What's wrong with these sentences?
If you've made these types of mistakes with nouns in English, no one would stop and correct you because in the big picture, they are minor mistakes.
But native English speakers will quickly recognize you as a non native user of English, if you make these types of mistakes.
Each of these sentences is wrong, because of a misunderstanding about the nouns.
You see them underlined in green.
In this lesson, we'll learn how to avoid common mistakes with count and noncount nouns.
Let's look at the first sentence.
I found informations on the Internet.
This error is misusing noncount nouns with plural forms.
Because noncount nouns are singular only, do not take a plural S or ES form.
These nouns are not countable, which means we cannot use S or ES on the end to make the word plural.
So to correct the sentence, take off the plural s from informations, so we have, I found information on the internet.
In the sentence, we need a new luggage before the trip, there's a problem with luggage being used with a.
We cannot use A or AN with noncount nouns.
A and AN mean one, but noncount nouns cannot be counted.
With these noncount nouns, we cannot use numbers in front of them.
We also cannot use A or AN in front of them.
To correct the original sentence, remove a so we have we need new
luggage before the trip.
In the next sentence, where is the scissors, we have incorrect subject verb agreement in paired nouns.
Subject verb agreement means the subject and verb must both be singular or plural.
Paired nouns, however have two parts and that makes them plural nouns that need plural verbs.
We have several words like this in English for example, scissors, binoculars, tongs, glasses also called spectacles, and words that go along with us being able to walk on two legs like shoes, pants, which includes jeans and shorts.
To correct this type of mistake replace the singular verb with the plural verb.
In this case, we need are instead of is.
Another error is seen in this sentence.
John doesn't have monies.
Money is in the plural.
Monies is a special use of a usually noncount noun.
Some noncount nouns can be used in plural form.
But they often have a special meaning in the plural.
Here are some usually noncount nouns, money and currency, that can be used in the plural but with a very different and specific meaning.
If you work in international business, finance, or accounting you might use these words in the plural when you're talking about international markets and trading international currencies.
But if you don't work in those kinds of businesses you wouldn't use these in the plural.
Some other normally noncount nouns might be heard in the plural in conversations.
For example, coffee and water.
You might hear I want a coffee or can we have three waters please?
Especially in restaurants when people are ordering.
But what the speaker really means is I want a cup of coffee and can we have three glasses of water?
In formal situations and especially in writing, it is best to include cup of or glasses of, and use these words as noncount nouns.
We see similar special use with noncount nouns in the words food, cuisine, and wine.
You might sometimes hear or see them as plural, meaning a kind or type of.
For example, I enjoy different foods from all over.
Or northern California is known for its many wines.
But what the speaker really means is, I enjoy different kinds of food from all over and northern California is known for its many types of wine.
Again, the more formal form is to include kinds of or types of, and use these words as noncount nouns.
Some other noncount nouns used in a similar way include candy and candies, fruit and fruits, meat and meats, cheese and cheeses.
So to correct our sentence we need to take out the plural, monies.
And use the singular noncount form money because John isn't trading in international currencies, he is simply broke.
In this sentence world news are important to know, there is a mistake with noncount noun endings that use S.
There are some noncount nouns that have S at the end, but aren't plural.
Here are some other examples.
News as in daily events and information, school subjects like physics, mathematics, statistics, customs meaning a department of immigration.
They're the ones who ask you do you have anything to declare when you arrive in a new country.
Billiards is a type of ball game you play on a table.
Several illnesses end in s like measles, mumps, and AIDS.
Each of these words is noncountable and therefore needs a singular verb following it.
For example, news is happening every day.
Physics is a difficult subject.
Customs requires you to declare money and goods.
Billiards appears confusing to me.
Measles kills people every year.
To correct the mistake, replace are with is in our original example.
For this sentence the data is important, we have the opposite problem.
Irregular plural count nouns need to have subject verb agreement.
But some countdowns have irregular plural forms that do not follow the usual pattern of S endings.
In English we have some nouns with very different plural forms like datum data, criterion criteria, and phenomenon and phenomena.
Then we have some nouns that don't change at all, like sheep, shrimp, and fish.
So for instance, the datum is important and the data are important.
The criterion has a purpose and the criteria have a purpose.
A strange phenomenon occurs every June, and strange phenomena occur every June.
When we use these words the singular form needs a singular verb and the plural form needs a plural verb.
Here are some examples with sheep, shrimp, and fish.
Because the singular and plural forms are the same, the verb will tell us if we're talking about one or many.
A sheep is sleeping.
The sheep are sleeping.
There is a shrimp on the floor.
There are shrimp on the floor.
I bought a new fish for my fish tank.
I bought new fish for my fish tank.
Also remember to use A or AN for singular forms only.
Now here are the corrected sentences from the start of our lesson.
The underlined parts of the sentences show where we made changes.
So remember, try to avoid these common noun mistakes, and you will be more confident using English.
