Английский – это язык, полный исключений. Даже безобидное множественное число у существительных не всегда образуется привычным хвостиком «-s» или «-es». Есть несколько сотен слов, где оно получается незакономерным способом, который не имеет объяснения. И всем знакомая «мышка», mouse на английском, как раз входит в список этих исключений.
Мышь по-английски перевод и транскрипция
Русское слово «мышь» переводится как «a mouse», а её произношение – [maʊs] ([маус]). Интересно, что обозначать она может как прямое значение (животное), так и переносное (компьютерная). Примеры употребления:
- Our cat hunted a mouse for a long time, but never caught it. (Наш кот долго охотился за мышью, но так и не поймал её.)
- I felt so bad for the mouse that I let it out of the mousetrap. (Мне было так жаль мышонка, что я выпустил его из мышеловки.)
- If you don’t want to use a mouse you can just tap on the screen. (Если вы не хотите использовать мышь, то можете просто нажимать на экран.)
- Let us imagine that there is a little mouse somewhere in the room. (Давайте представим, что где-то в этой комнате находится мышонок.)
- Click the left button, release the mouse and a new window will pop up. (Щёлкните левой кнопкой, отпустите мышь, и появится новое окно.)
Стоит сказать про частую ошибку, возникающую при переводе с русского сочетания «летучая мышь». Как бы ни казалось логичным, это будет не «flying mouse». В английском языке есть отдельное слово, обозначающее это животное – «a bat». В единственном числе и множественном основа слова в этом случае абсолютно одинаковая: a bat – bats.
Множественное число в английском – это просто!
Как уже было сказано, в английском языке многие существительные образуют множественное число нестандартным образом. Например, часто используемые «a child» и «children», «a person» и «people», «a foot» и «feet». Все эти исключения перешли в современный английский из староанглийского и так вошли в разговорную речь народа, что изменяемая форма слова такой и осталась. Таких слов немало, и есть лишь один вариант их выучить – запомнить.
И как же будет выглядеть «mouse» в plural (в множественном числе)? Plural form слова «mouse» – «mice» ([maɪs] – [май’с]), но никак не «mouses». Примеры употребления:
- It’s clear that field mice live in fields (Это понятно, что полевые мыши живут в полях.)
- There are no mice in our house! (В нашем доме нет никаких мышей!)
- I love watching little defenseless mice, they’re so cute! (Я люблю наблюдать за маленькими беззащитными мышками, они такие милые!)
- My mother is really afraid of mice. (Моя мама очень боится мышей.)
- Mice are tiny grey animals that may live in someone’s house if there’s untidy inside. (Мыши – крошечные серые животные, которые могут жить в чьём-то доме, если там грязно.)
Woman во множественном числе
Is Mice Singular or Plural?
To first understand a word, its history, and how to use it properly, it is important to first define what it actually means. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a mouse is “any of numerous small rodents (as of the genus Mus) with pointed snout, rather small ears, elongated body,” and a long tail. There are different kinds of mice, from a typical house mouse to a fieldmouse. However, like many words in English, the word mouse can have more than one meaning. Another common definition given by Merriam Webster is for the “small mobile manual device that controls movement of the cursor and selection of functions on a computer display,” aka the computer mouse. It can additionally be used as a slang term to describe a timid person or someone acting timidly, as in “mousing around.”
Now, the officially recognized plural ending of the word mouse (especially when used to describe the rodent) is the word mice. Now, the plural of a mouse being mice is actually the result of some pretty complicated etymological concepts that will be explored just a couple paragraphs down, but at the end of the day, it just comes down to the fact that the English language has just stolen pretty much every unique concept it can. Mice is the correct plural in almost any context.
Can You Say Mouses?
It wouldn’t be English if there was not an exception to this “almost any” rule that was just mentioned. When using the word mouse to describe the technological gadget most people are used to using to control their computer screen, “mouses” is actually a valid plural according to the dictionary.
There is an important distinction to make here, though, and it is that the dictionary is not the definitive authority on language…culture is. Culture drives language, not the other way around, and oftentimes words come in and out of usage without the dictionary even recognizing them. For example, the word “selfie” was just added into many dictionaries a few years ago because of how prevalent that word’s use became in common conversation.
