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Граматичний матеріал: Іменник. Однина і множина іменника.

These words are plural, so they take a plural verb:
• My trousers are too long. (not my trousers is)
You can also use a pair of + these words:
• Those are nice jeans. orThat's a nice pair of jeans.(not a nice jeans)
• I need some new glasses. or I need a new pair of glasses.

Some nouns end in -ics, but are not usually plural.For example:
athletics economics electronics gymnastics maths(= mathematics) physics politics
• Gymnastics is my favourite sport. (not Gymnastics are)
News is not plural:
• What time is the news on television? (not are the news)
Some words ending in -s can be singular or plural. For example:
means a means of transport many means of transport
series a television series two television series
species a species of bird 200 species of bird

Some singular nouns are often used with a plural verb. For example:
audience committee company family firm government staff team
These nouns are all groups of people. We often think of them as a number of people (= they), not as one thing (= it). So we often use a plural verb:
• The government (= they) want to increase taxes.
• The staff at the school (= they) are not happy with their new working conditions.
In the same way, we often use a plural verb after the name of a sports team or a company:
• Italy are playing Brazil next week (in a football match).
• Shell have increased the price of petrol.
A singular verb (The government wants ... / Shell has ... etc.)is also possible.
We use a plural verb with police:
• The police are investigating the murder, but haven't arrested anyone yet. (not The police is ... hasn't)
Note that we say a police officer / a policeman / a policewoman (not a police).

We do not often use the plural of person ('persons'). We normally use people (a plural word):
• He's a nice person. but They are nice people. (not nice persons)
• Many people don't have enough to eat. (not Many people doesn't)

We think of a sum of money, a period of time, a distance etc. as one thing. So we use a singular verb:
• Twenty thousand pounds(= it) was stolen in the robbery. (not were stolen)
• Three years(= it) is a long time to be without a job. (not Three years are)
• Six miles is a long way to walk every day.

Ex. 1. In each example the words on the left are connected with an activity (for example, a sport or an academic subject). Write the name of the activity. The beginning of the word is given.