Plural Forms

Regular Plurals

​

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letter 's' to the end of the word .

For example:-

 

• bag - bags

• dog - dogs

• horse - horses

• minute - minutes

 

But there are some exceptions:-

Nouns that end in -ch, -x, -s, -sh add '-es' to the end of the word.

For example:-

 

 

• box - boxes

• boss - bosses

• bush - bushes

• church - churches

• gas - gases

 

Most nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant also form their plurals by adding '-es' .

For example:-

 

• potato - potatoes

• tomato - tomatoes

• volcano - volcanoes

 

However many newly created words and words with a Spanish or Italian origin that end in -o just add an 's'.

For example:-

 

• photo - photos

• piano - pianos

• portico - porticos

 

Nouns that end in a single 'z', add '-zes' to the end of the word.

For example:-

 

• quiz - quizzes

 

Nouns ending in a consonant + y, drop the y and add '-ies'.

For example:-

 

• party - parties | lady - ladies

 

Most nouns ending in 'is', drop the 'is' and add '-es'.

For example:-

• crisis - crises | hypothesis - hypotheses | oasis - oases

Most nouns ending in -f or -fe, drop the f and add 'ves'.

For example:-

 

• calf - calves | half - halves | wolf - wolves

 

But this isn't a hard and fast rule:-

 

• belief - beliefs (believes is a verb form)

• brief - briefs

• chef - chefs

• proof - proofs

• roof - roofs

• cafe - cafes

• safe - safes (saves is a verb form)

 

Irregular Plurals

 

There are also a lot of common nouns that have irregular plurals.

Most common nouns connected with human beings seem to be irregular.

For example:-

 

• child - children | person - people | man - men | woman - women

 

Other irregular common nouns are:-

foot - feet | goose - geese | mouse - mice | tooth - teeth

 

Some nouns have identical plural and singular forms.

For example:-
 

 

• aircraft - aircraft

• fish - fish

• headquarters - headquarters

• sheep - sheep

• species - species

 

In the plural form they still take a plural verb (are / were):-
 

• There is an aircraft in the hangar.

• There are some aircraft in the hangar.

• There was a fish in the tank.

• There were some fish in the tank.

Uncountable nouns on the other hand have no plural form and take a singular verb (is / was ...).

For example:-

 

• advice

• information

• luggage

• news

 

There is a lot of luggage on the plane, but a piece of luggage has gone missing.

Some nouns (especially those associated with two things) exist only in the plural form and take a plural verb (are / were...).

For example:-

 

• cattle

• scissors

• trousers

• tweezers

• congratulations

• pyjamas

 

Have you seen my scissors? They were on my desk.

 

Nouns that stem from older forms of English or are of foreign origin often have odd plurals.

For example:-

 

• ox - oxen

• index - indices or indexes

 

In compound nouns the plural ending is usually added to the main noun.

For example:-

 

• son-in-law - sons-in-law

• passer-by - passers-by
   

Words ending in -us

Linguists can argue for hours about the plural ending of nouns ending in -us. Many of these words are loanwords from Latin and preserve their Latin plural form, replacing the -us suffix with -i, but of course not all words ending in -us have a Latin origin , and some Latin words ending in -us were not pluralized with -i. hence the argument.

For example:-

The English plural of virus is viruses, not viri.

Other Latin loanwords that take the regular English plural -es ending include campus - campuses | bonus - bonuses

Latin loanwords that take a -i plural ending include radius - radii |  alumnus - alumni

If you want to bait a linguist ask them if the plural of crocus is crocuses or croci, or whether the plural of octopus is octopuses, octopi or octopodes.

 

Singular

Uncountable nouns are always singular.

 

• water

• wine

• food

• fish

• flour

 

The pronouns each, either, neither, another, and all compound words ending in one, body, or thing are always singular.