Let’s start with this short series of jokes (with children):
SOME REASONS NOT TO MESS WITH A CHILD:
1. One little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible. The girl said: "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".The teacher asked: "What if Jonah went to hell"? The little girl replied: "Then you ask him".
BASIC ENGLISH REVIEW
5. PLURAL
• NOUNS
• VERB CONCORD
5.1 NOUNS
5.1.1 INVARIABLE NOUNS ENDING IN -s [USED WITH SINGULAR VERB]
a) News: ‘The news is bad today’.
b) Some diseases: measles, German measles, mumps, rickets, shingles, rabies
c) Names ending in -ics (usually with singular verb): classics, linguistics, mathematics, informatics, phonetics, economics ... ; but 'his mathematics are weak'.
d) Some games: billiards, bowls, dominoes, darts ...
e) Some proper nouns: Algiers, Athens, Brussels, Marseilles, Wales ...; the United States and the United Nations have a singular verb when considered as units.
5.1.2 PLURAL INVARIABLE NOUNS [USED WITH PLURAL VERB]
Tools and articles of dress consisting of two equal parts which are joined:
bellows* // tongs** // pants
binoculars // tweezers // pyjamas (BrE) pajamas (AmE)
pincers // glasses // pliers
spectacles // shorts // scales
scissors // flannels // tights
shears // knickers // trousers
* For fanning a fire; or for supplying an organ (musical instrument). See the difference: ‘The boys bellows could be heard everywhere’ [to shout in a loud voice]. ‘The boy’s bellows [the tool for fanning a fire or for supplying an instrument] are below those boxes’.
** For picking up and holding things
5.1.3 OTHER NOUNS THAT ONLY OCCUR IN THE PLURAL [WITH AN -s IN THE END]
(the) Antipodes // (the) Middle Ages
annals // oats (the grains of a plant)
archives // outskirts (outer board of a city or town...)(see surroundings)
arms (= weapons)
bans (of a marriage)// particulars (‘note the particulars’)
bowels (= guts)// pains (take pains, to do ...)
brains (= ‘intellect’)// premises (of a building)
clothes (but the plural of cloth is cloths)// regards(=concerning, with respect to)but regard = esteem, affection
contents (of a book ...; but the silver content of a coin)
remains
customs (the customs duty, in an airpot, for example)
spirits (= alcohol; but ‘alcohol is a spirit’)
entrails (= the body internal parts)// surroundings (see outskirts)
goods (a goods train or lorry ...) thanks
guts (= ‘bowels’; but a cat-gut)// tropics (but ‘the Tropic of Cancer’)
heads (‘heads or tails?’) // valuables
holidays (summer holidays, BrE; 'he's on holiday'; 'he's taking a holiday in Brazil')
various (‘various different shapes’;‘various reasons’)
wages (but ‘he earns a good wage’)
means (‘power is not a means, it is an end’; ‘by all means’)
5.1.4 UNMARKED PLURALS (= ‘COLLECTIVE’ NAMES) [USED WITH PLURAL VERB]
cattle // police
folk (but also informal folks)// youth (but it is regular when means 'young man')
gentry
‘ten millilitres of serum was added to’ ...
people (ex.: people are suffering) (but it is regular when means nation: ‘indigenous peoples living in the Amazon’)
5.1.5 VARIABLE NOUNS
Variable nouns have two forms, singular and plural, the singular being the form listed in dictionaries.
a) Treatment of -y: besides the regular spy... spies, there are nouns in -y to which s is added: with proper nouns: the Kennedys
after a vowel: days, boys, journeys
b) Nouns of unusual form sometimes pluralize in ’s:
letter names: ‘dot your i’s’ (= put a dot on the letter i)
numerals: ‘in the 1990’s (or 1990s)’
abbreviations: ‘two DVD’s or DVDs.
c) Nouns in -o have plural in -os, with some exceptions having either optional or obligatory -oes:
Plurals in -os and -oes: archipelago, banjo, buffalo, cargo, commando, flamingo, halo, motto, tornado, volcano.
Plurals only in -oes: echo, embargo, hero, Negro, potato, tomato, torpedo, veto.