So basically, while “mouses” is considered the proper plural of mouse in a very specific case when referring to technology, just about any technological professional will still use the word mice to describe multiple mouse devices.
What Is the Singular of Mice?
The singular of mice, in just about any context, is mouse. The word mice is (in any context) the plural of mouse, and so mouse is the singular of mice (e.g., the mouse, that mouse, those mice).
The History and Origin of the Word
One of the best ways to understand a word is to learn where it came from. A word’s etymology can reveal a lot about the changes a word has gone through to get to where it is today in modern English. According to EtymOnline.com, the word mouse has a very convoluted history. The most recent version of the word in modern English came from the Middle English “mous,” which derived from the Old English “mus,” meaning small rodent, but also meaning muscle of the arm, depending on the translation. This, in turn, got its origin from Proto-Germanic roots sourced from Old Norse, Middle Dutch, Swedish, and German, which, when traced all the way back, goes back to the Latin word “mus” and the Greek word “mys,” both meaning house. Our English word is somehow related to the Old English mūs, the Dutch muis, and the German maus at the same time.
The majority of the English language today comes from Latin and Greek by way of many different European languages, especially our plural nouns and irregular plurals, and the word mouse is no exception.
The plural of the word being “mice” is due to something called “i-mutation” which is an etymological concept that explains the concept of words having an i-root when brought from other languages to English. Another similar word would be “louse,” which has the similar plural “lice.”
Examples of the Word in Context
Another great way to learn how to use a word properly is to learn how to use it in context. Reading or hearing someone else use the word correctly will cement it in your vocabulary. Here are some examples of the words mouse and mice being used in context:
- “Dad! Come quick! There’s a mouse in my room! It just ran under my bed!”
- “Thank you for calling tech support. You mentioned that your mouse was not clicking properly? Have you made sure the USB cable is plugged all the way in?”
- “There was a nest full of mice in the attic under the main support beam. We moved it outside safely.”
Synonyms for Mouse
There really are no synonyms for mouse because the word describes such a specific animal. Some vaguely related or similar words are rodent, mammal, rat, or other words to describe small rodent-like creatures.
In Summary
Hopefully, this article has helped you better understand how the word mouse works, where it came from, and how to use it properly. Next time you need to write about it or use it in conversation, you will be completely prepared!
Sources:
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mouse
- https://www.etymonline.com/columns/post/imutate
- https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=mouse
- https://thewordcounter.com/blog-common-grammar-mistakes/
- https://thewordcounter.com/what-does-ps-mean/
- https://thewordcounter.com/is-vs-are/
Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do’s and don’ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.
мышь, подбитый глаз, выслеживать, выискивать, ловить мышей
существительное ↓
- зоол. мышь
field mouse — полевая мышь, полёвка, лесная мышь 
little mouse — мышонок
- ласк. мышка, мышонок (о женщине или девушке)
a little mouse of a thing /of a girl/ — мышонок, мышка (о девочке)
- робкий, боязливый человек
- мор. мусинг
- сл. подбитый глаз; фонарь, фингал под глазом
mouse and man, mice and men — всё живое
глагол ↓
- ловить мышей
our cat mouses well — наш кот хорошо ловит мышей
- выискивать, выслеживать (тж. mouse around, mouse about, mouse along)
to mouse smth. out — амер. раскопать /разнюхать/ что-л.
- мор. накладывать найтов; принайтовить, закаболить; делать мусинг
to mouse a hook — закаболить гак
Мои примеры
Словосочетания
a mouse hole in the wall — мышиная норка в стене
a mouse mat (=for a computer mouse) — коврик для мыши (компьютерной)
as poor as a church mouse — бедный, как церковная мышь
cat-and-mouse game — игра в кошки-мышки
house mouse — домашняя мышь
white mouse — белая мышь
drunk as a drowned mouse — пьян как сапожник
neither man nor mouse — ни одна живая душа
mouse icon — значок мыши
irreplaceable mouse — незаменимый мышонок
mouse-killing test — мурицидный тест
left-handed mouse — мышь для левши
Примеры с переводом
Mice gnaw.
