Singular and Plural Nouns – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Choose the correct option (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence.
1 We need to buy ten red ______ for the fruit salad.
(a) appleses
(b) apples
(c) apple
2 I want to make fifteen big ______ for the picnic.
(a) sandwichs
(b) sandwich
(c) sandwiches
3 Please buy six fresh ______ for the BBQ sauce.
(a) tomatoes
(b) tomatos
(c) tomato
4 We also need eight large ______ to bake in the fire.
(a) potato
(b) potatoes
(c) potatos
5 Don’t forget to get three yellow ______ for the burgers.
(a) onion
(b) oniones
(c) onions
6 For dessert, let’s buy ten sweet ______.
(a) peaches
(b) peachs
(c) peach
7 My sister loves tropical fruit, so get five ______.
(a) mango
(b) mangos
(c) mangoes
8 We need paper plates and paper ______ for the food.
(a) dishes
(b) dishs
(c) dish
9 Buy twenty plastic ______ for the drinks.
(a) glass
(b) glasses
(c) glasss
10 We will take a lot of ______ at the party tonight!
(a) photoes
(b) photo
(c) photos
11 Can you buy two ______ of chocolate cookies?
(a) boxes
(b) boxs
(c) box
12 We need a tool to light the BBQ. Buy a small box of ______.
(a) match
(b) matches
(c) matchs
13 I want to play music, so I will bring two small ______.
(a) radioes
(b) radio
(c) radios
14 Let’s buy three ______ of green grapes.
(a) bunchs
(b) bunches
(c) bunch
15 We are having a BBQ, so we need to buy a lot of ______.
(a) meat
(b) meats
(c) meates
16 My friend doesn’t eat pork, so we will grill some ______.
(a) fishes
(b) fishs
(c) fish
17 We can record some funny ______ of the games.
(a) videos
(b) videoes
(c) video
18 Please buy some yellow ______ to put inside the burgers.
(a) cheeses
(b) cheese
(c) a cheese
19 We need to cut the food. Do we have enough sharp ______?
(a) knifes
(b) knife
(c) knives
20 Finally, buy a lot of fruit ______ for the children to drink.
(a) juice
(b) juices
(c) a juice
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) apples
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Apples’ is the regular plural form.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Appleses’ is a double plural mistake.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Apple’ is singular, but “ten” requires a plural noun.
2 (c) sandwiches
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Sandwiches’. Nouns ending in ‘-ch’ require ‘-es’ to become plural.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Sandwichs’ is a very common spelling error because learners forget the ‘e’.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Sandwich’ is singular, contradicting the number “fifteen”.
3 (a) tomatoes
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Tomatoes’. For some common words ending in a consonant + ‘o’, we must add ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Tomatos’ is a classic spelling mistake.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Tomato’ is singular.
4 (b) potatoes
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Potatoes’. Like ‘tomato’, ‘potato’ ends in ‘o’ and requires ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Potatos’ is an incorrect spelling.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Potato’ is singular.
5 (c) onions
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Onions’ is a regular noun, so we just add ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Oniones’ is an over-application of the ‘-es’ rule.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Onion’ is singular.
6 (a) peaches
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Peaches’. The word ends in ‘-ch’, so we add ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Peachs’ is an incorrect spelling.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Peach’ is singular.
7 (c) mangoes
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Mangoes’ follows the same rule as tomato and potato (consonant + o takes ‘-es’). (Note: ‘mangos’ is sometimes accepted in modern dictionaries, but ‘mangoes’ is the standard taught in CEFR A1 grammar).
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Mangos’ is often used but less formally correct in traditional grammar tests.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Mango’ is singular.
8 (a) dishes
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Dishes’. Nouns ending in ‘-sh’ require ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Dishs’ is an incorrect spelling.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Dish’ is singular.
9 (b) glasses
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Glasses’. Nouns ending in ‘-ss’ require ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Glasss’ is an impossible spelling in English.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Glass’ is singular.
10 (c) photos
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Photos’. This is an important exception! Words ending in ‘o’ that are abbreviations (photograph -> photo) or related to technology/art usually only take ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Photoes’ is a very common mistake where learners over-apply the tomato/potato rule.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Photo’ is singular.
11 (a) boxes
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Boxes’. Nouns ending in ‘-x’ take ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Boxs’ is an incorrect spelling.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Box’ is singular.
12 (b) matches
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Matches’. The word ends in ‘-ch’, so we add ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Matchs’ is a spelling error.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Match’ is singular.
13 (c) radios
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Radios’. When a word ends in a vowel + o (i-o), we simply add ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Radioes’ is a spelling mistake.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Radio’ is singular.
14 (b) bunches
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Bunches’. The word ends in ‘-ch’, so we add ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Bunchs’ is an incorrect spelling.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Bunch’ is singular.
15 (a) meat
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Meat’ is an uncountable noun. It never takes an ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ in general contexts.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Meats’ is a common error for learners whose native language counts meat.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Meates’ is completely incorrect.
16 (c) fish
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Fish’ is an irregular noun that stays the same in both singular and plural (zero plural).
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Fishes’ is usually incorrect when talking about food.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Fishs’ is a spelling error.
17 (a) videos
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Videos’. Because it ends in a vowel + o (e-o), it only takes an ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Videoes’ is a spelling error.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Video’ is singular.
18 (b) cheese
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Cheese’ is an uncountable noun when talking about a mass amount for a party.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Cheeses’ is incorrect here (it is only used for “types of cheese”).
- Structural Error: (c) ‘A cheese’ is incorrect because uncountable nouns do not take “a” or “an”.
19 (c) knives
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Knives’. For nouns ending in ‘-fe’, we change the ‘f’ to ‘v’ and add ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Knifes’ is a common mistake that ignores the ‘-ves’ rule.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Knife’ is singular.
20 (a) juice
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Juice’ is an uncountable liquid.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Juices’ is incorrect when talking about a general amount of drink.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘A juice’ is grammatically incorrect for an uncountable noun in this context.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- The “-CH” Rule: If a food or item ends in -ch, you must add -es to make it plural so it is easy to pronounce.
- Examples: sandwich -> sandwiches, peach -> peaches, match -> matches, bunch -> bunches.
- The “-O” Rule: Some very common vegetables and fruits ending in -o take -es.
- Examples: tomato -> tomatoes, potato -> potatoes, mango -> mangoes.
- The “-O” Exceptions (The Traps): * If a word ends in a vowel + o (like radio, video), just add -s (radio -> radios, video -> videos).
- If a word is related to photography/technology or is short for a longer word, just add -s (photo -> photos).
- Uncountable Party Food: Remember that you cannot count mass food or liquids with an “-s”.
- Words like meat, cheese, water, and juice stay in their base form (e.g., a lot of meat, NOT a lot of meats).