What's the difference between is and are?
Oh dear God, who knows?
What a difficult question.
Please stop challenging us.
I know, it's simple.
If a noun is singular, we use is.
For example, the book is old.
If a noun is plural, we use are.
These books are in English.
However, it's not always easy to say whether a noun is singular or plural.
So in this lesson we're going to talk about 10 irregular nouns that are hard to say whether they are singular or plural.
Now, this lesson comes with a PDF summary, and you can get this for free.
If you want to have it, simply click on the link above this video and on my website you can download it for free.
Now let's start with word number one, the media.
Hmm.
Is it singular?
Is it plural?
Look at this sentence.
The media talking about the scandal is or are.
The media are.
But teacher, there is no S. The media is singular.
No, the media is the plural form of medium.
It's just like people, which doesn't have S, but it's plural.
It's the plural form of person.
Media is the plural form of medium.
So when we want to use it with a to be verb, we say are.
The media are talking about the scandal.
Or here's another example.
The media are reporting on it.
The media are reporting on it.
All right, next one.
Information.
Is it singular or is it plural?
Look at this.
Information.
Power.
Is.
Are.
Is.
But teacher, information is a lot.
No, information is not countable.
So when a noun is uncountable, we use the singular form.
Information is power.
Teacher, if I want to say more than one information, what should I do?
You can say a piece of information.
One piece of information, two pieces of information, three pieces of information.
But informations?
No.
For example, you can say, this information is important.
Or you can say, this piece of information is important.
It's an easy lesson so far, right?
Look at this.
Each of the students ready is or are students?
Each of the students are ready.
No, each of the students is ready.
But teacher students?
It has an s.
Yes, it has an s, but we're not talking about all of the students.
We're talking about each of the students.
We're seeing each one of the students separately and when you say each, you're making it singular.
So each of the students is ready.
It sounds weird.
Each of the students is?
Yes.
Whenever you have each, it doesn't matter what the noun after each is.
It's singular.
Let's go to the next one.
Furniture.
Furniture?
Yes.
Everything you have in your house, like the lamp, the desk, the table everything, the chair I'm sitting on.
Furniture.
My fridge.
Lots of items, so definitely countable, huh?
Look at this.
The furniture, mm, new, is, are.
The furniture is, but teacher furniture is a lot.
Yes, everything is furniture, but the word furniture is uncountable.
And with uncountable nouns, we use singular form of the verb.
The furniture is new.
Or another example.
The furniture is clean and modern.
The furniture is singular.
Furniture.
Well, furniture doesn't have an S, so it's easy to make a rule saying hey, when you don't see an S, that means it's singular.
I don't know.
Look at this.
The police.
The police here.
The police is here.
The police are here.
The police.
The police does not have an S, so the police is.
No, that's the thing.
The police are here.
But why?
The police is always plural in English.
But teacher, what if I want to say one?
Then you have to say the police officer, or I saw a cop, I saw a police officer.
Or you can say policemen and policewomen, but I'm not a big fan of dividing the words by gender, so it's better to say the police officer.
Look at this example.
The police are waiting at the door.
Before we continue again, I want to remind you that this lesson comes with a free PDF guide that you can download by clicking on the link above the video or the link down in the description of the video.
And on my website, you can get it for free.
So go ahead and do it.
It's very useful when it comes to reviewing the lesson.
Now, let's talk about another word.
Something that you may not like, homework.
Is homework countable or uncountable?
Is it singular or plural?
Look at the example.
Homework, do tomorrow.
Is or are?
Homework is.
Homework is due tomorrow.
Yes, homework is uncountable.
You cannot add S to it.
You can't say homeworks.
But teacher, what if there is more than one?
Well, if there is more than one, you still say homework.
We have a lot of homework to do, but never homeworks.
So if I want to add S to it, what can I do?
You can use a synonym, assignment.
Assignment is countable.
So you can say assignments.
The teacher gave us several assignments, but the teacher gave us a lot of homework.
Not countable, okay?
Look at the example.
Her homework is almost done.
Is almost done.
Homework is not countable, guys.
Let's see if you can get this one right.
Everyone.
Everyone is or everyone are?
Look at the example.
Everyone.
Excited about the trip.
Everyone are.
No, everyone is.
But we're talking about everyone.
Yes, but the word everyone in English is singular.
Yes, we're talking about everyone.
A lot of people, probably a thousand people, two thousand people, a million people.
But still, we're seeing them as one.
Everyone.
Singular.
Everyone is excited about the trip or everyone is ready to go.
So everyone is singular.
Teacher, how about someone, anyone, no one?
All of them are singular.
That's something interesting in English.
Everyone, anyone, no one, someone.
All of these words are singular.
Someone is, anyone is, no one is.
What was the other one?
Anyone, no one, someone, anyone, anyone, no one, someone, everyone is.
All right, so let's move on to the next one.
Advice.
This is easy.
Is or are.
Look at the example.
Advice.
Easy to give, hard to take.
Advice is not countable.
So advice is.
But teacher, my father gave me two.
Yes.
He gave you two advices?
No.
He gave you two pieces of advice, just like information.
Do you remember?
Information is not countable.
So we say information or a piece of information, two pieces of information, three pieces of information.
Advice is the same thing.
We don't say an advice.
We say advice, some advice, a piece of advice, two pieces of advice, three pieces of advice.
So advice is not countable.
Advice is easy to give, hard to take.
Or here's an example.
Her advice is really valuable.
Her advice is.
So you're traveling.
You're at the airport and you have a lot of stuff with you.
That stuff, all of them together, they're called luggage.
Is it countable?
Of course.
One, two, three, four, five.
Look at this.
Luggage being loaded onto the plane.
Luggage is, luggage are, luggage are.
Luggage are.
No, luggage is.
But why?
Because luggage is uncountable.
It doesn't matter if you have one, two, three, four, five, 10.
It's uncountable.
Luggage is.
My luggage is heavy.
But that doesn't make sense.
It does.
It's uncountable.
It's just like information and advice.
So if I want to say more than one, I would say a piece of.
One piece of luggage, two pieces of, three pieces of.
But a better way to say this is to use the word suitcase if you have suitcases.
One suitcase, two suitcases, three suitcases and a backpack and a tote bag, or all of them together luggage.
My luggage is.
My luggage is heavy.
Now, I have an easy one for you.
Mathematics.
Hard for me.
Is or are?
Mathematics.
R, right?
It has an S?
No.
Mathematics is.
Mathematics is hard for me.
But teacher, it has an S. Yes, it has an S, but it's singular.
It's a name of a subject at school, right?
And subjects, even though it has an S, like physics, mathematics.
Even though it has an S, it's singular.
Mathematics is my favorite subject.
Or is it?
This reminded me of the word, the news.
The news is or the news are?
Now that was not part of this lesson, but I just thought of it right now.
When we say the news, depressing, should we say the news is or the news are?
Because the news, it has an S, it's plural, right?
Definitely the news R. No, the news S. News is singular.
Doesn't matter if it has an S. Somebody once told me that the news stand for N-E-W-S.
North, East, West, South.
I'm not sure if that's true.
But the news.
It's seen as a singular word.
The news is, the news was.
The news was depressing.
The news is worrying.
Similar to mathematics it has an s, but it's not plural or physics.
All right, that's it, guys.
I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.
Don't forget that this lesson comes with a pdf guide and to download it, you can find the link down in the description of this video.
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See ya.