Мыши грызут.
The cat is a good mouse catcher.
Этот кот хороший мышелов.
She shrieked when she saw a mouse.
Увидев мышь, она завизжала.
What’s the plural of ‘mouse’?
Как во множественном числе будет слово «mouse» (мышь)?
I could hear the mouse squeaking.
До меня доносился писк мыши. / Я слышал, как пищит мышь.
I screeched when I saw the mouse.
Увидев мышь, я взвизгнула.
Position the mouse pointer and click.
Наведите указатель мыши и нажмите кнопку.
ещё 23 примера свернуть
Примеры, ожидающие перевода
Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse 
He opened the box, and out popped a mouse.
I’ll be as quiet as a mouse (=very quiet).
Для того чтобы добавить вариант перевода, кликните по иконке ☰, напротив примера.
Фразовые глаголы
Возможные однокоренные слова
mousing — ловля мышей, охотящийся на мышей
mousy — мышиный, мышиного цвета, робкий, тихий, мышка, мышонок
Формы слова
noun
ед. ч.(singular): mouse
мн. ч.(plural): mice
Mice and other plural exceptions
As you know, friends, in the English language there are a lot of exceptions to the general rules. This also applies to grammar and spelling and other sections of the language.
On our site, we have already examined in detail such a phenomenon as the plural of nouns in English. But today we would like to draw your attention to the very nouns — the exceptions that fall out of the general rule.
Remembering exceptions!
So, friends, let’s recall in detail and pay close attention to these very exceptions in the plural of nouns. It is very important to remember them both in written sentences, as well as in oral speech, not to make mistakes.
These are the exceptions (singular and plural) and their translation into Russian. Try to remember how each word is spelled, both singular and plural.
- Man — men — man — men
- Woman — women — woman — women
- Child — children — child — children
- Person — people — people — people
- Tooth — teeth — tooth — teeth
- Foot — feet — leg — legs
- Mouse — mice — mouse — mice
- Sheep — sheep — sheep — sheep
- Fish — fish — fish — fish (fishes are also allowed)
- Ox — oxen — bull — bulls
- Goose — geese — goose — geese
- Louse — lice — louse — lice
Note the sentences with some of these exceptions and their translations:
- There are mice in that old house. “There are mice in that old house.
- These women are my colleagues. “These women are my colleagues.
- I sincere and frank people. — I like sincere and open people.
- The oxen in this farm are very big. “The bulls on this farm are very large.
- I have two children: a son and a daughter. — I have two children: a son and a daughter.
Exceptions and example sentences
Friends, it is worth noting that these exceptions persist in their derivative words. For example:
- Children — schoolchildren — children — schoolchildren
- Men — gentlemen, policemen, men-of-war — men — gentlemen, policemen, military
- Women — women-writers — women — writers
And a few more words about «mice»
Now let’s talk about how other mice will be in English:
- Bat — bats — bat — bats
- Rat — rats — rat — rats
But! The following words are derived from «mouse», so they also take the form «mice» in the plural. Be careful:
- White mouse — white mice — white mouse — white mice
- Flittermouse — flittermice — bat — bats
- Rearmouse — rearmice — bat — bats
In plural sentences, also remember to be in the correct form:
Flittermice live in deserted places. — Bats live in uninhabited places.
Now pay attention to a number of expressions in which you can find various «mice»:
- Mouse-driven control
- Mouse port
- Left-click — left-click
- The mice are at the cheese again — the mice are at the cheese again
- Church mice; poor — church mice
- Bats over conservation
- The mice scurried back to their holes
- The mice scampered away through a crack
- Quiet mouse — as quiet / mum / mute / still as a mouse
- Mouse trail — mouse trail
How easy and quick to remember exceptions?
And a few more exceptions
Fortunately, there are not so many of them to cram each exception for a long time and painfully. Write the singular and plural list of noun exceptions we provided above on colored stickers and post them in your room. Thus, they will always be before your eyes. Repeat them out loud until you memorize them.
Make up as many sentences as possible with them in writing and orally.
Use them in conversation, in conversation.
Finally, do grammar exercises on the Plural of English Nouns, focusing on exceptions.
