Nouns / Verbs - Singular/Plural ??

[KM]

Hi,

How do I recognize whether a given word is Singular noun/verb vs Plural noun/verb. I know this may be very trivial for many. But I don't know how to recognize.

Many nouns take 's' at the end to form plural noun. However does the verb take it too ??

For eg.

decline - ?? noun or verb ? singular/plural

ensure or ensures -- verb or noun ??

Guru's pls help.

-KM

[esledge]

An "s" at the end of a noun makes it plural. In contrast, an "s" at the end of a verb makes it singular.
The dog walks.
The dogs walk.

One tricky thing about English is our many multipurpose words: words that can be different forms of speech depending on the context. To some extent, this is a measure of vocabulary. For example, 'ensure' is always a verb, but 'decline' is truly multipurpose.

I decline your offer, but thanks anyway. (VERB--its subject is 'I')
A decline in water quality occured after the storm. (NOUN--subject of 'occured')
Concern over the decline was discussed at the meeting. (NOUN--object of the preposition 'over'--prepositional phrase modifies concern)
The sales decline prediction is causing concern. (ADJECTIVE--modifies 'prediction')

Here are some rules of thumb as you decipher the role of a word (let's call it X) in a sentence:

--Can I match X with its subject-verb partner? If you can pair X with an action that makes logical sense, then X is a subject (i.e. noun). If you can pair X with a subject that makes logical sense, then X is a verb.

--If X preceded by an article such as 'a' or 'the,' then X must be a noun.

--If X precedes a noun and X is not a verb, then it is an adjective. When two or more erstwhile nouns are used together, then only the last one is a noun, which is modified by the others.

The silver is tarnished. (silver as noun)
The antique can be purchased at the local shop. (Antique as noun)
The antique silver platter is valuable. (platter as noun, antique and silver as adjective)