The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

Nouns with a plural form and a singular meaning

Certain nouns have a plural form (ending in -s) but a singular meaning: news; shingles, mumps, rickets; dominoes, billiards, darts etc.:

What's the

news

?

Shingles

is caused by the same virus as chicken pox.

Billiards

is a game which connects mathematics and football.

Nouns ending in -ics can either take a singular (if they are considered as the name of a science) or a plural verb (if they express a specific application of the science):

Mathematics

was never easy for Tom.

The teacher told him that his

mathematics

were well below the standard.

(his understanding of mathematics or his results)

Rhetorics

was one of the seven free arts.

His

rhetorics

were doing more harm to our case than any mistake we had ever made.

(his way of expressing ideas)

Acoustics

is the study of sounds.

Poor classroom

acoustics

create a negative learning environment for many students.

(audibility in the classroom)