Good luck, friends!
Source: https://englishfull.ru/grammatika/myshi-i-drugie-isklyucheniya.html
29 logos with masterpiece hidden subtext
Attracting the attention of the consumer is half the battle, the real skill is to keep it, make you think and start looking for associations. To illustrate just how ingenious design work can be, Business Insider has put together this collection of intriguing trademarks.
Lionbird
A bird with a pattern of eyes on its wings, or the physiognomy of a harsh king of nature, gradually advancing towards you?
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Coffee night
In a deep dark night, it is so appropriate to cheer up with a cup of coffee. The time of day is unambiguously determined — the indication is the foamy crescent in the corner of the cup.
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Spartan
A man calculating the trajectory of a ball before hitting a golf club. Or a half mask and plume on the helmet of an ancient warrior?
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Flight finder
The mirrored oblique «F» will allow the logo to shape the silhouette of a jet. A direct reference to the essence of the brand.
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Frankenstein Films
A single pixel has moved several positions down and to the side — a piece of film has turned into a head, which is in a hurry to get to know the viewer.
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codefish
A work of art in the style of «ASCII art» — the inscription is entirely formed using pseudo-graphic symbols.
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Newcastle Food & Wine Festival
«Eat and drink» — sounds ugly, but it truly reflects the essence of this event. The artist found an alternative shape for the unpretentious hint by drawing holes in the shape of wine bottles between the prongs of the fork.
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Black Cat
Take a closer look. Feeling uncomfortable? Yes, yes, from the inky darkness the unblinking eyes of that very «black cat» look at us.
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Shift
A hackneyed word, with many accepted interpretations — how to designate, emphasize the essence? For example, using the multidirectional arrows that represent the Shift key on a traditional keyboard. And the imagination completes the letter «H» in their silhouettes.
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The Bronx Zoo
The zoo will always stand out among the stone jungle, even when it comes to the metropolis. The last fact is indicated by the skyscraper outlines at the bottom of the logo.
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Magic coffee
A cup of coffee on a silver platter or a magician’s hat with magic gizmos?
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Horror films
In the presence of a vivid imagination, it is not difficult to make out a mouth bared in a silent scream and eyes bulging with fear. And for those who are tight with imagination, horror films are usually not interesting.
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BarCode
If the hand involuntarily reaches for the smartphone, launch the application and scan the barcode out of curiosity, it means that the authors of the logo have achieved their intended goal — you see here not only a mug of beer.
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Boundary
This word is translated as «border», «line» — is represented by a bright red continuous wavy line. Together with the base, the gray lines of the «frame», we get the desired name.
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bearhanded
A clumsy bear or a human palm with an irregular thumb?
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Art sharks
All symbolism is hidden in the blue triangle — either a dashing stroke of the brush, or the fin of one of the legendary monsters of the World Ocean.
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Freedom
Real freedom (English freedoom) does not tolerate restrictions even in the form of an inscription, flying away like a free bird.
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Yoga australia
An arm, a leg, a tucked up butt — together we get a stylized silhouette of the Australian continent. Start doing yoga and you will be able to depict your homeland with your body.
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HandyDog
Play on words, where «handy» means both «convenient» and «hand-made». And «dog» is «dog» — and the shadow in the picture is not in the shape of a rabbit.
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Mister cutts
Scissors, which symbolizes both a pair of well-groomed mustaches and the one who gives them that look — «Mr. Cutting.» Simply put, a hairdresser.
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Source: https://yablyk.com/483894-29-logotipov-s-shedevralno-skrytym-podtekstom/
Animals in English with translation, transcription and Russian pronunciation — listen
It is impossible to imagine learning English without getting to know the names of animals.
After getting acquainted with a minimum of vocabulary and the simplest grammatical constructions, it is necessary to switch to small texts in which the presence of animals as characters is highly desirable.
When we teach animals in English for children, the traditional set includes approximately equal parts of domestic and wild fauna. It is better to start memorizing with monosyllabic words, gradually moving on to two-syllable and three-syllable names.
