As you all know, adding an S at the end of nouns makes them plural, or the S at the end of verbs is the third-person-singular form of the present simple. However, there are odd cases, where adding an S at the end of word changes its part of speech or even its meaning completely!
As you also know, uncountable nouns are never plural, right? Well, it should come as no surprise but there are irregular cases, meaning uncountable nouns that are plural with an S at the end! However, if you remove the S from these nouns, they become adjectives! Take a look at the examples below.
noun adjective
economics economic
electronics electronic
indoors/outdoors indoor/outdoors
news new
shorts short
sports sport
valuables valuable
There other cases, which I consider more extreme. The part of speech may not change but the meaning does!
preposition preposition
beside besides
(next to) (in addition to / apart from)
noun noun
cloth clothes
(a piece of fabric) (what you cover your body with)
adjective noun
new news
(not old) (the latest information)
quantifier + noun adverb
some time sometimes
(for a while) (every once in a while)
So as you can see, besides indicating the plurality of nouns or the person of verbs, it’s also important to write and pronounce the S at the end of words to distinguish a noun from an adjective or to have a different meaning.
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