Переводчик Калиновская Екатерина Константиновна

The distinction between singular and plural in English nouns is primarily morphological, though there are supporting features of limited collocation with other items, determiners, numerals and verbs. Thus, "a", "one", "every", "much", "this", "that" pattern only with singulars; numerals above "one", "many", "these", "those", only with plurals; so, in the case of central nouns, do groups without determiner ("Sheep grazed in the fields") (some speak here of zero-determiner, since the determiner is not just absent, but by its absence contributes an identifiable meaning to the whole utterance). This restriction of patterning may, as in the example just given, be the only indication of plurality. Those verb-forms which we may briefly label "-s forms" pattern only with singulars ("The sheep is/was in the field"; "The sheep are/were in the field") - and this may be the only sign of singularity (in marginal nouns and names, but not with central nouns). But in the great majority of cases number-variation is indicated by morphological change, and if there is only one indication, it is most often this one. That is why we speak of the distinction as primarily morphological; but equally we must recognize that noun singular and plural are established not by a single criterion but by family resemblances. The lack of an invariable criterion means that sometimes number is not clear (as in "The sheep ate up every scrap of grass"), but even internally ambiguous sentences are usually clarified by context (linguistic or situational). Two types of morphological patterning must be distinguished in the pairing of singular and plural forms of nouns.
a) The first constitutes in any one idiolect, a virtually closed class, and consists commonly of the pairing of: 1) ox with oxen 2) man with men 3) foot with feet, etc. [...]
b) The second type of morphological change is much more common, but can be dealt with much more briefly, because a generalization can be made about it. All nouns not catered for by the provisions of (a) have this second kind of pluralisation, and we have already frequently referred to it as the open-class kind. It is found, generally speaking, not only in the (literally) countless nouns already in the language but also in the vast majority of newcomers being adopted.