Learn how to use irregular plurals of nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalie: Good morning! |
| Braden: Braden here. Mastering Irregular Plurals in English. |
| Braden: In this lesson, you'll learn about using the irregular plural of nouns. |
| Natalie: This conversation takes place in Boston near the Hudson. |
| Braden: And it’s between David and Amanda. |
| Natalie: David is trying to get to know Amanda, the co-pilot. They are speaking semi-professionally. |
| Braden: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| David: My dad would love to be here now. |
| Amanda: Why's that? |
| David: He's a US history teacher and Boston was central to the stabilization of the United States as a country. |
| Amanda: Didn't the Tea Party happen in Boston? When the colonists dumped huge crates of tea into the river in protest against high taxes? |
| David: Exactly. Just gave the tea to the fish. |
| Braden: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| David: My dad would love to be here now. |
| Amanda: Why's that? |
| David: He's a US history teacher and Boston was central to the stabilization of the United States as a country. |
| Amanda: Didn't the Tea Party happen in Boston? When the colonists dumped huge crates of tea into the river in protest against high taxes? |
| David: Exactly. Just gave the tea to the fish. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Boston |
| Natalie: Okay. Well, Boston is the capital and largest city in Massachusetts with a population of 600,000. The greater Boston area has a population of 4.5 million people and is the 10th largest metropolitan area in the United States. |
| Braden: Boston is also one of the oldest cities in the United States. It was founded in 1630 by Puritan immigrants and was the location of several major events during the American Revolution including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. |
| Natalie: Today, Boston is a leading global financial center and is an international center for higher education, biotechnology, and research. |
| Braden: It also has one of the highest costs of living in the United States. |
| Natalie: Be careful of that. I don't make enough money to live in Boston. |
| Braden: Neither do I. I wish I did though. Sounds like a great place. |
| Natalie: Yes it does. The greater Boston area is the 6th largest economy in the United States and the 12 largest in the world producing over $360 billion annually. |
| Braden: Universities are important to the regional economy contributing nearly 5,000,000,000 annually to the city's economy. |
| Natalie: Some of the major companies headquartered in Boston are Liberty Mutual Insurance, Gillette, and New Balance. |
| Braden: These are great places to apply for work if you are interested in living in Boston. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: The first word we shall see is... |
| Natalie: love [natural native speed] |
| Braden: really enjoy |
| Natalie: love [slowly - broken down by syllable] love [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: central [natural native speed] |
| Braden: of, at, or forming the center |
| Natalie: central [slowly - broken down by syllable] central [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: stabilization [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the state of being unlikely to change, fail, or decline |
| Natalie: stabilization [slowly - broken down by syllable] stabilization [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: taxes [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a compulsory contribution to state revenue |
| Natalie: taxes [slowly - broken down by syllable] taxes [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: crates [natural native speed] |
| Braden: slated wooden cases used for transporting or storing goods |
| Natalie: crates [slowly - broken down by syllable] crates [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: tea [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a hot drink |
| Natalie: tea [slowly - broken down by syllable] tea [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: river [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a large natural stream of water flowing to the ocean |
| Natalie: river [slowly - broken down by syllable] river [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: protest [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a statement or action expressing disapproval or objection to something |
| Natalie: protest [slowly - broken down by syllable] protest [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: against [natural native speed] |
| Braden: in opposition to |
| Natalie: against [slowly - broken down by syllable] against [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “Why’s that?” |