5.1.6 COMPOUNDS
Compounds form the plural in different ways
a) Plural in first element
attorney general ...attorneys general
passer-by ...passers-by
mother-in-law ...mothers-in-law
grant-in-aid ...grants-in-aid
man-of-war ...men-of-war
Portuguese man-of-war ...Portuguese men-of war [=CARAVELA, in Portuguese]
mouthful ...mouthsful
spoonful ...spoonsful
b) Plural in both first and last element
gentleman farmer ...gentlemen farmers
manservant ...menservants
woman doctor ...women doctors
c) Plural in last element (= ‘normal’)
assistant director ...assistant directors
boy (or girl) friend ...boy (girl) friends
5.1.7 IRREGULAR PLURALS
a) Many foreign words are involved. It will be helpful the knowledge of Latin and Greek. See the examples:
alga ...algae
amoeba ...amoebae
analysis ...analyses
antenna (electronics) ...antennae (in biology)
axis ...axes
basis ...bases
crisis ...crises
formula (general) ...formulas
formula (mathematics) ...formulae
hypothesis ...hypotheses
meiosis ...meioses
thesis ...theses
b) Latin nouns ending in -us: the plural is -i
Regular plural (-uses): bonus, campus [plural in Latin is campi], chorus, circus, virus etc
Both plurals (-uses or -i): cactus, focus, fungus, radius, terminus, syllabus
Foreign plural (-i): alumnus (a male graduate), bacillus, coccus, locus, stimulus
N.B. The usual plurals of corpus and genus are corpora and genera, respectively.
c) Nouns in -a (Latin): the foreign plural is -ae, as in alumna ...alumnae and alga ...algae
Regular plural (-as): area, arena, dilemma, diploma, drama, etc
Both plurals: antenna, formula, nebula, vertebra
Foreign plural: alga, alumna (a female graduate), larva
d) Nouns in -um (Latin): the foreign plural is -a, as in curriculum ...curricula
Regular plural: agendum, album, chrysanthemum, datum, erratum, museum etc
Usually regular: forum, stadium, ultimatum
Both plurals: aquarium, medium, memorandum, millennium, minimum, septum, serum, symposium
Usually foreign plural: curriculum
Foreign plural: addendum, bacterium, corrigendum, desideratum, erratum, ovum, stratum, medium (as substrate for growing microorganisms)
N.B. Media with reference to the Press. Datum (singular of data) is rare.
e) Nouns in -ex (Latin): the foreign plural is -ices. NOTICE: index ... indexes as a list and lists of contents of books; and index ...indices as a mathematical term.
Both regular and foreign plurals: apex, index, vortex, appendix, matrix
Foreign plural: codex
f) The foreign plural is -es, as in basis ...bases
Regular plural (-ises): metropolis
Foreign plural: analysis, axis, basis, crisis, diagnosis, ellipsis, hypothesis, oasis, parenthesis, synopsis, thesis
g) Nouns in -on (Greek): the foreign plural is -a, as in criterion ...criteria
Regular plural: demon, electron, neutron, proton
Both plurals: automaton
Foreign plural: criterion, phenomenon
[See a good English grammar or English dictionary for French and Italian nouns used in scientific literature].
5.2 VERB CONCORD
5.2.1 SUBJECT VERB CONCORD
a) Use of singular (acting as subject): ‘After the exams is the time to relax’.
b) NOTICE this ‘rule’: ‘A subject which is not definitely marked for plural requires a singular verb’; example: ‘There’s hundreds of people on the waiting list’.
b.1) With singular nouns ending with the -s of the plural inflection (measles, billiards, mathematics ... see 5.1.1 INVARIABLE NOUNS); or conversely with plural nouns lacking the inflection (cattle, people ...); examples:
‘measles is sometimes serious’ ‘our people are complaining’
b.2) With names, titles, quotations etc, plural words and phrases are considered as singular; examples:
‘The Brothers Karamazov is undoubtedly Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece’.
‘Senior Citizens means people over sixty’
c) Singular expressions that have plural verbs: a number of ...; the majority of ...; a couple of ...; a group of ...; a lot of ...; a list of ... .
5.2.2 ‘THE IDEA OF NUMBER’ AND THE PROXIMITY RULE
The idea of number: ‘The government have broken all their promises’
Proximity:
a) ‘No one except his own supporters agree with him’
b) ‘One in ten graduates read and write in English’
5.2.3 COLLECTIVE NOUNS IN BrE TAKE PLURAL (USUALLY SINGULAR IN AmE)
a) ‘The public are tired of demonstrations’
b) ‘The audience were enjoying every minute of his talk’ [it is considered here ‘the individual reactions of members of the audience’]. But ‘The audience was enormous’.
5.2.4 CONCORD OF PERSON
a) Agreement between subject and verb (similar to concord of number):‘Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else knows the answer’.
b) The verb in agreement with the complement:
b.1) ‘What we need most are books’.
b.2) ‘Good manners is a rarity these days’.
5.2.5 NOUN PHRASES COORDINATED BY and, TAKE A PLURAL
a) ‘Tom and Mary are now ready’ [Tom is now ready and Mary is now ready]
b) ‘What I say and what I think are my own affair’ [what I say is ... and what I think is]
c) A conjoining expressing a mutual relationship takes a plural verb: ‘Your problem and mine are similar’.
But a singular verb is used with conjoining which represent a single entity: ‘The hammer and sickle was flying in the Russian flag’.
