sea shells

Meaning

1. 1nounplural

   the hard outer coverings of small sea animals, often found empty on beaches.

   Grammar: Countable; the singular is sea shell. Use plural verbs: Sea shells are everywhere.

   Patterns

   • collect sea shells
   • a sea shell
   • sea shells on the beach

   The children collected sea shells along the shore.

   She keeps a jar of sea shells on her windowsill.

   We found sea shells of many shapes and colors.

Word forms

Common combinations

collect sea shells

We collected sea shells at the beach.

sea shells on the beach

There were sea shells scattered on the beach.

a handful of sea shells

He brought back a handful of sea shells.

sea shell collection

Her sea shell collection is impressive.

Synonyms and how they differ

seashell

Same meaning, but written as one word; sea shell is also correct.

shell

More general; can refer to any hard outer covering, not just from the sea.

Word family

seashell noun

A single word for the same thing.

shell noun

The hard outer covering of an animal or egg.

Commonly confused: sea shells or sea shell?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “sea shells”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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