Ones and the twos

          We all know one is singular, and now, what is the plural of one..? Two…? Nope, its ones (and not once) and two as a numeral, is also singular. (if the teacher says “ You have written all the twos wrong…” – what does she mean? :-)

English is a funny language, it makes plurals in many different ways, and sometimes it doesn’t make at all. Singulars act as plurals as well.

Confusing…? Let me  confuse you more…  Read the poem below:-)

OH   MY   GOD......!!!

Is this you,after reading the poem...?

Just chill...Let's check out how to make these plurals.

The first way to make a plural is to add “s” to the noun:

                    Pencil         -  Pencils

                    Door           -  Doors

                    Boy             -  Boys

                    Animal        -  Animals

                    Computer   -  Computers

And for nouns that end in - ch, x, s, or s sounds, add es.

                    Fox            -  Foxes

                    Catch        -  Catches

                    Moss          -  Mosses

                    Kiss            -  Kisses

For nouns ending in f or fe, change f to v and add es.

                    Wolf          -  Wolves

                    Wife          -  Wives

                    Leaf           -  Leaves

                    Life            -  Lives

Some nouns change completely to form plurals.

                    Goose         -  Geese

                    Woman       -  Women

                    Man            -  Men

                    Mouse         -  Mice

                    Child           - Children

Nouns ending in vowels like y or o do not have definite rules.

                    Baby            -  Babies

                    Toy              -  Toys

                    Kidney         -   Kidneys

                    Potato          -  Potatoes

                    Memo           -   Memos

                    Stereo          -   Stereos

And a few nouns have the same form for both singular and plural.

                    Sheep            -   Sheep

                    Deer              -   Deer

                    Series            -   Series

                    Species          -   Species

The Video Mantra

Another way to improve English is to watch English movies. 

Yeah, I know you are crazy about the Chackies, the Bonds, the Tom Cruises, etc., etc. and have watched lots of movies of this kind. But it’s better to watch movies which have more dialogues than action movies.

Movies which have a nice story line, or sitcom comedies where dialogues play a vital role, will help you to improve your command over the language.

Here I will help you with an idea. First, find a movie which comes under the given condition. Watch the movie once. Watch it again…. and again. Watch it at least 5 times. Now break down movies into smaller parts. May be you can break a movie into 6 – 8 parts or roughly 10 mins a part. Watch the first part with the subtitle, till you can understand all the pronunciations. Then try to read the subtitle with the movie. You may not match the original speed and pronunciation .… don’t lose heart

This is how you should imitate the dialogues... :-) 

Repeat this activity till you match the pronunciation. Now try with the next part. You will feel that the second part is much easier than the first one. By the time you finish a movie, you would have improved a lot.

Hope this activity helps.

Some tips to improve your English

Start writing Diary:   One traditional way to make sure you write every day in English is to write an English diary (journal), and a more up to date way of doing this is to write a blog. (Can also include your activities like brushing, bathing, eating, again eating, and sleeeeeping…etc.,)

Write a news diary:  Another daily writing task that can work for people who would be bored by writing about their own routines in a diary is to write about the news that you read and listen to everyday. (Example:  Important news:  The girl from the next door winked at me several times today morning.. err.. does she have some problems with her eyes..?)

Listen to English music:  Listening to music will help in things like getting used to the tone of English speech, although the more time and attention you give to a song the more you will learn from listening to it again in the future.  ( Songs like Baba Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle will be of great use )

Sing karaoke in English:  The next stage after understanding and memorising a song is obviously to sing it. (Please Note:. Instruct everybody near you to take guard, and be ready to run once you start singing ;-))

Label things in your house:   The easiest way to improve your vocabulary is to learn the vocabulary of things you see and use every day. If you can write the names of things around you on slips of paper and stick them on those things.  (You can also lable your friends.. like talkative, bullying, submissive, etc., or even girl, boy…) 

The English Teacher fainted reading this...