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Fix Your Grammar Mistakes - Don't Add an S to These Common Words
Fix Your Grammar Mistakes - Don't Add an S to These Common Words
AccurateEnglish
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13:20 · Oct 10, 2025
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Hi,
I'm
Lisa.
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0:00
Hi, I'm Lisa.
0:01
Let's fix some very common grammar mistakes that even my advanced students sometimes make.
0:08
Adding an S to words that should not have an S.
0:12
Why is the word clothes with an S,
0:15
but we cannot add an S to clothing.
0:18
We cannot say clothing.
0:20
And we can add an S to words,
0:24
but we cannot add an S to vocabulary and slang.
0:28
We cannot say vocabularies or slangs.
0:32
Have you been making this mistake?
0:35
And why can we say suitcases with an s?
0:39
For example, I have two suitcases, but we cannot say luggages.
0:45
We cannot say two luggages.
0:48
In this video, you will learn some rules
0:50
and exceptions for when to add an s to a noun
0:54
so that you can fix your grammar mistakes
0:56
and speak English accurately.
0:58
And there will be a quick review quiz at the end to test your
1:02
knowledge.
1:03
Let's get started.
1:04
Some nouns never change between singular and plural.
1:08
You don't add an s even if you can count them.
1:12
Let's look at fish.
1:14
Sometimes it's possible to say fishes, but it depends on what you're talking about.
1:19
Fish with no s is much more common.
1:22
Even if you can count the number of fish,
1:24
you would still not add an s.
1:27
You would say, I saw five fish in the pond.
1:31
They caught three fish, not three fishes.
1:35
Fish without an s is both singular and plural if it's the same species.
1:40
Fishes is used when you're talking about different species of fish,
1:45
different kinds of fish.
1:46
For example, the aquarium has many different kinds of fishes.
1:52
But I caught three fish.
1:54
Three of the same kind.
1:56
No s.
1:57
Here are some other examples of nouns that don't add an s,
2:01
even if the noun is countable.
2:03
Deer.
2:04
We would never say deers.
2:06
So, one deer, two deer, three deer.
2:10
We would never use an s.
2:11
And do you know
2:12
which other animals have
2:13
that same irregular plural where you never add an s?
2:18
Do you remember from your English grammar class?
2:20
We can say goats.
2:22
But we can't say sheep.
2:24
So one sheep, two sheep, three sheep, 100 sheep.
2:29
No s.
2:30
That's an exception.
2:31
It's just something you have to memorize.
2:33
And another animal is moose.
2:35
We can't say moosees.
2:37
I saw a lot of moose.
2:39
Let's look at these examples.
2:42
I saw one deer in the forest.
2:45
I saw five deer in the forest.
2:48
No s with five deer.
2:50
The farmer has 10 sheep.
2:53
No s.
2:54
And I know you know this one.
2:56
Mouse.
2:56
What's the plural of mouse?
2:58
That's an irregular plural.
3:00
We don't say mouses.
3:01
We say mice.
3:03
I think you know that one, right?
3:04
Let's look at the words suitcase and luggage.
3:07
We can say I have two suitcases.
3:10
But we cannot say I have two luggages.
3:14
Luggage is an uncountable noun.
3:16
Remember we cannot add an s to uncountable nouns.
3:20
Luggage is a general word for all the containers
3:24
and bags that we use for travel such
3:27
as suitcases,
3:28
backpacks, duffel bags, etc.
3:32
But a suitcase is a specific type of luggage and it's countable.
3:37
Also, keep in mind that we can say a suitcase,
3:41
but we cannot say a luggage
3:44
because we don't use the article a with uncountable nouns.
3:48
And you must use a singular verb with uncountable nouns.
3:53
For example, his luggage is expensive.
3:56
His luggage was lost at the airport.
3:59
So, we wouldn't say are expensive or were lost,
4:03
but we can say his suitcases are expensive.
4:08
His suitcases were lost.
4:10
We use a plural verb.
4:12
It's sometimes possible to change an uncountable noun to a countable noun by adding
4:18
a unit word.
