Introducing English Linguistics

Table 5.1. Count and non-count nouns in English
Category
Examples
Count Nouns
•
regular plural marker: -s
table(s), clock(s), desk(s), bus(es) 
•
archaic plural marker
ox(en), child(ren), foot/feet, mouse/mice,
tooth/teeth
•
borrowed plural marker
criteri(on)/criteri(a), dat(um)/dat(a), 
stimul(us)/stimul(i)
•
same form for singular 
deer (sg.)/deer (pl.), fish (sg.)/ fish (pl.),
and plural
sheep (sg.)/sheep (pl.)
•
no singular form
pants, scissors, glasses (i.e. eyewear), 
shorts
Non-count Nouns
furniture, freedom, water, money, 
evidence, music

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Medical care was virtually non-existent, food and water often withheld,
and torture rife. 
(BNC AO3 224)
In the next example, however, because waters refers to more than one lake
or river, it is being used as a count noun in this context:
The northern squawfish ... has caused substantial depletions of juvenile
salmonids in various waters
(ICE-USA-W2A-022)
Nouns can also be marked by various suffixes. For instance, the suffix 
-ion can be added to verbs to form an abstract noun called a nominaliza-
tion:  create 
→ creation or  fascinate  → fascination. Other noun suffixes
include -er or -or, which are added to verbs to create nouns for someone
who does something (e.g. wait 
→ waiter,  act  → actor), and -ence or -ance,
which are also added to verbs to create nouns (exist 
→ existence, tolerate →
tolerance). Other nouns, particularly those that are animate, can take pos-
sessive ’s: the man’s watch, the teacher’s book.
Personal pronouns in English, which can also serve as the head of a
noun phrase, make distinctions not found on nouns. Table 5.2 lists the
various forms that personal pronouns take in English.
English syntax
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