Question

Identify the plural form of the noun given in the bracket:
The ___ and domes of Taj Mahal reflect the intricate designs of Mughal architecture. (arch)
A) archs
B) arches
C) arch
D) archies

Answer 1

Hint: A noun is a term that refers to a particular entity or group of things, such as living beings, locations, behaviour, attributes, states of life, or ideas. However, since a noun is not a semantic category, it cannot be classified according to its meaning. A plural noun is a term that denotes the presence of multiple people, animals, places, things, or ideas.

Complete answer:
A plural noun denotes that there are several instances of that noun (while a singular noun indicates that there is just one of the nouns). Adding a -s or –es to the end of a singular word creates the majority of plural forms. For instance, there is only one dog (singular), but there are three dogs (plural).
Suffixing "es" to nouns ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -x, and other suffixes forms the plural form.
Now, let us look at the given options:

A) archs: This option is incorrect because there is no such word as ‘archs’.
B) arches: This is the correct option. In the given sentence, the noun arch has a suffix of -ch. As a result, the plural form is arches.
C) arch: This option is incorrect because arch is a singular noun whereas we have to use a plural noun for this sentence.
D) archies: This option is incorrect because archies is not the plural form of arch.

Thus, the correct answer is Option ‘B’i.e, arches.

Note: Some rules of nouns are:
- Some nouns are singular by definition.
- There is no singular form for certain nouns, but they are still in plural form.
- Singular and plural forms of certain nouns are interchangeable.
- Number-expressing nouns, such as hundred, dozen, and score, are used with numerical adjectives in the singular.