| Braden: Okay so our tip for “why's that?” is actually pretty simple. This phrase is what we call a 'spoken' contraction. That means that you don't – I repeat don't – write this. |
| Natalie: This is an important thing to realize here at the upper beginner level. |
| Braden: There are certain contractions that are acceptable in spoken English but that are not acceptable in written English. |
| Natalie: And the phrase “why's that?” is one of those “spoken-only” contractions. |
| Braden: And remember the “S” makes a “z” sound in this phrase. Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) Why’s that? |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) Why’s that? |
| Braden: Perfect! What’s next? |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase "takes place." |
| Braden: This phrase means “to happen.” For example, "The event takes place on November 21st." |
| Natalie: This has the same meaning as, "The event happens on November 21st." |
| Braden: Usually when we use the phrase "takes place" we specify either the time or the place. |
| Natalie: Or both, even. For example, "The event takes place on November 21st at nine o'clock." |
| Braden: That's right. Also, you can say that "takes place" is slightly more formal than saying just "to happen." Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) takes place |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) takes place |
| Braden: Excellent! Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Natalie, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Natalie: The focus of this lesson is irregular plurals of nouns. |
| Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase... |
| Natalie: Just gave it to the fish. |
| Braden: Okay so, In lesson 8 we looked at pluralizing nouns. |
| Natalie: In that lesson, we covered regular plurals of nouns and how to form nouns according to the regular patterns. |
| Braden: However, some nouns have unusual, or irregular plurals. |
| Natalie: That's right. In this lesson, we'll introduce some of the most common irregular pluralization patterns. |
| Braden: Okay so, Pattern 1. If the noun ends with an “F-E,” then you form the plural by changing the “F” to an “V” then adding and “-S.” |
| Natalie: Two examples of this would be – “Knife” which becomes “knives” spelled “k-n-i-v-e-s” |
| Braden: And “Life” which becomes “lives” spelled “l-i-v-e-s" |
| Natalie: Now, Pattern 2 states that if a noun ends with an “F” when you form the plural by changing the “F” to a “v” and then at an “es.” |
| Braden: For example – “Half” becomes “halves” spelled “h-a-l-v-e-s" |
| Natalie: And “Loaf” becomes “loaves” spelled “l-o-a-v-e-s" |
| Braden: Pattern 3 states that if the noun ends with an “o” then to form the plural you add an “e-s” at the end. |
| Natalie: For example – “Potato” which becomes “potatoes” spelled “p-o-t-a-t-o-e-s" |
| Braden: And “Tomato” which becomes “tomatoes” spelled “t-o-m-a-t-o-e-s" |
| Natalie: Next we have Pattern 4 which says that if the noun ends with “U-S” then to form the plural you change the “U-S” to an “I.” |
| Braden: For example – “Nucleus” which becomes “nuclei” spelled “n-u-c-l-e-i” |
| Natalie: And “Focus” which becomes “foci” spelled “f-o-c-i" |
| Braden: Now let’s move on to Pattern 5, which is – If the noun ends with “I-S” then to form the plural you change the “I-S” to an “E-S.” |
| Natalie: For example – “Analysis” which becomes “analyses” spelled “a-n-a-l-y-s-e-s" |
| Braden: Notice how the pronunciation changes too. You have "analysis" which is singular and "analyses" which is plural. |
| Natalie: Another example word is “Thesis” which becomes "theses” spelled “t-h-e-s-e-s" |
| Braden: Next we have Pattern 6. So, here if the noun ends with an “O-N” then to form the plural you change the “o-n” to an “A.” |
| Natalie: For example – “Phenomenon” which becomes “phenomena” spelled “p-h-e-n-o-m-e-n-a". |
| Braden: And “Criterion” which becomes “criteria” spelled “c-r-i-t-e-r-i-a" |
| Natalie: Last we have Pattern 7 – There are also several words that do not change to become Plural. In other words, the singular form and the plural form are the same. |
| Braden: Three of these words are – “Sheep," “Deer" And “Fish.” So it's "One fish." or "two fish." or "100 fish." It never changes. – Let's review this lesson. |
| Natalie: Although most nouns have plurals and those plurals are formed according to the regular patterns some nouns have irregular plurals. |
| Braden: In this lesson, we went over six of the patterns governing irregular noun pluralization. |
| Natalie: We also reviewed a seventh pattern which describes a small number of English words which do not have plurals. |
| Braden: In other words, both the singular and the plural forms are the same. Some of these words are “sheep," “deer,” and “fish.” |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. Thanks for listening. |
| Natalie: Have a good one! |
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