NOUNS THAT DO NOT ADD 'S' IN THE PLURAL (PART 3)

Some nouns function as both countable and uncountable nouns. Here are some examples.

Air(s)
When we are talking about the mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and other gases that is all around us, we would not normally add 's'.
e.g. I'm going outside for some fresh air.
Sometimes, however, we say that someone is 'giving themselves airs', meaning that they are behaving pretentiously. In this context, it is correct to add 's'.

Buffalo(es)
Collins Dictionary states that the plural of buffalo can be either buffalo or buffaloes and both are used. A recent video on the Washington Post website uses both versions! The title is, 'Runaway buffaloes give police a hard time in Ariz', while the caption (attributed to Reuters) reads, 'Officers had a hard time subduing a herd of buffalo . . . '
The noun, deer(s) is similar to buffalo(es) in that the plural of deer can be either deer or deers.

Criticism(s)
When talking about criticism in general, we do not add 's'.
e.g. 'My blog has received a great deal of criticism.'
Someone might also say something like, 'I have a number of criticisms to make about this blog', meaning that they would like to point out several different faults with it. In this context, it is correct to add 's' in the plural.

Experience(s)
I might say, 'I have experience in proofreading scientific papers.'
A statement like this is often used to inspire confidence; it means that I have proofread a lot of papers; therefore, you can be confident that I know what I am doing and will do a good job. In this context, 's' would not be added to 'experience'.
'Experience' can also be used in a different way.
e.g. Doing a parachute jump was one of the scariest experiences of my life.
Here, 'experience' is used to refer to a particular event. In this context, it is correct to add 's' in the plural.

Friendship
If we talk about friendship in general, we would not add 's'.
e.g. 'Friendship has been given a special status in our society.'
We may also talk about individual friendships, in which case we would add 's' if we are talking about more than one of them.
e.g. 'Almost 60% of us claim that our friendships are more important to us than career, money or family.'
(The Guardian)

Hair(s)
No 's' is added when referring to a quantity of hair.
e.g. My hair is brown. (i.e. The 100,000 or so hairs I have on my head are nearly all brown.)
When talking about individual strands of hair, we add 's' to form the plural.
e.g. I pulled three grey hairs out of my fringe this morning.

Joy(s)
Joy is an uncountable noun in the following context.
'The culture of the Red Bus Project is full of joy . . .' (The Murray State News)
Here, 'joy' refers to a general feeling of happiness; however, we sometimes talk about individual 'joys'.
e.g. '. . . it takes time to realise the joys of Radio Four . . .' (What's on Stage)
Evil(s), freedom(s), grief(s), happiness(es), hope(s), sadness(es), trouble(s) and
virtue(s) function in a similar way to joy(s). 

Paper(s)
Paper can refer to paper in general, in which case we would not add 's'.
e.g. Junk mailing wastes a lot of paper.
A paper can also refer to a newspaper, or a document, such as a research paper, or a discussion paper. In this context, we would add 's' in the plural.
e.g. I have two papers which must be proofread by tomorrow. 

Sleep(s)
Sleep is normally an uncountable noun.
e.g. How much sleep do you need?
Sometimes, however, parents or carers find that children struggle to understand the concept of time. Frequently, they ask questions like, 'how long is it until Christmas Day?' An answer like, 'two weeks' is sometimes hard to understand, whereas 'fourteen sleeps' is much more straightforward. This means that, after fourteen bedtimes, it will be Christmas Day. ('Sleeps' in this context would not be used in formal writing.)

Time(s)
If we are talking about time in general, it is regarded as an uncountable noun.
e.g. I will have plenty of time to spend with my parents this weekend.
'Time' is a countable noun when it is used to mean an instance.
e.g. Please come down for lunch; I have already called you three times!

Work(s)
Work can be something that needs to be, or has been done, in which case it is an uncountable noun.
e.g. I have a lot of work to do today.
Work can also function as a countable noun, when it refers to something that someone has done or made.
e.g. 'The 10 greatest works of art ever' (The Guardian)

Water(s)
When talking about a quantity of water, we would not add 's'.
e.g. There is a lot of water in the ocean.
The phrase, 'sample the waters' is often used when talking about visiting a place where the water is thought to have health benefits.
e.g. 'Sample the waters at Taychreggan' (Highland News)

Other words that fall into this category are:

cloth(s)
culture(s)
death(s)
democracy (democracies)
fish(es)
ice(s)
insurance(s)
justice(s)
liberty (liberties)
money (monies)
music(s)
oxygen(s)
pity (pities)
poetry (poetries)
pride(s)
progress(es)
rain(s)
research(es)
sheep(s)
speed(s)
steel(s)
surveillance(s)
swine(s)
taste(s)
travel(s)
trout(s)
weather(s)


Please feel free to comment if you can think of words that I have missed, or if you disagree with any of the above.

