Vol348.日常英语学习Don't Make This "S" Mistake!

获取全部文本资料公众号搜索：yymaster888Hi, I'm Lisa. Let's fix some very common grammar mistakes that even my advanced students sometimes make: adding an "s" to words that should not have an "s".Why is the wordclotheswith an "s", but we cannot add an "s" toclothing? We cannot sayclothings. And we can add an "s" towords, but we cannot add an "s" tovocabularyandslang. We cannot sayvocabulariesorslangs. Have you been making this mistake?And why can we saysuitcaseswith an "s"—for example, "I have two suitcases"—but we cannot sayluggages? We cannot say "two luggages".In this video, you will learn some rules and exceptions for when to add an "s" to a noun so that you can fix your grammar mistakes and speak English accurately. And there will be a quick review quiz at the end to test your knowledge. Let me get started.Uncountable Animals and Irregular PluralsSome nouns never change between singular and plural. You don't add an "s" even if you can count them.Let's look at fish. Sometimes it's possible to sayfishes, but it depends on what you're talking about.Fishwith no "s" is much more common. Even if you can count the number of fish, you would still not add an "s". You would say:"I saw five fish in the pond.""They caught three fish," (not "three fishes").Fishwithout an "s" is both singular and plural if it's the same species.Fishesis used when you're talking about different species of fish, different kinds of fish. For example: "The aquarium has many different kinds of fishes." But: "I caught three fish." Three of the same kind—no "s".Here are some other examples of nouns that don't add an "s", even if the noun is countable:Deer: We would never saydeers. So, one deer, two deer, three deer. We would never use an "s".Sheep: We can saygoats, but we can't saysheeps. So, one sheep, two sheep, three sheep, 100 sheep. No "s". That's an exception—it's just something you have to memorize.Moose: We can't saymooses. "I saw a lot of moose."Let's look at these examples:"I saw one deer in the forest.""I saw five deer in the forest." (No "s" with five deer.)"The farmer has 10 sheep." (No "s".)And I know you know this one: mouse. What's the plural of mouse? That's an irregular plural. We don't saymouses, we say mice. I think you know that one, right?Suitcase vs. LuggageLet's look at the words suitcase and luggage. We can say "I have two suitcases," but we cannot say "I have two luggages."Luggageis an uncountable noun. Remember, we cannot add an "s" to uncountable nouns.Luggageis a general word for all the containers and bags that we use for travel, such as suitcases, backpacks, duffel bags, etc. But asuitcaseis a specific type of luggage, and it's countable.Also, keep in mind that we can saya suitcase, but we cannot saya luggage, because we don't use the article "a" with uncountable nouns.And you must use a singular verb with uncountable nouns. For example:"His luggage is expensive.""His luggage was lost at the airport."So, we wouldn't say "are expensive" or "were lost". But we can say:"His suitcases are expensive.""His suitcases were lost." (We use a plural verb.)It's sometimes possible to change an uncountable noun to a countable noun by adding a unit word. A unit word is also called a partitive noun. For example, we can say "a piece of" or "an item of". In this case, we can say:"A piece of luggage" or "two pieces of luggage.""Two pieces of luggage were lost at the airport."Suggestion vs. AdviceLet's look at the words suggestion and advice. Can we add an "s" to these words? Which sentence is correct?He gave me two suggestions.He gave me two advices.Suggestionsis countable.Adviceis uncountable. So, it's incorrect to sayadvices.I recently heard a non-native speaker say, "Thank you for your advices." Have you ever said it that way? That's incorrect. You would have to say: "Thank you for your advice."And what if there's more than one advice? If you want to specify the number, in that case, you would say:"He gave me two pieces of advice.""You gave me two very good pieces of advice."Let's listen to the way some other people used it:"If I could give Kate a piece of advice...""Maybe it's a piece of advice, maybe two pieces of advice.""Now, these three pieces of advice are a good start."Andsuggestionis a countable noun. So, we can say: "She gave me some good suggestions," but not "She gave me some good advices."Words, Vocabulary, and SlangLet's look at the next example. Let's look at word versus vocabulary.We can say "I want to learn more words," but we cannot say "I want to learn more vocabularies." You would need to say: "I want to learn more vocabulary." No "s".A similar mistake is the word slang. I have heard my students say "I want to learn English slangs" or "I don't understand American slangs."Slangis considered an uncountable noun, so we cannot add an "s". We would say:"He uses a lot of slang when he talks.""He knows a lot of slang."Or we can say slang words: "He knows a lot of slang words."