Animal names in English
At the very beginning of training, it is permissible when animals learn in English with pronunciation in Russian, that is, with Russian transcription. It is strongly recommended, in parallel with memorizing words, to learn English transcription signs, without knowing which it will be impossible to work with any dictionary.
Domestic animals
Cat — Cat (cat) [kæt]
Cow — Cow [kau]
Dog — Dog [dɔg]
Duck — Duck (duck) [dΛk]
Donkey — Donkey [dɔnki]
Goat — Goat [gəut]
Goose — Goose (goose) [gus]
Hamster — Hamster (hemste) [hæmstə]
Chicken — Hen (heng) [hen]
Horse — Horse (хос) [hɔ: s]
Mouse — Mouse (maus) [maus]
Pig — Pig (pig) [pig]
Rabbit — Rabbit [ræbit]
Sheep — Sheep [ʃ I: p]
Going to the section animals in English with translation into Russian, it is very important for the child to explain that the English not only call animals «not our way», but also hear most of the sounds they make, not like we do. For example, an English dog barks «bow-bow» or «woof-woof», a chicken clucks «cluck-cluck», a mouse squeaks «squeak-squeak» and a sheep bleats «baa-baa».
It is useful to embed these sounds with sentences like this:
- The pig on the farm goes “oink-oink”.
- The horse on the field goes “neigh-neigh”.
- The cow on the meadow says “moo-moo”.
Children notice that native speakers hear some animals in a very peculiar way, and, for example, the moo of a cow or the meow of a cat, our speech apparatus reproduces in approximately the same way.
It is also useful to compose dialogues with something like this:
- — What does the cat on the roof say?
- It says “miaow”.
Or a little more complicated:
- — Does the duck in the pool say “oink-oink”?
- No, it isn’t. The duck says “quack-quack”.
Wild animals
Bear — Bear (bee) [beə]
Crocodile — Crocodile (crocodile) [krɔkədail]
Deer — Deer (die) [diə]
Elephant — Elephant [elifənt]
Giraffe — Giraffe [d3ira: f]
Fox — Fox (fox) [fɔks]
Koala — Koala (kouale) [kəua: lə]
Leopard — Leopard (lapad) [lepəd]
Monkey — Monkey (monkey) [mΛŋki]
Ostrich — Ostrich (ostrich) [ɔstritʃ]
Panda — Panda (panda) [pændə]
Snake — Snake [sneik]
Turtle — Tortoise (totes) [tɔ: təs]
Keith — Whale [weil]
Zebra — Zebra (zebra) [zebrə]
He, she or it?
When learning the names of wild animals, there is no special need to reproduce sounds, perhaps, with the exception of snakes (hiss). It should be noted that in everyday situations and in real life the pronouns he and she are not used in relation to animals. In most cases, you need to use the pronoun it, which is used when referring to inanimate objects. For example:
This is a crocodile. It is green long and fierce.
In fairy tales and in some stories, animals are personified and «rewarded» with pronouns he or she. Also in the English language there is one very interesting feature: when you are told about any animal that has a nickname or name (in fairy tales), it is «presented» as follows:
John, the Cat Gray, the Horse
Martin, the Bear.
Smart as a monkey
Also, as in the Russian language, animals from the British or Americans are endowed with qualities that are inherent in some people. In some cases, these comparisons coincide with ours, when they say about a person that he has the strength and endurance of a horse. For example:
Dick was strong as a horse and he could easily make fifteen kilometers on foot.
On the other hand, when we teach animals in English for children, they need to be taught that we and native English speakers have differences in mentality, and therefore we perceive many realities of life in different ways. In the field of the animal kingdom, this is especially pronounced in relation to wolves and monkeys. Yes, in some fairy tales we treat the wolf with disdain, but we will never compare a man with a wolf as follows:
«He’s as stupid as a wolf», and English-speaking people do it: «Brian’s as stupid as a wolf».
Even more curious is the attitude of the British towards monkeys. If we say that a person is smart, like a monkey, most likely, he will take it as an insult, and for native speakers this is just the highest praise:
«Tracy has finished her school with honors — she’s as clever as a monkey.»
As a rule, such transfers of the characters of people to animals can be found in fables in literature. The actors there are usually various animals.
