Page 556 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

a clothes shop
a glasses case
a customs officer
arms control
a savings account
the accounts department
the sales department
the outpatients department (of a hospital)
singular and plural (9): noun + noun 531
Children may resemble both their father and their mother in different ways. This often happens with fixed singular expressions like at the beginning.
Discourse markers usually come at the beginning ofsentences.
531 singular and plural (9): noun + noun 1 first noun singular: shoe shop
In noun + noun structures (see 385-386), the first noun is normally singular in form even if it has a plural meaning.
a shoe shop (= a shop that sells shoes)
a toothbrush (= a brush for teeth) trouser poc/cets (= pockets in trousers) a ticket office (= an office that sells tickets)
2 exceptions
Some nouns are plural in this structure. These include nouns which have no singular form (like clothes), nouns which are not used in the singular with the same meaning (like customs), and some nouns which are more often used in the plural than in the singular (like savings). In some cases, e.g. antique(s), drug(s), usage is divided, and both singular and plural forms are found. In general, plurals are becoming more common in this structure. Examples:
a drinks cabinet
a goods train (British English)
a sports car
a greeting(s) card
an antique(s) dealer/shop
the drug(s) problem
the arrival(s) hall (at an airport)
Note also that singular nouns ending in -ics can be used before other nouns. athletics training
an economics degree
We use the plurals men and women to modify plural nouns when they have a 'subject' meaning; man and woman are used to express an 'object' meaning. Compare:
- men drivers (= men who drive)
women pilots (= women who fly planes)
- man-eaters (= lions or tigers that eat people)
woman-haters (= people who hate women)
532 singular and plural (10): other points
1 uncountable nouns: hair, baggage etc
Certain English singular uncountable nouns correspond to plural nouns in some other languages.
Yourhairisverypretty.(NOT ¥BftrhttiratJYe•••)
My baggage has been lost. (NOT My MggtJge3 httve ...)
For a lis! of words of this kind. see 148;3. For plural uncountables. see 149.5.
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