VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT
=================== NGUYỄN THANH TÂM UNMARKED PLURAL NOUNS IN ENGLISH AND
THEIR DIFFICULTIES FOR THE 1
ST
YEAR STUDENTS
AT THE FACULTY OF TOURISM, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF CULTURE

(Danh từ số nhiều không có dấu hiệu nhận dạng trong tiếng Anh và
những khó khăn của sinh viên năm thứ nhất khoa Du Lịch
Đại học Văn hóa Hà Nội)

M.A. MINOR THESIS

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF CULTURE

(Danh từ số nhiều không có dấu hiệu nhận dạng trong tiếng Anh và
những khó khăn của sinh viên năm thứ nhất khoa Du Lịch
Đại học Văn hóa Hà Nội)

M.A. MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60.22.15
SUPERVISOR: DAO THI THU TRANG, M.A
H NI- 2011 iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certificate of originality of study project report………………………………………… i
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………… ii
Abstract……………………………………………………………………… ………… iii
Table of contents……………………………………………………………………….….iv
List of tables and charts……………………………………………………………… .vii


1.3.3. Gender………………………………………………………… ……9
Chapter 2- Grammatical features of plural nouns in English…………………… ….10
2.1. Definition……………………………………………………………….…….10
2.2. Classification…………………………………………………………… … 10
2.2.1. Marked plural nouns…………………………………………… ….11
2.2.1.1. Definition……………………………………….………… 11
2.2.1.2. Classification……………………………….…………… ….11
(a) Invariables…………………………………….…………… …….11
(b) Variables……………………………………….…………… … 12
2.2.2. Unmarked plural nouns……………………………………… ……13
2.2.2.1. Definition……………………………… ……………… … 13
2.2.2.2. Classification…………………………………………… …. 14
(a) Unmarked plural nouns which are always used with plural verbs 14
(b) Unmarked plural nouns which refer to groups of people or
things………………………………………………………………….15
(c) Unmarked plural nouns which are formed by ‘the + adjective’… 18
(d) Invariable nouns which can be singular or plurals…………….… 19
2.2.2.3. Subject-Verb agreement………………………………… … 20
Chapter 3- Findings 21
3.1. Data analysis results…………………………………………………… ……21
3.1.1. The mid-term test……………………………………………….… 21
3.1.2. The students’ questionnaires…………………………………… …22
3.1.3. The teachers’ interview……………………………………… ……27
3.2. Findings……………………………………………………….………… … 30
3.2.1. No inflectional distinction with singular form… …………… … 30
3.2.2. Subject-Verb agreement…………………………………… …… 30
Chapter 4- Some suggested solutions…………………………………………… …… 32
4.1. Towards the students…………………………………………………… … 32

vi
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PART I- INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Learning to master a language is a lengthy and effortful process including both learning the
language knowledge: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. and language skills:
reading, speaking, writing and listening. As the final aim of learning language in general
and learning English in particular is communicative, vocabulary is one of the most
essential goals to achieve.
However, how to learn a language, especially its vocabulary effectively is really a problem.
At Hanoi University of Culture (HUC), the 1
st
year students at the Faculty of Tourism
often report to have a lot of difficulties in learning vocabulary, especially the number
category. Surprisingly, a number of plural nouns in English have no plural endings
(unmarked plural nouns). This is a big problem for students because they cannot realize
these nouns as plural by their forms. It arises even more challenges for students when they
often make mistakes in making the subject and the verb of the sentence agree.
Up to now, no study on this matter has been carried out at HUC. Therefore, the situation
encouraged the author to do a research on ‘Unmarked plural nouns in English and their
difficulties for the 1
st
year students at the Faculty of Tourism, Hanoi University of
Culture’. It is the author’s hope that this study will be really useful for both teachers and
students in teaching and learning vocabulary in general and unmarked plural nouns in
particular.
2. Aims of the study
- to provide learners with grammatical features of unmarked plural nouns in English
- to specify difficulties which unmarked plural nouns in English cause to the 1

working with these students for years.
4.2. The instruments
In order to ensure the validity and reliability of the study, different tools were used, namely
written test, questionnaires, and interview.
Instrument 1: The mid-term test was used as a tool to investigate the difficulties of
unmarked plural nouns in English which the 1
st
year students have to encounter in their
vocabulary learning.
Instrument 2: Survey questionnaires on the 1
st
year students were employed to find out
what difficulties unmarked plural nouns in English cause to them in their vocabulary
learning, what teaching methods used by their teachers they would enjoy, and what they
have done to improve their knowledge of unmarked plural nouns in English. (see appendix
1)
Instrument 3: An interview was organized with 10 teachers who are teaching English to
the 1
st
year students at the Faculty of Tourism at HUC to find out what teaching methods
they are using when dealing with unmarked plural nouns in English, what difficulties they
find from their students in their learning unmarked plural nouns in English, and some
recommendations made by them. (see appendix 2)
4.3. The procedures
4.3.1. The mid-term test
4.3.2. Questionnaires
4.3.3. Interviews
4.4. Data analysis
As above mentioned, the data for this study is collected by the mid-term tests, students’
questionnaires, and teachers’ interview. With the mid-term tests, students’ acquisition of
Proper nouns Common nouns
(unique reference) (generic/specific reference)
Tom, John, Mr. Smith, etc. Count noun Non-count noun
man, boy, people water, oil, independence

Concrete Abstract
man, boy, water peace, war, independence
The two types of nouns (proper nouns and common nouns) will be discussed hereafter.
1.2.1. Proper nouns
1.2.1.1. Definition of proper nouns
According to Collins (1992:448), names of people, places, organizations, institutions,
ships, magazines, books, plays, paintings, and other unique things are proper nouns. For
example: Mozart, Romeo and Juliet, the President of the United States, the Seine, etc.
1.2.1.2. Classification of proper nouns
(a) Personal names: Tom, John, Mr. Smith, Bill Clinton, Sir Jones, etc.
(b) Geographical names (including names of continents, countries, counties, states, cities,
towns, lakes and mountains): America, Brazil, Arkansas, Boston, Silver Lake, Mount
Everest, the Nile, etc.
(c) Names of institutions or organizations: London University, FAO, UNICEF, etc.