Reading fables in English is one of the ways to replenish your vocabulary, there you will find many names of animals, words describing character and behavior. At the end of each fable, a moral is usually formulated.
From these final sentences, characterizing different life situations, you can take a lot of useful things to enrich your speech.
On the training site lim-english.com, in addition to short funny stories, interesting stories and fairy tales, English fables are also used to learn English. On our site, a user with any initial level of knowledge will find suitable training material for himself.
Source: https://lim-english.com/posts/jivotnie-na-angliiskom-yazike-s-perevodom/
Animals in English (with transcription and translation)
Subject «Animals Animals» — one of the first, which is encountered when learning English. Today we will analyze the names of pets, wild animals, groups of animals (such as a flock) in English, and also learn how animals “speak” in English. All words are given with transcription and translation.
: “Exercises: Animals in English”.
Pet names in English
| domestic animals | [dəʊˈmɛstɪk ˈænɪməlz] | Pets |
| cow | [kaʊ] | cow |
| bull | [bʊl] | bull |
| horse | [hɔːs] | horse |
| stallions | [ˈStæljən] | stallion |
| sea | [meə] | mare |
| goat | [gəʊt] | goat |
| he goat | [hiː] [gəʊt] | goat |
| sheep | [ʃiːp] | sheep |
| RAM | [ræm] | ram |
| donkey | [ˈDɒŋki] | a donkey |
| mule | [mjuːl] | mule |
| pig | [pɪg] | pig |
| cat | [kaet] | cat |
| dog | [dɒg] | dog |
| calf | [kɑːf] | calf |
| lamb | [læm] | lamb |
| Foal | [fəʊl] | foal |
| piglet | [ˈPɪglət] | pig |
| kitten | [ˈKɪtn] | kitten |
| puppy | [ˈPʌpi] | puppy |
| mouse | [maʊs] | mouse |
| war | [raet] | rat |
| chinchilla | [ʧɪnˈʧɪlə] | chinchilla |
| hamster | [ˈHæmstə] | hamster |
| guinea pig (cavy) | [ˈGɪni pɪg] [ˈkeɪvi] | cavy |
Note:
- Plural of mouse — mice, not mouses.
- Word sheep plural too sheep (the forms are the same).
Wild animals in English
| wild animals | [waɪldˈænɪməl] | wild animal |
| wolf | [wʊlf] | wolf |
| fox | [fɒks] | a fox |
| bear | [beə] | bear |
| tiger | [ˈTaɪgə] | tiger |
| leo | [ˈLaɪən] | lion |
| elephant | [ˈƐlɪfənt] | elephant |
| ape (monkey) | [eɪp] [ˈmʌŋki] | a monkey |
| camel | [ˈKæməl] | camel |
| rabbit | [ˈRæbɪt] | rabbit |
| hare | [heə] | hare |
| antelope | [ˈÆntɪləʊp] | antelope |
| badger | [ˈBæʤə] | badger |
| squirrel | [ˈSkwɪrəl] | squirrel |
| beaver | [ˈBiːvə] | beaver |
| zebra | [ˈZiːbrə] | zebra |
| kangaroo | [ˌKæŋgəˈruː] | kangaroo |
| crocodile | [ˈKrɒkədaɪl] | crocodile |
| rhino (rhinoceros) | [ˈRaɪnəʊ] [raɪˈnɒsərəs] | rhino |
| deer | [dɪə] | deer |
| lynx | [lɪŋks] | lynx |
| seal | [siːl] | seal |
| tortoise (turtle) | [ˈTɔːtəs] [ˈtɜːtl] | turtle |
| cheetah | [ˈʧiːtə] | cheetah |
| hyena | [haɪˈiːnə] | hyena |
| raccoon | [rəˈkuːn] | raccoon |
| giraffe | [ʤɪˈrɑːf] | giraffe |
| hedgehog | [ˈHɛʤhɒg] | hedgehog |
| leopard | [ˈLɛpəd] | leopard |
| panther | [ˈPænθə] | panther |
| elk (moose) | [ɛlk] ([muːs]) | elk |
| anteater | [ˈÆntˌiːtə] | ant-eater |
Source: https://langformula.ru/animals-in-english/
Plural of nouns. Exceptions
The plural of nouns in English is formed by adding -s (except for special cases — if a word ends in O, Y, a hissing or hissing sound — we considered the rules in the previous article). But there are words in the English language, the plural form of which is not formed according to the rules — they just need to be remembered.
