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Plural Nouns: English Grammar Rules

The document discusses rules for forming plurals of nouns in English. It explains that most nouns are made plural by adding -s, but there are exceptions. Nouns ending in s, sh, ch, x or z add -es. Nouns ending in a vowel plus y add -s, while those ending in a consonant plus y remove y and add -ies. Nouns ending in f or fe remove f/fe and add -ves. Those ending in a consonant plus o add -es. Some nouns are irregular and don't follow these rules. A few nouns stay the same in both singular and plural form. More advanced rules cover changing is to es and us to i.

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96 views4 pages

Plural Nouns: English Grammar Rules

The document discusses rules for forming plurals of nouns in English. It explains that most nouns are made plural by adding -s, but there are exceptions. Nouns ending in s, sh, ch, x or z add -es. Nouns ending in a vowel plus y add -s, while those ending in a consonant plus y remove y and add -ies. Nouns ending in f or fe remove f/fe and add -ves. Those ending in a consonant plus o add -es. Some nouns are irregular and don't follow these rules. A few nouns stay the same in both singular and plural form. More advanced rules cover changing is to es and us to i.

Uploaded by

jinesham007
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Plural Nouns

English Grammar Rules

In general the plural of a noun is formed by adding -S to the noun.

Singula
Plural
r

car cars
house houses
book books
bird birds
pencil pencils

However:

1. When the noun ends in S, SH, CH, X or Z*, we add -ES to the noun.

Singula
Plural
r

kiss kisses

wish wishes

match matches

fox foxes

quiz quizzes*

 I have a box in my bedroom.


 I have three boxes in my bedroom.

* With words that end in Z sometimes we add an extra Z to the plural form of the word (such as
with the plural of quiz).

2. When the noun ends in a VOWEL + Y, we add -S to the noun.

Singula
Plural
r
boy boys

holiday holidays

key keys

guy guys

3. When the noun ends in a CONSONANT + Y, we remove Y and add -IES to the noun.

Singula
Plural
r

party parties

lady ladies

story stories

nanny nannies

city cities

4. If the noun ends in F or FE, we remove the F/FE and add -VES to the noun.

Singula
Plural
r

life lives

leaf leaves

thief thieves

wife wives

Some exceptions: roof - roofs, cliff - cliffs, chief - chiefs, belief - beliefs, chef - chefs

5. If the noun ends in a CONSONANT + O, we normally add -ES to the noun.

Singula
Plural
r

tomato tomatoes
potato potatoes

echo echoes

hero heroes

Some exceptions: piano - pianos, halo - halos, photo - photos

NOTE: Volcano has two correct forms of plural. Both volcanos and volcanoes are accepted.

6. There are a number of nouns that don't follow these rules. They are irregular and you need to
learn them individually because they don't normally have an S on the end.

Singula
Plural
r

man men

woman women

child children

foot feet

tooth teeth

goose geese

mouse mice

 There is a child in the park.


 There are many children in the park.

7. There are some nouns in English that are the same in the singular and the plural.

Singula
Plural
r

fish fish

sheep sheep

deer deer

moose moose

aircraft aircraft
 I can see a sheep in the field.
 I can see ten sheep in the field.

Sometimes you will hear the word fishes (especially in songs) though it is grammatically


incorrect.

The next rules are a lot more advanced and even native speakers have difficulty with these.
Unless you are an advanced student, I wouldn't recommend learning them just now.

8. If the noun ends in IS, we change it to ES. Words that end in IS usually have a Greek root.

Singula
Plural
r

analysis analyses
basis bases
crisis crises

9. If the noun ends in US, we change it to I. Words that end in US usually have a Latin root.

Singula
Plural
r

cactus cacti
fungus fungi
stimulus stimuli
syllabus syllabi
Some exceptions: octupus - octupuses (because it is from Greek, not Latin), walrus - walruses

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