The World for Freedom

Plurals of Nouns

chair, chairs

wave, waves

book, books

pencil, pencils

paper, papers

The usual way of forming the plural of English nouns is illustrated by the words in the column above. Simply add an S to the end of the word.

Rule 1.—Nouns regularly form the plural by adding s, but those ending in a hissing sound must add es.

Every word that ends in a sibilant, or hissing sound, (ch, s, sh, ss, x, z) forms its plural like fox. Observe the following examples:

dress, dresses

splash, splashes

business, businesses

church, churches

fox, foxes

Exercise 30

(a) lady, ladies (b) valley, valleys

ally, allies alley, alleys

soliloquy, soliloquies journey, journeys

Name five words belonging to group (a) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case?

Name other words belonging to the group (b) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case?

Rule 2.—Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant (and nouns ending in quy) form the plural by changing y to i and adding es.

Exercise 31—Words ending in o

(a)

potato, potatoes hero, heroes mulatto, mulattoes

tomato, tomatoes buffalo, buffaloes cargo, cargoes

echo, echoes motto, mottoes

(b)

solo, solos piano, pianos memento, mementos

halo, halos lasso, lassos canto, cantos

zero, zeros quarto, quartos soprano, sopranos

stilletto, stillettos

The older English words ending in o form the plural by adding es, as in potatoes; those more recently taken into the language form the plural by adding s, as in quartos.

Exercise 32—Nouns in f and fe

leaf, leaves calf, calves wife, wives

loaf, loaves sheaf, sheaves shelf, shelves

half, halves wolf, wolves elf, elves

life, lives beef, beeves wharf, wharves (or wharfs)

self, selves knife, knives

With the exception of the words given above, nouns ending in an f sound form the plural in the regular way; as,

hoof, hoofs scarf, scarfs beliefs, beliefs

chief, chiefs reef, reefs grief, griefs

Exercise 33—Irregular Plurals

Some nouns form their plural by a change of vowel; as,

man men foot feet

woman women tooth teeth

goose geese mouse mice

A few words retain the old time plural en; as,

brother brethren

child children ox oxen

A few words are the same in both singular and plural; as,

sheep, trout, deer

Some nouns have two plurals which differ in meaning; as,

Singular Plural

brother brothers brethren

penny pennies pence

pea peas pease

die dies dice

Exercise 34—Compound Nouns

Singular Plural

brother-in-law brothers-in-law

father-in-law fathers-in-law

court-martial courts-martial

commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief

man-of-war men-of-war

major general major generals

goose quill goose quills

bill of fare bills of fare

spoonful spoonfuls

cupful cupfuls

Rule 3.—Compound nouns usually add the sign of the plural to the fundamental part of the word.

NOTE.—In spoonfuls the thought is of one spoon many times full.

Plural of Letters and Figures

Rule 4.—Letters and figures form the plural by adding the apostrophe (') and s; as, <o:

a a's 3 3's <o:

w w's 5 5's <o:

The same rule applies to the plural of words which ordinarily have no plural; as, <o:

Don't use so many and's and if's. <o:

Exercise 35—Foreign Plurals <o:

Some nouns derived from foreign languages retain their original plural. The following are in common use. <o:

Singular Plural Singular Plural <o:

crisis crises stratum strata <o:

thesis theses radius radii <o:

hypothesis hypotheses parenthesis parentheses <o:

focus foci synopsis synopses <o:

datum data basis bases <o:

alumnus alumni automaton automata <o:

alumna alumnae analysis analyses <o:

oasis oases nucleus nuclei <o:

axis axes phenomenon phenomena <o:

genus genera <o:

Some words admit of two plurals, one the foreign plural, and one the regular English plural; as, <o:

Singular Plural <o:

beau beaux beaus <o:

formula formulae formulas <o:

vertex vertices vertexes <o:

index indices indexes <o:

cherub cherubim cherubs <o:

seraph seraphim seraphs <o:

bandit banditti bandits <o:

Focus:Spelling Plural Forms of Countable Nouns <o:

Supply the correct spellings of the plural forms of the following nouns. An asterisk (*) before a noun indicates that the word is a Latin or Greek origin. Carefully check the rules for spelling plural countable nouns. Use your dictionary for the words that you do not know. <o:

EXAMPLES: a. potato potatoes <o:

b. class classes

Mosquito

Child

Crisis

Piano

Attorney

Man

Fish

Parenthesis

Mouse

Country

Umbrella

Knife

Valley

Thesis

library

Analysis

Woman

Soprano

Tooth

Party

Roof

Boy

Radius

Goose

Axis

Life

Tax

Dictionary

Dee

Zoo

Leaf

Foot

Series

Datum

Ox

Calf

Handkerchief

Tray

Hero

Couch

Radio

Self

Stomach

Thief

Criterion

Bush

Phenomenon

Means

Loaf

Stimulus

Half

Epoch

Wolf

Day

Shelf

Party

Wife