Man — men
This pair will bring the most difficulties to the Russian-speaking student. It is quite difficult for us to distinguish the difference between the sounds e and æ by ear — in Russian there is no sound æ. But don’t let this seem strange to you: in English, for example, there is no sound s. For an English-speaking person, the words «husband» and «mouse» sound the same.
Marvelous? Likewise, you surprise your English-speaking friends when you do not distinguish between where is man and where is men.
So, let’s try to figure it out. The sound e (the one in the words men, bed, pen — men, bed and pen) is closest to our E, for example, in the word «this».
The sound æ (the words man, bad, pan — man, bad and frying pan) is a cross between our E and A — take a closer look: even the icon that denotes the transcription consists of connected a and e.
«Twelve angry men»- is a brilliant movie about a Mon who was brave enough to doubt. «Twelve Angry Men» — a brilliant film about a man who dared to doubt.
Woman — women
Everything is simple here — these two words are pronounced completely differently, it remains only to learn their pronunciation.
Women can see breasts anytime they want. You just look down, and there they are. How do you get any work done is beyond me. (Friends)
Child — children
Another exception to remember. Although, this word has been encountered so many times in various places that it is simply impossible not to remember it.
I music — from «Child In Time «by Deep Purple to»Children«By Robert Miles.
Person — people (person people)
Usually beginners bypass the word person — and in those cases when it is necessary to use the word “person”, they simply use “man”, for example, “every man knows that”. Not that you will not be understood, but this is not accepted. Or even more fun, «You are a good man, Sarah.»
Man is exactly a man, and women can take offense at such a remark — from “and we, they say, are they not people or something” to “who is this man here”. It is for such cases that the neutral word person exists.
Which in the plural becomes such a close and native word «people», in the sense of people.
Tooth — teeth
The next two exceptions are related to body parts. Let’s start with the teeth. One tooth is a tooth, several are teeth.
Foot — feet
Do not forget that the foot is not only a part of the body, but also a measure of length. And although it sounds to us like a unit of measurement from adventure novels and westerns, in America it is used all the time. It is equal, as you might guess, to the length of the average foot, i.e. about 30 cm.
Mouse — mice
A few more exceptions are the names of animals. Many people remember Mickey Mouse. Mouse is not a surname, it is who he is — a mouse, mouse. But you could hear the plural of this noun if you are not indifferent to American prose — by the title of Steinbeck’s novel «Of mice and men» (About mice and men).
I suspect a tricky question: what about computer mice? Computer mice or computer mouses? Even native speakers have not yet come to a common opinion — dictionaries allow both forms.
Sheep — sheep
And also a ram — rams — in English, animals of both sexes are called so.
There is little confusion in the English language between sheep — ship, with these long and short vowels, and also with the plural. It’s not an easy story. So you will count sheep before bed — be careful: one sheep, two sheep, three sheep.
How many sheep does it take to knit a sweater? Don’t be silly — sheep can’t knit!
Fish — fish, and sometimes fishes
Another exception — this time from the water element. One fish — one fish, five fish — five fish. As for the form of choosing between fish and fishes, fish is for fish of the same species, fishes for fish of different species. Please note that this fact is not known to all carriers, be prepared to be corrected if you say «While scuba diving I saw several fishes» (When I scuba dived I saw different types of fish).
Source: https://englishexplained.ru/plurals-exceptions/
Today’s topic is irregular plural nouns, odd nouns such as “ox” and “oxen.”
Robbie from Keene, New Hampshire, called in with this question:
One of my friends knows that I’m kind of geeky and into grammar and was asking me about adding the “-s” onto words to make the plural but in the same question came up with the question about words like “moose” and “mice” and “ox” and a “goose”—how all of those aren’t formed into the plural by adding the “-s.” And I was wondering if you can give any insight? Is there any rhyme or reason into this? Is it only animals that we don’t have to add an “-s” on to make it plural?
