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One or many?
What happened to a priceless collection of postage stamps?

One or many?

Do you write one noun or many? This quiz practises singular and plural forms, plus the verb patterns that follow, so your sentences sound accurate and natural.

Explore the Topic → (quiz starts below)

Fascinating Fact:

Singular nouns usually take a singular verb, like The dog is here. Plural nouns usually take a plural verb, like The dogs are here.

In ESL Difficult, you build accuracy by matching nouns with the correct grammar around them. This includes plural endings, irregular plurals, countable and uncountable nouns, and tricky words that change meaning depending on context.

Key Terms

  • Singular noun: A noun that refers to one person, thing, or idea.
  • Plural noun: A noun that refers to more than one person, thing, or idea.
  • Subject-verb agreement: The rule that the verb form must match the subject in number (singular or plural).

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How do I tell if a noun is singular or plural in English?

Many plurals end in -s or -es, but some are irregular, like children and mice. The surrounding words also help, for example a, one, this, and each often signal singular.

Why do some words that look plural take a singular verb?

Some nouns are treated as one thing, even if they end in -s, such as news or mathematics. Collective nouns can also be singular or plural depending on whether you mean the group as one unit or as individuals.

When should I use “fewer” and when should I use “less”?

Use fewer with countable plural nouns, like fewer books or fewer mistakes. Use less with uncountable nouns, like less water or less time, because you do not usually count them as separate items.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'The Government are saying that ...
(B) ... bread prices are going up again in the New Year.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
'The Government' is singular and needs a singular verb; bread prices are plural, so part (B) is OK.
2 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) ' 'No child of mine will ever grow up to park their car on my grass', ...
(B) ... said Uncle Marcus as he and my father was watching us play with our scale models on the lawn.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
The correct possessive after 'child' should be 'his or her' (or 'its', if we don't know the individual child's gender; but it somehow sounds very ugly to say 'no child should cry just because it's lost its toy) ~ so Part A was faulty.
In part B, 'Uncle Marcus and my father WERE ..' would be better.
3 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'My parents are going into town this evening ...
(B) ... but me and Chris are staying home.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
The verbs are fine each time, but 'me and Chris' is terrible! No speaker of decent English would ever think of saying 'me is staying', so 'me and anyone else are staying' is equally wrong (though plenty of people, particularly children and speakers of non-standard English) say similar things every day ~ alas!
It should of course be: 'Chris and I'.
4 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'A number of unexploded bombs have been found in a cave in Shropshire ...
(B) ... and an Army Bomb Disposal Unit is at work on the scene to render it safe.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
The 'number of bombs' is singular (whatever the actual number is: it could be just one piece, or maybe several dozen).
5 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'My family has been farming this land since the days of Henry VIII ...
(B) ... but the mill has been here for longer than that.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
No problems here.
6 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'Your Committee have decided ...
(B) ... that they are going to disband the Society.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
'Committee', itself, is a singular collective noun, so neither of the verbs should be plural.
(See what we mean? The overall meaning's clear, but the grammar is trickier than you might think!)
7 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'A priceless collection of postage stamps have been stolen from the study of a manor-house in Kent ...
(B) ... and the police have issued a description of a suspect wanted for questioning in connection with this incident.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
Doubtless there were several stamps, but the collection is singular. In Part B, 'the police' is a singular noun but usually treated as plural, so this version is widely acceptable.
8 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'Sam's mum and dad was saying that ...
(B) ... the cast of 'Doctor Proctor' are absolute rubbish!'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
'Dad was saying ...' is OK; but 'mum and dad [plural] WERE saying ...'.
The cast of any show, meanwhile, is a collective entity, and therefore singular.
9 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'The right-of-centre press are claiming once again that ...
(B) ... law and order is reaching breaking point in Britain.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
The Press (or any subsection of it) is singular; law and order, while often treated as a single concept, still consists of two nouns and is therefore compound and plural.
The correct version should read: 'The press is claiming ... that law and order are reaching ...'.
10 .
Read both parts carefully and then decide whether everything is OK, or whether only one part is OK, or whether neither of them is OK ~ and mark your Answer accordingly.

(A) 'Our company pride themselves on producing traditional goods ...
(B) ... that Jo(e) Public can afford and enjoy.'
Both parts are OK
Only part (A) is OK
Only part (B) is OK
Neither part is OK
The Company is a singular entity (so 'themselves' is wrong), but 'Jo(e) Public' is a singular ~ imaginary, representative ~ person, so the singular verb 'can' is OK in Part B. (Actually, of course, 'can' would have been formed exactly the same in its 3rd-person singular or plural version anyway; but at least Part B works as it should!)
Author:  Ian Miles (Linguist, ESL and RE Quiz Writer & Tutor)
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