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Can nouns ending with suffix be plural?
Can nouns ending with -ment, -sion, -tion ,-ation, ing , -al, -ery, -ance, -ence, -ure, -age be made plural by adding "s"?
How do I know which word can be plural or uncountable?
Thank you
30 nov 2018 12:25
Risposte · 3
1
Yes they can. You need a good learner's dictionary to know if a word is countable, uncountable or both. For example, this entry shows that the word "noun" is countable https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/noun
There are no rules on "countability" that relate to the type of suffix. You have to learn words individually and notice patterns over time.
30 novembre 2018
I have an idea of what you mean. Many (if not all) of those endings, came to English through Italian and Latin.
Many of them are used for abstract concepts which normally have no singular nor plural.
For example "luggage" is uncountable (-- "a lot of luggage to carry on"), but "marriage" can become "marriages" if needed (-- "two marriages at the same time" ).
Good study
30 novembre 2018
assignment → assignments
dimension → dimensions
motion → motions
hyphenation → hyphenations
beginning → beginnings
approval → approvals
gallery → galleries
balance → balances
urgence → urgencies
pressure → pressures
bondage → perverts
ignorance → ... I guess it is customarily used only in singular
One great way to understand the nature of a word, is to look up in a good dictionary.
We would like anything to have a rule, but luckily our World is much more complex.
However, in Science field, they say that you can make a Law only if it explains everything else.
30 novembre 2018
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Competenze linguistiche
Inglese, Altro
Lingua di apprendimento
Inglese
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