5
(d) Name + common noun: Park Lane, Kennedy Airport, etc.
(e) Calendar items: January, Monday, Christmas, etc.
1.2.2. Common nouns
1.2.2.1. Definition of common nouns


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2.1. Definition
Naturally, the concept of plural nouns is based on that of plural. That is ‘plural nouns refer
to more than one person or thing or consist of different kinds of people or things.’
(English Language Dictionary)
2.2. Classification
From the author’s point of view, plural nouns in English can be classified into 2 major
groups: marked plural nouns and unmarked plural nouns. The first group consists of
regular plural nouns (have –s ending) and irregular plural nouns which have markers to be
realized, such as voicing, -en ending, vowel change, etc. The later consists of nouns which
have no plural endings or have same forms with singular nouns or in other words, they are
not realized as plural by their forms.
2.2.1. Marked plural nouns
2.2.1.1. Definition
As aforementioned, marked plural nouns can be understood as nouns which have
characteristics to be easily noticed, such as –s endings, -en endings, voicing, vowel
changes or markers of foreign plural. In other words, people can notice marked plural
nouns based on their forms.
2.2.1.2. Classification
(a) Invariables
(i) Summation plurals
(ii) Pluralia tantums
(b) Variables
(i) Regular
(ii) Irregular
+voicing (/f/

/vz/)
+ mutation

CHAPTER 3- FINDINGS
The issues mentioned in the previous chapters only belong to the theoretical category. To
seek for an insight into the difficulties of unmarked plural nouns for the 1
st
year students at
the Faculty of Tourism, HUC both theoretically and practically, this chapter presents the
results derived from analyzing the data collected, thus findings are identified.
3.1. Presentation of data analysis results
3.1.1. Mid-term test
3.1.2. The students’ questionnaires
1. How do you think of the role of vocabulary in learning a foreign language?
2. What is the most difficult for you when you learn English plural nouns?
As shown in the chart, what students find the most difficult in learning English plural
nouns is unmarked plural nouns
3. How do you usually practice unmarked plural nouns at home?
4. Which way of presenting unmarked plural nouns do you like?
5. What difficulties unmarked plural nouns in English cause to you?
6. What kinds of vocabulary consolidation are you most interested in when learning
unmarked plural nouns?
7. Which way of practicing unmarked plural nouns do you like most?

8. What kind of task do you find most difficult in you last examination?

3.1.3. Teachers’ interview
1. What difficulties do you find from your students in their learning unmarked plural
nouns in English?
2. What techniques and activities do you often use to present unmarked plural nouns
in English?
3. Specifically what kinds of exercises on unmarked plural nouns do you think
interesting and effective for students to remember the taught words?

students in the case of collective nouns which can be either singular or plural. Therefore,
students have to consider whether the noun refers to singular undivided body or a
collection of individuals to make the right concord between subject and verb.

CHAPTER 4- SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
Based on the results obtained from the study, herein after are some solutions suggested by
the researcher, with a hope to partly overcome the difficulties of unmarked plural nouns in

10
English for the 1
st
years at the Faculty of Tourism at her university in particular, and to
improve the English learning and teaching at the university in general.
4.1. Toward students
4.1.1. Using dictionary
4.1.2. Self-access materials
4.1.3. Making a vocabulary notebook
4.1.4. Group work
4.2. Towards the teachers
According to Dudley-Evans & John (1998), teachers are both good teachers and good
designers of course materials. To be a good provider of materials, one of their roles is to
modify activities to suit their learners’ need. In the case of HUC, the teachers should be
encouraged to help students to reduce their difficulties by the following ways.
4.2.1. Presenting unmarked plural nouns by using effective teaching techniques

plural forms of unmarked plural nouns. It arises even more difficulties for students in
dealing with collective nouns which can be either singular or plural.
The results from the teachers’ interview backs up the above-mentioned difficulties found
from students’ questionnaires. Moreover, the interview reveals that the Grammar-
Translation method which is overused compared with other methods in vocabulary
teaching is considered one of the reasons to cause difficulties in learning unmarked plural
nouns, especially in word use and in communication. Also, some recommendations are
made by the teachers which focus on diversifying the teachers’ presentation and
consolidation of unmarked plural nouns, designing exercises, and regularly checking to
increase effectiveness in students’ learning unmarked plural nouns.
Finally, based on the study’s findings, and to the best understanding of the researcher,
some solutions are suggested for both students and teachers at the Faculty of Tourism at
HUC with a hope to partly improve the situation. To the students, it is necessary for them
to be more aware of the importance of their self-learning combined with dictionary use,
learning on Internet, vocabulary notebook, and group work. To the teachers, they are
encouraged to look for more interesting and effective techniques and activities in

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presenting and consolidating unmarked plural nouns with a range of exercises to their
students.
2. Limitations of the study
Although the study is done to the best understanding of the researcher, it is impossible to
avoid some limitations of the study. Firstly, if the study was conducted in the light of an
experimental research, the researcher could make the best choice of what techniques
should be used by both teachers and students in their teaching and learning unmarked
plural nouns. Secondly, if the researcher conducted an interview with some of the surveyed
students in students’ questionnaires, the study could touch upon deeper insights to explore
their opinions freely about the difficulties which unmarked plural nouns in English cause
to them and their needs as well.
3. Suggestions for further study