisis, crises
? French plurals: bureau, bureaux; madam, mesdames; adieu, adieux
? Hebrew plurals in "- im": cherub, cherubim (cherubs); seraph, seraphim (seraphs)
6. USE OF SINGULAR AND PLURAL IN NOUNS
"SINGULARIA TANTUM" /"PLURALIA TANTUM”
Some nouns have only one number form. Thus, many concrete mass nouns ( gold, silver, uranium ...)
and abstract mass nouns (courage, music, dirt , ...) never take a plural suffix. The same applies to proper
nouns, which take a singular verb and are typically invariable, and to many collective nouns, such as,
police, cattle, clergy. All these nouns are called "Singularia Tantum", because they never take the plural
form.
We can also find words which were originally plurals and now are used in singular, although they still
have the final "-s". For example: news; some diseases: mumps, measles; some subjects and sciences:
physics, politics; some games: billiards, bowls, dominoes; some proper names: Athens, Brussels, Wales.
On the contrary, some others never appear in the singular form, for example: instruments or tools and
articles of dress consisting of two equal parts which are joined, such as, scissors, glasses, trousers, tights,... The noun of which they are head can be made singular and countable by means of " a pair of".
ZERO PLURAL
They are words that don't change their form when they are used in singular or plural. For example:
These sheep looks small or All those sheep are mine.
We can find zero plurals with names of nationalities in "-ese": Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, ...
Nouns denoting measure or quantity normally have zero plural when they are premodifiers in noun
phrases: a six-mile walk, a two-hour exam, a five-second pause, a ten-pound note, ...
THE DIFFERENTIATED PLURAL
In many cases the plural has a meaning which is more or less different from that of the same word in
the singular. For example:
advice: counsel effect: resultadvices: information effects: goods, personal property
force: strength custom: habitsforces: army customs: duties, taxes on imported goods
manner: modemanners: behaviour
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Let's move now to the following point
7. COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE
7.1 DEFINITIONS
Some grammarians have defined countable nouns as nouns denoting countable phenomena, ie. nouns
denoting things that can be counted. Such concepts refer to:
- material things: chair, table, window, ...- immaterial things of various orders: week, knock, talk .,...
On the other hand, uncountable nouns are nouns denoting non-countable phenomena, ie. nouns
denoting concepts that cannot be counted. They may be:
- material, in which case they denote some stuff or substance in itself independent of
form: wine, gold, air , ...
- immaterial, such as: anxiety, confusion, boredom, music, and most words ending in -
tion, -ment and -ness.
Other grammarians use other terms to define such concepts: Jespersen calls them thing-words
(countable) and mass-words (uncountable) and Zandvoort class-nouns and material-nouns respectively.
7.2 DISTINCTION FROM A SEMANTIC CRITERION
The distinction between countable and uncountable is easy if we look at the idea that is expressed in
each single instance. But in practical language the distinction is not carried through in such a way that one
and the same word stands always for one and the same idea.
The language makes it posssible to look upon some objects from the point of view of both count and
noncount, as in the case of 'cake':
Would you like a cake? (Countable) No, I don't like cake (Uncountable)
Such nouns are said to have dual class membership.
In other cases, for example 'paper', there is no readily perceptible parallelism, but a notable difference
in meaning between the two nouns:
I want an evening paper (newspaper)Wrap the parcel up in brown paper (wrapping paper)
Moreover, we can find a separate count noun and a separate non-count referring to the same area of
meaning:
COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE
a loaf a meal
a poem
breadfood
poetry
a laugha weapon
a suitcase
laughter arms
luggage