Singular or plural?
If I offer you a hat-trick of errors, can you identify which one is correct and which one is an error?
advice – advices
information – informations
*new – news (*as noun)
Do you have your answers? Yes? ….Well, firstly, let me explain you why I have dedicated this post to Spanish speaking learners of English. When we learn a second language, consciously or unconsciously we utilize words or structures from our mother tongue or first language that may look, sound and mean the same in English – this of course, it is a positive ‘transfer’. However, there are other words in English that may represent a problem for some Spanish speaking learners. One example is the ‘count and uncount nouns’.
English speakers think that some things cannot be counted directly. The nouns which refer to these uncountable things are called uncount nouns. They have only one form; so, it means they do not have a plural form. BUT BE CAREFUL, some of these ‘uncount nouns’ in English HAVE PLURAL IN SPANISH.
Having said that, let’s go back to our exercise!
advice or advices? the answer is ADVICE. Advice is only ever used as an uncount noun. You can say a piece of advice or some advice, but you cannot say ‘an advice’ or ‘advices’.
information or informations? The answer is INFORMATION. Information in only ever used as an uncount noun. You cannot say ‘an information’ or ‘informations’. However, you can say a piece of information or an item of information when you are referring to a particular fact that someone has informed to you.
new or news? The answer is NEWS. Note that, although news looks like a plural, it is in fact an uncount noun (when we refer to information). Good news is always worth waiting for. You cannot say ‘a news’, but you can say a piece of news when you are referring to a particular fact or message. One of my Dutch colleagues told me a very exciting piece of news. When you are talking about television and radio news, or newspapers, you can refer to an individual story or report as a news item.
Were you answers correct?
YES? CONGRATULATIONS!!!
NO? Don't worry! Just keep revising your grammar and you will improve!
It is very important that you as an IELTS candidate are aware of some differences between your own language and English. Why? Because under time conditions, there is a great probability that YOU call upon linguistic resources from your language for the achievement of the task that may result in mistakes!
So, try to include some grammar exercises (those aspects you consider you need to reinforce) to your IELTS preparation! I am sure this will make a difference!
Click the link if you want more information about uncount nouns
If you want to check your grammar for IELTS follow this link
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