References accessed while writing this blog post:
British Council
Business Writing
Collins English Dictionary
Count and Non-Count Nouns
Learn English Online
Learn English Today
The EF Englishtown Blog
English Plurals (Wikipedia)

NOUNS THAT DO NOT ADD 'S' IN THE PLURAL (PART 2)

A number of nouns do not normally add 's' in the plural, but may do under certain circumstances.

'S' may be added to certain nouns when talking about different varieties of the noun, but not when talking about a quantity of the noun, or about the noun in general.
Here are some examples:

Bread(s)
Most of the bread we eat is baked at home. (This is about a quantity of bread.)
'. . .focus your efforts on learning how to shape your breads well.' (The Independent)
(This is about different varieties of bread.)

Fruit(s)
I keep a bowl of fruit in my kitchen. (This is about a quantity of fruit.)
If you look in the frozen section at your local supermarket, you are likely to find a selection of berries labelled 'summer fruits'. The term, 'fruits of the forest' is also in regular use and refers to another selection of mixed berries.

Meat(s)
There's plenty of meat in the freezer. (This is about a quantity of meat.)
'Sweet peppers make a great addition to grilled meats and fish.' (BBC Good Food)
(This is about different varieties of meat.)

Milk(s)
Milk is a source of calcium. (This is about milk in general.)
'The different milks tend to vary according to the way they are produced.'
(The Dairy Council)
(This is about different varieties of milk.)

Sugar(s)
Fizzy drinks contain a lot of sugar. (This is about a quantity of sugar.)
'A new WHO guideline recommends adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy.' (World Health Organisation)
(This is about different varieties of sugar.)
Another case where 's' would be added to sugar is when talking about teaspoons of sugar in tea or coffee. If someone was asked what they take in their tea, they might answer,
'milk and two sugars, please.'
(They really mean, two teaspoons of sugar.)

Wine(s)
I have a lot of wine in my cellar. (This is about wine in general.)
'French polish: three wines from Bordeaux'. (The Guardian.)
(This is about different varieties of wine.)

Other nouns that fall into this category include:
aluminium
beer
cheese
coffee
cream
flour
food
leather
metal
pasta
plastic
porcelain
rice
salt
tea
wood
wool

Part 3 of this post will focus on nouns that sometimes have 's' added to them in the plural, for other reasons.

Please feel free to comment on or disagree with what is written here.

NOUNS THAT DO NOT ADD 'S' IN THE PLURAL (PART 1)

Certain nouns in the English language do not have separate plural forms. They are sometimes referred to as 'uncountable', or 'non-count' nouns.

One example is 'evidence'. If we are using 'evidence' as a noun, we should never add an 's' to it.

'Experimental evidence confirms that . . .' is correct.
'Experimental evidences confirm that . . .' is not correct.
(It would be correct to refer to 'pieces of evidence'.)

Other nouns that should not have an 's' added to them include:

• accommodation
• advice
• anger
• applause
• aircraft
• bravery
• chaos
• clarity
• conduct
• courage
• cowardice
• education
• electricity
• equipment
• furniture
• greed
• harm
• health
• heat
• hockey
• homework
• honesty
• hospitality
• housework
• information
• jewellery
• leisure
• literature
• livestock
• luggage
• knowledge
• machinery
• marketing
• melancholy
• moose
• mud
• news
• peace
• photography
• publicity
• pyjamas
• softness
• safety
• shopping
• sunshine
• traffic
• violence
• warmth

Some of the above nouns can become countable if we precede them with other words, such as 'items' or 'pieces'. We can refer to:

• pieces of advice
• pieces of equipment
• items/pieces of furniture
• pieces of homework
• items/pieces of information
• items/pieces of jewellery
• items/pieces of literature
• items/pieces of luggage
• items/pieces of knowledge
• items/pieces of machinery
• items/pieces of news
• items/pieces of publicity
• pairs of pyjamas
• items/pieces of shopping
• rays of sunshine

There are a number of nouns that would not normally have an 's' added to them in the plural, but may do under certain circumstances. Parts 2 and 3 of this post deal with nouns such as these.