Практическая грамматика

pence - if a sum of money is meant; and pennies - when we speak about coins.
It costs eighteen pence.
Pennies are made of bronze.

VIII. Nouns works (завод, заводы) and means (средство, средства) are used both in the singular and in the plural.

A new metallurgical works was built in this town 2 years ago.

There are four works in this town now.


§ 7. The category of case.

Case is the form of the noun (or pronoun) built up by means of inflexion, which indicates the relations of the noun (or pronoun) to the other words in the sentence.

The noun in Modern English has two cases: the common case and the genitive case.
The Common Case

The common case in English is characterized by the zero-inflexion: a girl, a child, a garden, a tree etc.

The common case has a very general and indefinite meaning. The noun in the common case may have various functions in the sentence, which are defined syntactically by means of word order and prepositions.
The common case falls under: the nominative case and the objective case.
A noun in the nominative case can be used as a subject or a predicative of the sentence:
My brother (SUBJECT) is a student (PREDICATIVE).
The noun, which follows the predicate verb, is usually the direct object:
The old woman… lifted the child (DIRECT OBJECT)… (Galsworthy)
Placed between the transitive verb and its direct object the noun is the indirect object:
I wish Jane (INDIRECT OBJECT) success with all my heart. (Austin)
Preceded by a preposition the noun may be a prepositional indirect object or an adverbial modifier of place or direction:
I hand the first book to my mother (INDIRECT PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT). (Dickens)
Paul went… to the orchard (ADVERBIAL MODIFIER). (Lawrence)