Difference between Women and Woman | Women vs Woman

Regardless of their age, students often get confused while using the two words ‘woman’ and ‘women’. In such cases incorrect meanings are communicated to the reader or the listener.  How do we make sure that students are using these words correctly? This article will discuss how one can differentiate between ‘woman’ and ‘women’ without any confusion

The English Language might confuse students at times, but if they know how or when to use the words and grammatical structures, the language turns out to be easy. The following points in the article will help you understand whether there’s a difference between ‘woman’ and ‘women’ or not. After going through these following points, you’ll develop a better understanding of both these words.

Table Summarising the Difference between Women and Woman.

Women

Woman

Meaning The word women is used to refer to more than one (plural) woman/female individual. The word woman is used as a way to refer to one female individual who is an adult.
Usage It is used as a Noun. It is also used as a Noun.
Example The women in our colony organised a party. Pratibha Patil was the first woman President of India.

The tabular chart depicts that ‘women’ and ‘woman’ are used to depict female beings. These terms can’t be used interchangeably or synonymously as the former is the plural form of the latter. Students should understand the contexts when they are using these words. The following explanations will help you understand how you can use these terms correctly.

The Difference between Women and Woman – Meanings

The simplest way to differentiate between these two terms is knowing that the term ‘women’ is the plural form of the word ‘woman’. So, if in a sentence, it refers to more than one ‘woman’ or a number of female individuals more than one, then the term ‘women’ is used, whereas the word ‘woman’ is used when we are denoting a single female individual.

Another thing that students must bear in mind is that, with the term ‘women’ plural forms of verbs are used, and with ‘woman’ singular forms of verbs is used. So these words can’t be used synonymously or interchangeably. While using these terms, students have to take into account whether the subject that is being talked about in the sentence is singular or plural.

Examples of Women and Woman

The examples below will allow students to clearly understand ‘women’ and ‘woman’.

Women – The women were all going out for an evening walk. (noun)

Woman – The old woman lives all alone by herself in the big mansion. (noun)

Apart from the difference is spellings these two words also differ in their pronunciations. The word ‘woman’ which is used to denote one single female individual is pronounced as wo-man, whereas the plural form of the word ‘women’ is pronounced as ‘wi-min’.

Students should learn and practice both forms of words in writing as well as in verbal communications. Most of the times, wrong messages are conveyed through the use of incorrect pronunciations during conversations.

Students can register at BYJU’S for more information of ‘Difference Between’ articles and important grammar concepts.

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