Singular and Plural Nouns – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Choose the correct option (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence.
1 Hi team, I will be late for work today. I am stuck behind fifty ______ on the highway.
(a) car
(b) cars
(c) cares
2 Nothing is moving. I am waiting behind two big city ______ right now.
(a) bus
(b) busses
(c) buses
3 The traffic is so bad that even the ______ cannot move between the cars.
(a) bikes
(b) bike
(c) bikeses
4 There are three yellow ______ blocking the intersection ahead.
(a) taxies
(b) taxis
(c) taxi
5 I see four heavy ______ carrying construction materials, and they are moving very slowly.
(a) trucks
(b) truckes
(c) truck
6 I think there is a problem ahead. Two big delivery ______ are stopped in the middle of the road.
(a) lorry
(b) lorrys
(c) lorries
7 A lot of ______ are leaving their cars and walking on the sidewalk.
(a) people
(b) peoples
(c) person
8 The radio says there are two different car ______ on the main bridge.
(a) crashs
(b) crash
(c) crashes
9 I tried to use my GPS, but all the alternative ______ are also blocked.
(a) streetes
(b) streets
(c) street
10 I can finally see the intersection. There are three ______ directing the traffic.
(a) policemans
(b) policeman
(c) policemen
11 Please start the meeting without me. I just heard the sirens of two ______.
(a) ambulances
(b) ambulance
(c) ambulanceses
12 The power is out! All the traffic ______ are broken and not showing any colors.
(a) lightes
(b) lights
(c) light
13 Everyone is confused. Some cars are stopping right on top of the ______.
(a) crosswalks
(b) crosswalkes
(c) crosswalk
14 It is very chaotic. Some ______ are driving on the grass to escape the traffic jam.
(a) motorcycle
(b) motorcycles
(c) motorcycleses
15 I am sorry, but there is just too much ______ this morning.
(a) traffics
(b) a traffic
(c) traffic
16 The police officer just gave us some bad ______. The road will be closed for an hour.
(a) information
(b) informations
(c) an information
17 There are always long ______ on Monday mornings, but today is the worst.
(a) delaies
(b) delay
(c) delays
18 I feel bad for the people around me. Many ______ are stuck here with hungry babies.
(a) families
(b) familys
(c) family
19 A local guide just told me that all the local public ______ are canceled today.
(a) bus
(b) buses
(c) busses
20 I am looking out my window and I see three tired ______ sleeping in the car next to me.
(a) childs
(b) children
(c) child
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (b) cars
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Cars’ is the regular plural form for the number “fifty”.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Cares’ is a spelling mistake (and ‘cares’ is a verb, not a noun here).
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Car’ is singular, which contradicts the number “fifty”.
2 (c) buses
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Buses’. Nouns ending in ‘-s’ require ‘-es’ to become plural.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Busses’ is an outdated spelling and is usually considered incorrect in modern English tests.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Bus’ is singular, but the number is “two”.
3 (a) bikes
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Bikes’. The word ends in an ‘e’, so we simply add an ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Bikeses’ is a double plural mistake.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Bike’ is singular, but the context implies all bicycles in general.
4 (b) taxis
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Taxis’ is the correct regular plural.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Taxies’ is a common spelling mistake because learners over-apply the ‘y -> ies’ rule (but taxi ends in ‘i’, not ‘y’).
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Taxi’ is singular.
5 (a) trucks
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Trucks’ is the regular plural form.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Truckes’ is an over-application of the ‘-es’ rule.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Truck’ is singular.
6 (c) lorries
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Lorries’. Because the word ends in a consonant + y (r-y), we drop the ‘y’ and add ‘-ies’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Lorrys’ is a spelling mistake that ignores the rule.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Lorry’ is singular.
7 (a) people
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘People’ is the irregular plural form of ‘person’. “A lot of” requires a plural noun here.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Peoples’ is a double plural error.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Person’ is singular.
8 (c) crashes
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Crashes’. Nouns ending in ‘-sh’ require ‘-es’ to form the plural.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Crashs’ is a spelling mistake because it is impossible to pronounce properly without the ‘e’.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Crash’ is singular.
9 (b) streets
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Streets’ is the regular plural form. “All the” implies multiple streets.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Streetes’ is a spelling error.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Street’ is singular.
10 (c) policemen
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Policemen’ is the irregular plural form (man -> men).
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Policemans’ is a classic beginner mistake of applying a regular ‘-s’ to an irregular word.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Policeman’ is singular.
11 (a) ambulances
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Ambulances’. The base word ends in ‘e’, so we simply add ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Ambulanceses’ is a double plural mistake.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Ambulance’ is singular.
12 (b) lights
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Lights’ is the regular plural form.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Lightes’ is an incorrect spelling.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Light’ is singular.
13 (a) crosswalks
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Crosswalks’ is the regular plural form.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Crosswalkes’ is a spelling mistake.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Crosswalk’ is singular, but “some cars” stopping implies multiple crosswalks at a large intersection.
14 (b) motorcycles
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Motorcycles’. The word ends in an ‘e’, so we simply add an ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Motorcycleses’ is a double plural error.
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Motorcycle’ is singular.
15 (c) traffic
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Traffic’ is an uncountable noun. It describes the general movement of vehicles and never takes an ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Traffics’ is a common error for learners who translate directly from languages where traffic is countable.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘A traffic’ is incorrect because uncountable nouns cannot take the article “a”.
16 (a) information
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Information’ is an uncountable noun.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Informations’ is a very common mistake for English learners.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘An information’ is grammatically incorrect. To count it, you would say “a piece of information”.
17 (c) delays
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (c) ‘Delays’. Because the word ends in a VOWEL + y (a-y), we do NOT drop the ‘y’. We just add ‘-s’.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Delaies’ is a common mistake where learners over-apply the ‘-ies’ rule.
- Structural Error: (b) ‘Delay’ is singular.
18 (a) families
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (a) ‘Families’. Consonant + y (l-y) changes to ‘-ies’.
- Common Mistake: (b) ‘Familys’ is a spelling mistake.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Family’ is singular, contradicting “many”.
19 (b) buses
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Buses’. Nouns ending in ‘-s’ require ‘-es’.
- Common Mistake: (c) ‘Busses’ is a very common spelling error (and an outdated spelling).
- Structural Error: (a) ‘Bus’ is singular.
20 (b) children
Explanation: * Correct (Key): (b) ‘Children’ is the completely irregular plural form of ‘child’.
- Common Mistake: (a) ‘Childs’ is a false regularized form.
- Structural Error: (c) ‘Child’ is singular.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Regular Vehicles: For most modes of transport, just add -s (e.g., car -> cars, bike -> bikes, truck -> trucks, taxi -> taxis).
- The “-es” Rule for Traffic: If a noun ends in a hissing sound (-s, -sh, -ch, -x), you MUST add -es to make an extra syllable for pronunciation.
- Examples: 1 bus -> 2 buses, 1 crash -> 2 crashes.
- The “-Y” Rules: * Consonant + Y = Drop ‘y’ and add -ies (e.g., lorry -> lorries, family -> families).
- Vowel + Y = Just add -s (e.g., delay -> delays).
- Irregular People on the Road: Remember that people on the street have irregular plural forms:
- 1 person -> many people
- 1 policeman -> 3 policemen
- 1 child -> 5 children
- The Uncountable Trap: The words traffic and information are uncountable in English! You can have “a lot of traffic,” but you can NEVER have “traffics.”