Sheep is one of the common animals in people's daily life, and its plural form is usually added with s in English, for example, the plural of sheep is sheep. However, there are cases where the plural of sheep does not add s, why is that?
First, we need to understand the difference between countable and uncountable nouns in English. A countable noun is a noun that can be counted one by one, such as a sheep, two cats, etc. Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted individually, such as milk, bread, etc.
In English, the general rule is that for countable nouns, the plural form is usually followed by s or es;For uncountable nouns, the plural form is to add more or any more directly before the noun.
However, there are special countable nouns whose plural form is not simply followed by s or es. Some of these special countable nouns follow certain rules, such as changing y to i and adding es, while others are conventional plural forms, such as oxen instead of oxs.
For sheep, its plural form is also one of the special countable nouns. In English, the plural form of sheep is sheep instead of sheeps. This is because the plural form of the word sheep does not simply add s or es, but follows certain rules. Specifically, the y in the word is changed to i and es is added, so that the plural form of sheepen is obtained.
In addition, it is important to note that although the plural form of sheep is sheep instead of sheeps, the singular form of sheep can also be used to refer to multiple sheep in some specific contexts. For example, in the English proverb, there is a saying "when the sheep is lost, the head is cut off", which means "to lose the pawn and protect the car". This is because in this particular context, the use of the singular form of sheep can better convey this meaning.
In short, the plural form of sheep does not add s because the rule of its plural form is not simply to add s or es, but to follow a specific rule. At the same time, in some specific contexts, the singular form of sheep can also be used to represent multiple sheep.