4:19
A unit word is also called a partative noun.
4:23
For example, we can say a piece of or an item of.
4:26
In this case, we can say a piece of luggage
4:30
or two pieces of luggage.
4:32
Two pieces of luggage were lost at the airport.
4:35
Let's look at the words suggestion and advice.
4:39
Can we add an s to these words?
4:41
Which sentence is correct?
4:43
He gave me two suggestions.
4:46
He gave me two advices.
4:49
Suggestions is countable.
4:51
Advice is uncountable.
4:53
So, it's incorrect to say advices.
4:56
And I recently heard a non-native speaker say, "Thank you for your advices."
5:01
Have you ever said it that way?
5:03
That's incorrect.
5:04
You would have to say, "Thank you for your advice."
5:07
And what if there's more than one advice?
5:10
If you want to specify the number, in that case, you would say,
5:13
"He gave me two pieces of advice."
5:17
You gave me two very good pieces of advice.
5:20
Let's listen to the way some other people used it.
5:22
If I could give Kate a piece of advice.
5:25
>> Maybe it's a piece of advice, maybe two pieces of advice.
5:28
>> Now, these three pieces of advice are a good start.
5:31
>> And suggestion is a countable noun.
5:33
So, we can say she gave me some good suggestions,
5:37
but not she gave me some good advices.
5:40
Let's look at the next example.
5:42
Let's look at word versus vocabulary.
5:45
We can say I want to learn more words.
5:49
But we cannot say I want to learn more vocabularies.
5:53
You would need to say I want to learn more vocabulary.
5:58
No s.
5:59
And a similar mistake is the word slang.
6:02
I have heard my students say I want to learn English slangs
6:06
or I don't understand American slangs.
6:09
Slang is considered an uncountable noun.
6:12
So we cannot add an s.
6:14
We would say he uses a lot of slang when he talks.
6:18
He knows a lot of slang or we can say slang words.
6:23
He knows a lot of slang words.
6:26
Okay, let's look at some more very common mistakes.
6:30
Let's look at the word item and let's look at the word equipment.
6:34
Which one is uncountable?
6:36
Equipment is uncountable.
6:38
No s.
6:39
We can say the gym has new equipment.
6:42
And if we want to specify the number,
6:45
we would say they bought three pieces of equipment
6:49
or I bought a piece of equipment.
6:52
Equipment is considered a mass noun.
6:55
A mass noun is something that consists of a lot of different things.
7:00
For example, furniture.
7:02
We have a sofa.
7:03
We have a table.
7:04
We have a chair.
7:05
It's a group of things.
7:06
So, we would say, "I bought two pieces of furniture."
7:10
We would not say I would like to buy some furniturees.
7:14
Another one that's a mass noun is jewelry.
7:16
Jewelry consists of different things.
7:19
Rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings.
7:24
All of those are individual items.
7:26
So you can say I bought a ring and I bought a necklace.
7:31
I bought two pieces of jewelry.
7:33
Let's look at these two words, fact and information.
7:38
They have similar meanings.
7:40
Which one doesn't take an s?
7:42
Information.
7:43
And to make information countable, you can use the unit word piece.
7:48
A piece of information.
7:51
He gave me two pieces of information.
7:53
Be careful about the word information.
7:56
If your native language is Spanish or Portuguese or French or Italian,
8:02
the words are very similar.
8:04
And here's a translation of I got two pieces of information in those four
8:09
different languages.
8:11
You will notice unlike English, they all have the plural forms.
8:16
However, in English, we cannot say informations.
8:20
That's a very common mistake.
8:21
I have heard people say,
8:23
especially if their native language is one of the ones I just mentioned.
8:27
Let's look at the next word.
8:28
How about homework?
8:30
Have you ever said,
8:31
"I did my homeworks or I have a lot of homeworks."
8:35
That's incorrect.
8:36
We cannot add an s to homework.
8:39
We can say assignments.
8:40
My assignments were difficult, but not homework.
8:44
Let's look at clothes versus clothing.
