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26. Plural forms

Plurals are a class of grammatical forms used to denote a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by a noun. Most typically, they denote two or more of something.
Example:
The word "dog" is singular and denotes a single dog. But the plural form of the word "dogs" denotes more than one dog.
Typically, a singular noun is converted into a plural by adding an "s" at the end of the word. These kinds of nouns are called regular nouns.
 
eg., Dog - Dogs; House - Houses; Place - Places
 
However, this rule becomes invalid while converting singular forms of irregular nouns into plural. Such nouns are unpredictable and hence, they will have to be memorised.
Let us look into certain rules to help you out:
1. To make regular nouns plural, add ‑s to the end.
eg., Dog - Dogs
 

2. If the singular noun ends in ‑s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z, add ‑es to the end to make it plural.

eg., Bus - Buses

      Lunch - Lunches

      Tax - Taxes

 

3. In some cases, singular nouns ending in -s or -z, require that you double the -s or -z prior to adding the -es for pluralisation.

eg., Gas - Gasses

 

4.If the noun ends with ‑f or ‑fe, the f is often changed to ‑ve before adding the -s to form the plural version.

eg., Calf - Calves

       Wife - Wives

       Wilf - Wolves

Note: Exceptions are roof (roofs), belief (beliefs), chief (chiefs), and such.

 

5.If a singular noun ends in ‑y and the letter before the -y is a consonant, change the ending to ‑ies to make the noun plural.

eg., City - Cities

       Sky - Skies

       Lady - Ladies

       City - Cities

 

6.If the singular noun ends in -y and the letter before the -y is a vowel, simply add an -s to make it plural.

eg., Monkey - Monkeys

       Day - Days

       Ray - Rays

       Boy - Boys

 

7. If the singular noun ends in -o, add ‑es to make it plural.

eg., Potato – Potatoes

       Tomato – Tomatoes

Note: Exceptions include Photo (Photos), Piano (Pianos), and Halo (Halos). 

 

8.If the singular noun ends in ‑us, the plural ending is frequently ‑I.

eg., Cactus – Cacti

 

9. If the singular noun ends in ‑is, the plural ending is ‑es.

eg., Analysis – Analyses

        Ellipsis – Ellipses

 

10. If the singular noun ends in ‑on, the plural ending is ‑a.

eg., Phenomenon – Phenomena

       Criterion – Criteria

Some nouns don’t change at all when they’re pluralised. Examples of nouns with identical singular and plural are as follows:

  • bison
  • carp
  • cod
  • deer (and all species in the deer family such as moose and elk)
  • fish (or fishes)
  • species
  • series
  • salmon
  • sheep
  • squid
  • trout
Important!

Examples of some common irregular nouns with their plural forms are as follows:

  1. child – children
  2. goose – geese
  3. man – men
  4. woman – women
  5. tooth – teeth
  6. foot – feet
  7. mouse – mice
  8. person – people 
 
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