Everyday Grammar Video: Population

JR: Hi Dr. Jill! I’m thinking of a noun we use to talk about people on Earth. Can you guess what that noun is? Dr. J: Humanity? JR: That’s a good guess, but not the one I had in mind. Dr. J: What noun were you thinking of? JR: Population. It is a noun that means the number of people and (or) animals living in an area. We might talk about the population of the planet Earth, the population of a city, and so on. Dr. J: That makes sense. When we talk about nouns, we often describe them as being either count nouns or noncount nouns. JR: That’s right. We can make count nouns plural by adding an –s. We do not make noncount nouns plural. Dr. J: English speakers commonly use “population” as a countable noun. JR: Let’s consider some examples to clarify these points. You might say “Researchers predict the world’s population will increase next year.” We use the singular form because we are talking about all the people who live in the world – one very large group! Dr. J: But we can also make “population” plural by adding an –s. JR: In this case, we might use other terms to show that we are talking about different groups. For example, you might read a news report that says this: Overweight and elderly populations are at greater risk of developing the illness. Dr. J: We used the plural form “populations” because we are talking about all of the members of two different groups – overweight people and elderly people. We can also use population to talk about groups of animals. For example, Bird and reptile populations are shrinking in North America. JR: And that’s Everyday Grammar. --------- Learning English is Voice of America’s multimedia source of news and information for millions of English learners worldwide. We help you build vocabulary, strengthen your speaking skills and improve your ability to communicate for work, school and everyday life. EXPLORE OUR PLAYLISTS: » Learning English Podcast: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9hCvj34W5hZxGsu5etKF6bZ9w4Ap2hl » Let's Learn English with Anna! (For children 8-12) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9hCvj34W5gfXecA2uPRsKv9q5L5nQng&si=-gF1wuzIxhLQUwFQ » Let's Learn English Level 1 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9hCvj34W5it4a-RMzhlwNJ-edf5HU3Q&si=aVUuvvUsDPe41jBp » Let's Learn English Level 2 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9hCvj34W5hWkRym8sljiEvEBJ1JGIu5&si=3jEjCFfVRNfMbJ3j » VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://learningenglish.voanews.com » LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/voalearningenglish » FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/voalearningenglish/ » FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/voalearnenglish » SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST ON ITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/voa-special-english-tv/id419005656 Voice of America (VOA) is the largest U.S. international broadcaster, providing news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of 326 million people.