Learn how to use the regular plural form of English nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalie: Hi there! |
| Braden: Braden here. A Trip to an American Steakhouse. |
| Braden: In this lesson, you'll learn about using the regular plural of nouns. |
| Natalie: This conversation takes place in the evening on the street. |
| Braden: And it’s between David and a woman. |
| Natalie: David is lost in San Jose and is asking a woman on the street for directions. They are speaking respectfully. |
| Braden: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| David: Excuse me. I'm not from San Jose. Could you tell me how to get to "Alexander's," please? |
| Woman: "Alexander's?" You mean the little steakhouse on the corner? |
| David: I'll bet that's it. I'm a flight attendant, and my crew is supposed to meet me there in a few hours. |
| Woman: Well, it's three streets that way then turn left. There's a big sign that says "Alexander's." |
| David: Thank you! |
| Woman: You're welcome. |
| Braden: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| David: Excuse me. I'm not from San Jose. Could you tell me how to get to "Alexander's," please? |
| Woman: "Alexander's?" You mean the little steakhouse on the corner? |
| David: I'll bet that's it. I'm a flight attendant, and my crew is supposed to meet me there in a few hours. |
| Woman: Well, it's three streets that way then turn left. There's a big sign that says "Alexander's." |
| David: Thank you! |
| Woman: You're welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, in this lesson you're going to learn a bit about San Jose. |
| Natalie: That's right. San Jose is one of those cities that many American's have heard of but most don't know much about it. So to start things off, San Jose is the 3rd largest city in California and the 10th largest city in the United States. |
| Braden: It is located near the San Francisco Bay Area and is part of the 6th largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.6 million people. |
| Natalie: San Jose is in the area known as Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is home to many high tech companies such as Adobe, Cisco Systems, eBay, and has major facilities for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Netgear, and TiVo. |
| Braden: There are many universities and colleges in the area. Three of the most notable are the University of California Berkeley, California State University, and Stanford University. |
| Natalie: Just so you have an idea of how large these universities are, the largest is San Jose State University with approximately 30,000 students and over 130 different Bachelors and Masters degree programs. |
| Braden: Any of these schools would be excellent places to go to school or work. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natalie: steakhouse [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a restaurant that specializes in serving steaks |
| Natalie: steakhouse [slowly - broken down by syllable] steakhouse [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: corner [natural native speed] |
| Braden: an angle where two or more sides meet |
| Natalie: corner [slowly - broken down by syllable] corner [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: crew [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a group of people who work on and operate some kind of ship |
| Natalie: crew [slowly - broken down by syllable] crew [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: streets [natural native speed] |
| Braden: public roads in a city or town |
| Natalie: streets [slowly - broken down by syllable] streets [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: turn [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to move in a particular direction |
| Natalie: turn [slowly - broken down by syllable] turn [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: flight [natural native speed] |
| Braden: act of flying |
| Natalie: flight [slowly - broken down by syllable] flight [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: attendant [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a person employed to provide a service |
| Natalie: attendant [slowly - broken down by syllable] attendant [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase "to get to." |
| Braden: The phrase “to get to” is talking about arrival. Often, the verb “get” is difficult to understand because it has so many meanings. |
| Natalie: Our tip here is to pay attention to the context. In this sentence, "get" is talking about arrival at a particular location and because of that you can understand that “get” has the meaning of arrival. |
| Braden: Also, usually when “get” has the meaning of arrival it's followed by the preposition "to." This isn't a rule. However, it is very common. It's a good trigger. |
| Natalie: So when you see “to get to,” you'll know that it's probably talking about arrival. |
| Braden: Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) to get to |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) to get to |
| Braden: Perfect! What’s next? |
| Natalie: Our next phrase is "Could you,...please?" |
| Braden: This phrase is used to politely make a request. |
| Natalie: To use this phrase, you say “could you” and then insert your request. |
| Braden: Some example request could be“come over here.” Or “share some pizza with me.” |
| Natalie: And then at the end, after your request, you add the word “please?” This gives it the added measure or added feeling of politeness and kindness. |
| Braden: So altogether it would be, "Could you come over here please?” |
| Natalie: Or "Could you share some pizza with me, please?” |
| Braden: Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) Could you,...please? |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) Could you,...please? |
| Braden: Excellent! Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Natalie, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Natalie: The focus of this lesson is the regular plurals of nouns |
| Braden: In the dialogue we heard the phrase |
| Natalie: Well, it’s three streets that way. |
| Braden: Okay so, The majority of nouns in English have both singular and plural forms. |
| Natalie: For most of these nouns, the plural form is made by adding in “–s” to the singular form. |
| Braden: However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. |
| Natalie: Our first exception is when the noun ends in S, X, CH or SH. There are many words that have these endings. To pluralize nouns that have these endings add “–es.” We'll go through these pretty quick because there are quite a few of them. |
| Braden: Let's look at the words boss, tax, and bush to get an idea. |
| Natalie: First we have the noun “boss” which becomes “bosses” spelled “b-o-s-s-e-s." |
| Braden: Our second noun is “tax.” “Tax" becomes “taxes” spelled “t-a-x-e-s." |
| Natalie: And last we have “bush.” “Bush” becomes "bushes” spelled “b-u-s-h-e-s.” |
| Braden: Next let's have a look at nouns that end in a consonant plus an "y." When the noun ends in "consonant plus y" then the "y" changes to an "i" and then you had “-es.” |
| Natalie: Our example nouns here will be "baby," "candy," and "currency." |
| Braden: First we have the noun "baby" which becomes the "babies" spelled “b-a-b-i-e-s." |
| Natalie: Our second noun is "city" which becomes "cities" spelled “c-i-t-i-e-s." |
| Braden: Our last noun is “currency” which becomes “currencies.” This is spelled "c-u-r-r-e-n-c-i-e-s." |
| Natalie: For pretty much anything else, except for the irregulars, you just add an S at the end of the noun to make it plural. |
| Braden: Let's review this basic rule of just adding "s.". Our nouns are going to be dog, hair, and week. |
| Natalie: So first we have the noun “dog.” this becomes plural by adding an S at the end and we get “dogs” spelled “d-o-g-s." |
| Braden: Our second noun is "hair" which in its plural form is “hairs" Spelled “h-a-i-r-s." |
| Natalie: And our last noun is “week" which becomes plural by adding an "s" at the end to get “weeks.” This is spelled “w-e-e-k-s." |
| Braden: That sounds about right. Thanks for that explanation. |
| Natalie: You're welcome. Let's review this lesson. |
| Braden: Let's. The majority of nouns in English can be both singular and plural. |
| Natalie: For most nouns, the plural form is made by simply adding an "s" to the singular form. |
| Braden: However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. |
| Natalie: The first exception is with the letters "s," "x," "ch" and "sh." When a noun has these endings, you add "-es" to make it plural. |
| Braden: The other exception is when the noun ends in a consonant and then a "y." In these situations, the "y" changes to an "i" and then you add -es. |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. |
| Natalie: Thanks for listening! |
| Braden: See you next time! |
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