A NOUN is a 'thing' while VERBS are 'doing' or 'action' words. A noun can be an object, a person, a place, an occasion, a religion, an idea etc. Ex. kettle, wife, Thailand, wedding, Buddhism, theory Gender All nouns have gender. They are either masculine, feminine or neuter. The corresponding pronouns are he, she and it. The vast majority of English nouns are neuter. Masculine and feminine forms are reserved for people. Some have different words: Examples: man / woman, father / mother, son / daughter, brother / sister, husband/wife, nephew / niece, emperor / empress, king / queen, prince / princess, duke / duchess, earl / countess, widow / widower, hero /heroine, actor / actress, waiter / waitress, conductor / conductress (of a bus) Some nouns use the same words but are masculine or feminine according to the sex of the person concerned: cousin, parent, grandparent, relative, doctor, teacher, lawyer, conductor (of an orchestra), film star, surgeon etc. Animals are neuter in gender. However, domestic animals (pets) are usually referred to as he or she also. Ex. He is a very good watchdog. The feminine gender is often used for ships in place of the neuter gender. Ex. It was an old boat or She was an old boat . The feminine gender is also used by their owners when describing their vehicles (light aircraft, cars, motor cycles). Ex. It's a great motor bike. I bought her two weeks ago. She is very fast. Number Every noun has two forms: singular and plural. In grammatical terms this is its NUMBER. The singular is one or less, and the plural form is more than one. Ex. Half a chapter or one chapter BUT one and a half chapterS or six chapterS Putting it in more general terms: half a [SINGULAR NOUN] or one [SINGULAR NOUN] BUT one and a half [PLURAL NOUN] or six [PLURAL NOUN] The plural form is usually ‘made’ by adding -s to the singular form. Ex: boy / boys, hat / hats, drink / drinks, morning / mornings. However there are many exceptions. These are called Irregular Nouns [Nouns which do not follow the normal rules ] Irregular Plural Nouns If the singular noun already ends in -s, -ch, -sh, or -x we add -es Ex. glass/glasses, match/matches, lush/lushes, box/boxes. If the singular forms ends with a -y with a consonant preceding it we change the -y to -ies. Ex. sky/skies, fly/flies BUT day/days, key/keys Some more irregular plurals: Examples -fe -ves knife / knives, life / lives, half / halves, scarf / scarves -o -oes potato / potatoes, tomato / tomatoes, hero / heroes but radio / radios, zero / zeros -is -es analysis / analyses, thesis / theses, crisis / crises -on -a criterion / criteria -us -i cactus / cacti, radius / radii   A few nouns are totally irregular. The important ones are: Ex. man / men, woman / women, foot / feet, person / people, mouse / mice, louse / lice Ex. One small mouse / two small mice; one foot / two feet; one person / two people Some nouns do not change: Ex. sheep / sheep, deer / deer Ex. one large sheep / two large sheep PAIR NOUNS are always plural and are never singular even if we mean one. Ex. jeans, trousers, scissors, glasses (spectacles), binoculars, tights, shorts, underpants, underwear, panties. Some other nouns are always plural: Ex. clothes, goods, belongings, troops (=soldiers), arms (=weapons), thanks, congratulations Some nouns have a different meaning in the singular and the plural: Ex. The discount is a SAVING of $10. My SAVINGS are in the bank. Ex. The storm did a lot of DAMAGE. The airline had to pay DAMAGES for my broken luggage. Sorry but you just have to learn them. If you are not sure, look the plural up in a good dictionary. Gradually you will learn the exceptions to the rules. Getting the correct form of the noun (singular or plural) is important if you wish to speak GOOD English. If you get it wrong you will likely be understood but...