Robbie made me laugh when he placed a follow-up call asking me to imagine pluralizing all these words like the word “oxen”: “goosen,” “micen,” and “moosen.” Very funny. Perhaps we would say some plurals that way if we were all still speaking Old English. More on that in a minute.
In modern English, most of the time we make a noun plural by adding an “-s.” So the plural of “animal” is “animals.” Robbie, on the other hand, is asking about irregular plurals, and we’re going to delve into the history of English as we learn about three irregular types of plural nouns. Many irregular plurals in English do seem to be animal names, but odd plurals aren’t limited to animals.
Plurals Derived from an Old English Form
The first group of irregular nouns we’ll discuss come from an obsolete form in Old English. “Ox” and “oxen” fall into this category. Old English is a West Germanic language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and southern Scotland between the mid-5th and late-11th centuries (1). “Beowulf” was written in this language.
If someone from a thousand years ago traveled through time to visit us, we wouldn’t be able to understand each other, but as modern English evolved, it retained some elements of Old English. So we can blame Old English for the plural noun “oxen.” Only two other plural nouns in modern English end this way: “children” and “brethren.” Some other nouns, such as “eye,” “house,” and “hose,” used to be pluralized in a similar way, but the plural forms “eyen,” “housen,” and “hosen” are now opens in a new windowdialectic or obsolete (2).
Seeing the word “hosen” reminded me of the German word “lederhosen,” which has a similar plural ending as these obsolete words. I’ve always known that English has many roots, including Germanic ones, but I haven’t actually studied German. The site I read to learn about German plurals tells me there are at least five different ways that German nouns can form the plural, one of which is by adding “-en” to the end (3).
Mutated Plurals
The second group of plurals we’ll talk about are mutants, which also have Old English roots (4). Examples are “foot,” “goose,” “woman,” and “louse,” which become “feet,” “geese,” “women,” and “lice.” Again we turn to German for an explanation of why we make them plural this way.
You form these mutated plurals simply by changing the vowel sound of the singular, in a process called “umlaut” (5). An umlaut is that little two-dot symbol you sometimes see on German vowels, but what we’re talking about here is a different meaning of the word. The process of umlaut is a technical linguistics concept. All we need to know for our purposes is that mutated plurals are, in fact, quite rare in modern English. Other examples are “man” and “men,” “mouse” and mice,” and “tooth” and “teeth.”
Today, the most common plural of ‘mouse’ is ‘mice.’
Speaking of mice, many years ago, people who had a computer mouse in each hand could call them “mouses” or “mice,” but “mice” has emerged as the standard, and it’s what you should use today, which is nice because now we don’t have to deal with two competing plurals. You can just say you’re holding two mice.
Plurals That Are the Same As the Singulars
Our etymology lesson is over but we have one more type of plural noun to cover. These are nouns whose singular and plural forms are the same, such as “deer,” “fish,” “moose,” “sheep,” “shrimp,” and “swine.” These are called zero-plural nouns. The ones that come to mind first do tend to be animals, but there are other zero-plurals too such as “aircraft” and “species.” opens in a new windowSome nouns, such as “fish,” have two plurals like “mouse” used to. “Fish” is the most common plural, but scientists sometimes use “fishes” to describe multiple species of fish.
No Firm Rules
Although I had started out hoping to find a pattern that would help Robbie understand why certain words take strange plurals, the real answer is that the occasional odd plurals are just holdovers from Old English or are examples of zero plurals. The bottom line is that they are just the way they are, and people who are learning English simply have to memorize the strange plurals just as they would opens in a new windowirregular verbs. Sorry!
Administrative
This podcast was written by Bonnie Mills, author of opens in a new windowThe Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, who blogs at opens in a new windowsentencesleuth.blogspot.com.
References
- opens in a new windowhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_english. Accessed October 13, 2018.
- American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005, p. 360.
- opens in a new windowhttps://german.about.com/library/blplural01.htm. Accessed October 13, 2018.
- Garner, B. Garner’s Modern English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2003, p. 615.
- opens in a new windowhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plurals. Accessed October 13, 2018.