Question

What is a singular noun?

Answer 1

Hint: The term given in the question is related to quantity. The opposite of singular is plural. Here let us study about the singular noun.

Complete answer:
Nouns are naming words, which give a person, place or an object its name. For e.g. Tom, Delhi and book. In this example, Tom and Delhi are names of a person and a place, hence it starts with a capital letter and is called Proper noun. On the other hand, a book is a common noun and it need be started with a capital letter.

The nouns can also indicate whether the object is single or multiple in number. When we say book it means there is only one book. When we want to talk about more of them, then we use the word books. This is known as the plural noun. Singular nouns are those nouns which indicate that the object is only one in number. For e.g. car, orange, knife etc.

To convert these singular nouns to plural nouns, we simply add –s, -es, or –ves, depending on the last letters of the singular form. For e.g.
Car – We simply add –s, Therefore cars.
Bus – We add –es, therefore buses.
Knife – we remove f and add –ves, therefore knives.

There are certain other words, which are always used in the singular form. These objects are non-countable objects. For e.g. equipment, storage, courage, periphery etc.

Note:
i) While using nouns and verbs in a sentence, we must consider a factor known as the subject-verb agreement, which states that only the singular verb can be used with a singular noun, and only a plural verb can be used with a plural verb.
ii) Singular verbs are words that tell us about an act being done, or has been done or will be done by a singular subject. For e.g. Bird flies. The bird will fly. The bird has flown.
iii) Plural verbs tell us the same for plural subjects. For e.g. Birds fly. The birds will fly. The birds have flown.