Question

Select the correct plural noun from the given singular form of the noun:
My _____ are too tight. (trousers)
a. trouser
b. trousers
c. trouser’s
d. all of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and understand what it wants to convey. Here, the subject is ‘trousers’ which is a common noun. Go through the options and eliminate the grammatically incorrect option and the options which don’t fit the context of the sentence.

Complete answer: A noun is a word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas. A plural noun is a word that indicates that there is more than one person, animal place, thing, or idea. Now, let us go through the given options- (a) trouser- The word in question is “trousers”. The singular of trousers in not trouser. Certain words have an “s” at the end of them even if they are singular. Some other words are news, arms (weapons), ashes, etc. Similarly, the plural of trousers is not trouser.
(b) trousers- As already explained, there are certain words which use an “s” whether they are singular or plural. The word trousers are one of them. Thus, the plural of the word trousers is trousers.
(c) trouser’s- Using an apostrophe shows possession and not plurality. Thus, the usage of apostrophe in this option is wrong. Also with the word trousers, the apostrophe comes after the s and not before the s.
(d) All of the above- The correct answer is option b while options a and c are wrong. Thus, this answer is not the right answer.
The correct option is option (b).

Note: Singular and plural nouns are to be learnt up since though most of them are formed by adding an “s” or an “es”, there are some exceptional words like genius-genii, sheep-sheep (no change), news-news (same in both).