We meet again in this site. I hope you still have spirit to learn English to be excellent English speaker. I hope you will have good competence in English. And I hope you still diligent to study English, especially in this site.
Well, in this occasion, I will give explanation about English Plural Nouns.
Do you ever hear about this material before? If you are not, please pay attention my explanation about this material and read this material carefully. Oke, check this out.
English plural nouns
In order to change a singular noun to its plural form in English, you usually add “s”. For example, the plural of book is books. The plural of table is tables. These are regular plurals.
But there are many nouns which don’t follow this rule. For example the plural of fish is fish. The plural of tooth is teeth. These are irregular plurals
Regular plurals:
Form:
Add “s” to the noun:
| Noun | + S |
While many plural nouns follow this rule, the spelling sometimes differ.
Examples:
| Singular | Plural |
| snake | snakes |
| window | windows |
| box | boxes |
| boy | boys |
| lorry | lorries |
| potato | potatoes |
| knife | knives |
Spelling of plurals:
The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter “s”.
- more than one snake = snakes
- more than one girl = girls
- more than one window = windows
Nouns that end in -ch, x, s, z or s-like sounds, however, will require an es for the plural:
- more than one witch = witches
- more than one box = boxes
- more than one gas = gases
- more than one bus = buses
- more than one kiss = kisses
Nouns that end in a vowel + y take the letter s:
- more than one boy = boys
- more than one way = ways
Nouns that end in a consonant + y drop the y and take ies:
- more than one baby = babies
- more than one lorry = lorries
A lot of nouns that end in o take es in the plural:
- more than one potato = potatoes
- more than one hero = heroes
| o becomes oes | |
| echo | echoes |
| embargo | embargoes |
| hero | heroes |
| potato | potatoes |
| tomato | tomatoes |
| torpedo | torpedoes |
| veto | vetoes |
Some nouns ending in o break the above rule and get os in the plural form:
| o becomes os | |
| auto | autos |
| kangaroo | kangaroos |
| kilo | kilos |
| memo | memos |
| photo | photos |
| piano | pianos |
| pimento | pimentos |
| pro | pros |
| solo | solos |
| soprano | sopranos |
| studio | studios |
| tattoo | tattoos |
| video | videos |
| zoo | zoos |
Other nouns ending in o get either os or oes i the plural forms:
| o becomes os or oes | |
| buffalo | buffalos/buffaloes |
| cargo | cargos/cargoes |
| halo | halos/haloes |
| mosquito | mosquitos/mosquitoes |
| motto | mottos/mottoes |
| no | nos/noes |
| tornado | tornados/tornadoes |
| volcano | volcanos/volcanoes |
| zero | zeros/zeroes |
Plurals of nouns that end in f or fe usually change the f sound to a v sound and add s or -es.
- more than one knife = knives
- more than one leaf = leaves
- more than one hoof = hooves
- more than one life = lives
- more than one self = selves
- more than one elf = elves
Irregular plurals:
There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms.
Singular
| Plural | |
| fish | fish |
| sheep | sheep |
| barracks | barracks |
| foot | feet |
| tooth | teeth |
| goose | geese |
| tooth | teeth |
| goose | geese |
| child | children |
| man | men |
| woman | women |
| person | people |
| mouse | mice |
Plurals formed in this way are sometimes called irregular plurals or mutated (or mutating) plurals.
- more than one child = children
- more than one woman = women
- more than one man = men
- more than one person = people
- more than one goose = geese
- more than one mouse = mice
- more than one barracks = barracks
- more than one deer = deer
Other irregular plural forms include the following:
Some foreign nouns retain their plural. (Note that some of them adapted the s of the English plural form!)
| Singular | Foreign plural | English plural |
| alga | algae | |
| amoeba | amoebae | amoebas |
| antenna | antennae | antennas |
| formula | formulae | formulas |
| larva | larvae | |
| nebula | nebulae | nebulas |
| vertebra | vertebrae |
Nouns ending in us get a, i or the s of the English plural:
| Singular | Foreign plural | English plural |
| corpus | corpora | |
| genus | genera | |
| alumnus | alumni | |
| bacillus | bacilli | |
| cactus | cacti | cactuses |
| focus | foci | |
| fungus | fungi | funguses |
| nucleus | nuclei | |
| octopus | octopi | octopuses |
| radius | radii | |
| stimulus | stimuli | |
| syllabus | syllabi | syllabuses |
| terminus | termini |
Nouns ending in um get a, i or the s of the English plural:
| Singular | Foreign plural | English plural |
| addendum | addenda | |
| bacterium | bacteria | |
| curriculum | curricula | curriculums |
| datum | data | |
| erratum | errata | |
| medium | media | |
| memorandum | memoranda | memorandums |
| ovum | ova | |
| stratum | strata | |
| symposium | symposia | symposiums |
Nouns ending in ex or ix get ices or get the s of the English plural:
| ingular | Foreign plural | English plural |
| apex | apices | apexes |
| appendix | appendices | appendixes |
| cervix | cervices | cervixes |
| index | indices | indexes |
| matrix | matrices | matrixes |
| vortex | vortices |
Nouns ending in is becoming es in plural:
| Singular | Plural form |
| analysis | analyses |
| axis | axes |
| basis | bases |
| crisis | crises |
| diagnosis | diagnoses |
| emphasis | emphases |
| hypothesis | hypotheses |
| neurosis | neuroses |
| oasis | oases |
| parenthesis | parentheses |
| synopsis | synopses |
| thesis | theses |
Nouns ending in -on becoming -a:
| singular | plural |
| criterion | criteria |
| phenomenon | phenomena |
| automaton | automata |
Nouns that are always singular:
A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb:
- The news is
- Gymnastics is fun to watch.
- Economics/mathematics/statistics is said to be difficult.
Some nouns never take the s of the plural and are always singular:
- your luggage / baggage is so heavy
- I’d like to buy new furniture for the house
- you can find more information in our website.
Exercise on plurals.
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I think my explanation about the point above is enough. If you have a question about the grammar rule I have just explained just now, you can write a comment in the comment form below. I will feel happy to answer your question or may be if you have suggestion or correction about it, you can also write a comment.
Refference
https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-plurals.php