Many English learners make the same mistake by adding ‘s’ to words that should never have it! In this guide, you’ll discover 16 common words that students incorrectly try to make plural. From uncountable nouns like ‘equipment’ to irregular plurals like ‘mice’, you’ll learn why adding an ‘s’ is incorrect and see clear examples to help you use each word correctly. Master these tricky words to avoid common mistakes and sound much more natural in English!

1. evidence

• Do you have any evidences for that? (incorrect)
• Do you have any evidence for that? (correct)

Evidence = uncountable noun 

Uncountable nouns can’t be made plural and we never add -s to them

2. equipment

• I just bought some new camping equipments. (incorrect)
• I just bought some new camping equipment. (correct)

Equipment = uncountable noun

3. homework

• I’ve got some homework to do. (correct)
• I’ve got some homeworks to do. (incorrect)

Homework = uncountable noun

4. knowledge

• Her knowledge of the software helped us fix the issue. (correct)
• Her knowledges of the software helped us fix the issue. (incorrect)

Knowledge = uncountable noun

5. clothing

• Your clothing is all over the floor. (correct)
• Your clothings are all over the floor. (incorrect)

Clothing = uncountable noun

*Note: Uncountable nouns + Singular Verbs

It’s important to know that uncountable nouns are usually followed by a singular verb

• Your clothing is scattered all over the floor.
• The equipment is broken.

The main exception to this rule is when we use ‘piece words’ with the uncountable noun like this:

• Several items of clothing were scattered all over the floor.
• A few pieces of equipment are broken.

And here are a few more examples with explainations:

• The information was false => Two pieces of information were false.
• The bread is stale => Several slices of bread are stale
• Several pieces of evidence were strong => More than one individual example or fact supports a claim.
• A few pages of her homework were missing => More than one page of her homework was missing