5.2.6 THE USE OF either ... or REQUIRES SPECIAL ATTENTION
a) ‘Either the Head of Department or his secretary is expected to come’.
b) ‘Either the students or the teachers have misunderstood the problem’.
5.2.7 THE USE OF neither ... nor, IN COLLOQUIAL SPEECH THEY BEHAVE LIKE and
‘Neither he nor his wife have arrived’.
5.2.8 INDEFINITE EXPRESSIONS OF AMOUNT
The proximity rule is also used in the following situations:
a) ... ‘none of them are ...’ ... ‘either of the girls are ...’
b) With the indefinites each, every, everybody, anybody, and nobody (which are undoubtedly singular):
‘Nobody, not even the teachers, were listening’.
‘Every member of that University of 3,000 people were pleased to hear about the salary increase’.
c) ‘A large number of people have applied for the job’.
SCIENTIFIC TEXT
Considerable research indicates that years of exposure to UV-B ionizing radiation in sunlight is the primary cause of squamous-cell and basal-cell skin cancers, which make up 95% of all skin cancers. Typically there is a 15- to 40-year lag between excessive UV exposure and development of these cancers.
Caucasian children and adolescents who get only a single severe sunburn double their chances of getting these two types of cancers. Some 90 - 95% of these types of skin cancer can be cured if detected early enough, although their removal may leave disfiguring scars. These cancers kill only 1 - 2% of their victims.
A third type of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, occurs in pigmented areas like moles. This type of cancer can spread rapidly (within a few months) to other organs, including the liver and brain, and kills about one-fourth of its victims (most under age 40) within five years despite treatments.
Evidence indicates that white people who get three or more blistering sunburns before age 20, subsequently are five times more likely to develop malignant melanoma than those who have never had severe sunburns. About 10% of those who get malignant melanoma have an inherited gene that makes them especially susceptible to the disease.
To protect yourself, stay out of the sun (especially between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M., when UV levels are highest) and avoid tanning parlours. When you are in the sun, wear sunglasses that protect against UV radiation (ordinary sunglasses may actually harm your eyes by dilating your pupils so that more UV radiation strikes the retina). Glass (the thick glass of a car, for example) absorbs UV rays very effectively. Because UV rays can penetrate clouds, overcast does not protect you; neither does shade, because UV rays can reflect off sand, snow, water, or patio floors. People who take antibiotics and women who take birth control pills are more susceptible to UV damage. Because cell damage is cumulative, a one-hour exposure every day for five days could be as threatening as one long day at the beach.
Apply sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or more (if you have light skin), and reapply it after swimming or excessive perspiration. Babies under a year old should not be exposed to the sun at all.
Become familiar with your moles and warts. The warning signs of skin cancer are a change in the size, shape, or colour of a mole or wart; sudden appearance of dark spots on the skin; or a sore that keeps oozing, bleeding, and crusting over but does not heal.
N.B. The title of this text is: THE CANCER YOU ARE MOST LIKELY TO GET
8.1 QUESTIONS
1. What are the main causes of cancer skin and which forms of cancer people are susceptible to get?
2. How long does it take for someone to bear such kind of cancer?
3. Summarize the comments the author did about melanoma, mainly its relation to skin features, human organs, and inheritance.
4. Which relation exists between use of sunscreen from earlier age and probability to get skin cancer?
5. What does mean SPF and its numbers?
6. Is it correct to say that the author reported in the text that: ‘close to the end of the morning and in the beginning of the afternoon, and in cloudy days, staying under shade will protect you from UV radiation’? Comment on this statement.
7. Which comments the author does about sunglasses?
8. List some symptoms which would justify someone to seek for medical care?
8.2 EXERCISE
1. Use heal (v.) or scar (n.)
a) Even if it ............... it leaves a ............... .
b) He has a ............... on his face due to the wound which delayed to ............... .
2. Can you distinguish inherent (adj.) from inherit (v.) and inheritance (n.)?
a) Many people who get malignant melanoma have an .................... gene that makes them especially susceptible to disease.
b) There is a strong possibility that .................... increases the chances of someone get cancer.
c) We can say that most of skin cancer is .................... to caucasian people who is frequently exposed to UV rays.
3. Use actually or presently
a) People who increased their exposure to sunlight, by moving to areas with sunnier climate and by spending more leisure time exposed to sunlight, are .................... responsible for their own problems with skin cancer.
b) People who take antibiotics and women who take birth control pills are .................... more susceptible to UV damage.
c) Sunscreens [= sun-tan, lotion, oil or cream] with protection factor 15 or higher, are .................... new weapons to prevent blistering sunburns.
d) The skin cancer incidence is .................... rising.
4. Use realize and understand
a) Most people do not .................... that protection factors for sunscreens may not give sufficient protection to anyone. It is important to .................... that a good amount of the product must be applied to skin.
b) I did not .................... he was talking about the experiment; so I did not .................... what I had to do when we got to the field.
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