8:47
We don't add an s to clothing.
8:50
Both clothes and clothing refer to what people wear,
8:54
but they're used a little differently.
8:57
Clothes we use for everyday conversation.
9:00
I washed my clothes.
9:01
I bought some new clothes.
9:03
And let's make sure that you've been pronouncing this word correctly.
9:07
The e is silent.
9:09
And most of the time the th is also silent.
9:13
It's very difficult to say close.
9:16
Most people just completely eliminate the th.
9:19
So close and close sound the same.
9:23
Let's listen to some native speakers pronouncing it.
9:25
Make sure your clothes are appropriate.
9:27
I mean, notice how often we're actually wearing different clothes.
9:30
>> This is because the clothes you're wearing.
9:32
>> And some people sometimes pronounce a very little, very small th.
9:37
It's really minimal like this.
9:39
Clothes.
9:40
Clothes.
9:42
You can barely hear the th.
9:44
Let's listen to that pronunciation.
9:46
>> Is absolutely not meant to be made into clothes.
9:48
>> Googlebot knows you have an online shop that sells clothes.
9:51
>> Now, let's say it together.
9:53
I bought some new clothes.
9:55
You say it.
9:58
So, when do we say clothing?
10:00
Clothing is a little more formal.
10:02
We often use it like this.
10:04
The store sells outdoor clothing or they need food and clothing.
10:10
And to make it countable,
10:12
we say an item of a shirt is an item of clothing.
10:17
And now it's time for a short review quiz.
10:20
You will see a sentence
10:21
and you need to decide
10:22
if it's correct or it's incorrect.
10:25
Let's look at the first one.
10:27
He gave me some good advices.
10:29
Is that correct?
10:33
No, it's incorrect.
10:34
He gave me some good advice.
10:36
No s.
10:37
Let's look at the next one.
10:39
Is this one correct?
10:40
I bought a lot of new clothes.
10:46
Yes, that's correct.
10:48
Clothes.
10:49
But the uncountable version of that one is clothing.
10:52
With that one, we wouldn't use an s.
10:54
Let's look at the next one.
10:55
I have three luggages.
10:57
Is that correct?
11:01
No, it's not correct.
11:03
No s with luggage.
11:05
We would have to say three pieces of luggage.
11:08
Let's look at the next one.
11:09
He shared two pieces of informations with me.
11:13
Is that correct?
11:17
The pieces part is correct, but no s.
11:21
We would say pieces of information.
11:24
Let's go on to the next one.
11:25
I saw three deer in the forest.
11:32
Yes, that's correct.
11:34
With deer, we never add an s.
11:36
That's an irregular plural.
11:38
No s.
11:39
Let's look at the next one.
11:40
I finished all of my homeworks.
11:43
Is that correct?
11:47
It's incorrect.
11:48
No s with homework.
11:50
I finished all of my homework.
11:52
Let's look at the next one.
11:54
I'd like to learn more slang words.
11:56
Is that correct?
12:02
Yes, that's correct.
12:03
Because with slang, no s, but with words, we add an s.
12:07
And this one is a bonus question.
12:10
I didn't teach it to you in this video,
12:12
but I taught it in a previous video.
12:15
So, if you watched it, you know the answer to this question.
12:18
I want to cut my hair because they are long.
12:21
Is that correct?
12:25
The hair part is correct.
12:27
With hair, if we're talking about hair on my head, no s,
12:32
but they are long.
12:34
The R is not correct because hair is an uncountable noun.
12:38
We have to change are to a singular verb
12:41
which is is because it is long.
12:45
My hair is long, not are.
12:47
And how about in your language?
12:49
Is hair in plural?
12:51
Do you use a plural verb with it?
12:53
How did you do on the quiz?
12:55
Let me know in the comments below.
12:57
Thanks for watching and keep practicing.
12:59
Take your English to the final level of fluency with my online courses.
13:04
The American accent course,
13:06
the 400 advanced words you must know for fluent English course,
13:11
and the phrasal verbs for fluent English course.
13:15
Go to accurateenglish.com.
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