Singular and Plural

Sometimes we use a plural noun for one thing that has two parts. For example:

These words are plural, so they take a plural verb:

O My trousers are too long. (not my trousers is)

You can also use a pair of + these words:

        O Those are nice jeans.                or Thaťs a nice pair of jeans. (not a nice jeans)

O I need some new glasses. or I need a new pair of glasses.

Some nouns end in -ics, but are not usually plural. For example:

athletics economics electronics gymnastics maths (= mathematics) physics politics
O Gymnastics is my favourite sport. (not Gymnastics are)

News is not plural (see Unit 70B):

O What time is the news on television? (not are the news)

Some words ending in -s can be singular or plural. For example:

       means          a means of transport           many means of transport

       senes            a television series                  two television series

       species         a species of bird                    200 species of bird

Some singular nouns are oftenused with a plural verb. For example:

       audience         committee         company         family         firm         government          staff

These nouns are all groups of people. We of ten think of them as a number of people (= they)
not as one thing (= it). So we of ten use a plural verb:

        O The government (= they) want to increase taxes.                                                           _ .-

O The staff at the school (= they) are not happy with their new-working conditions.

In the same way, we of ten use a plural verb after the name of a sports team or a company:

O Italy are playing Brazil next we ek (in a footbalI match).

        O Shell have increased the price of petrol.                                          _

A singular verb (The government wants ... / Shell has ... etc.l-is also possible.

We use a plural verb with police:

O The police are investigating the murder, but haven't arrested anyone yet.
(not The police is ... hasn't)

Note that we say a police officer / a policeman / a policewoman (not a police).

We do not often use the plural of person ('persons'). We normally use people (a plural word):

O He's a nice person. but They are nice people. (not nice persons)
O Many people don't have enough to eat. (not Many people doesn't)

We think of a sum of money, a period of time, a distance etc. as one thing. So we use a singula;
verb: