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Plurals of Nouns <o:p></o:p>
chair, chairs <o:p></o:p>
wave, waves <o:p></o:p>
book, books <o:p></o:p>
pencil, pencils <o:p></o:p>
paper, papers <o:p></o:p>
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. <o:p></o:p>
Rule 1.—Nouns regularly form the plural by adding s, but those ending in a hissing sound must add es. <o:p></o:p>
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: <o:p></o:p>
dress, dresses <o:p></o:p>
splash, splashes <o:p></o:p>
business, businesses <o:p></o:p>
church, churches <o:p></o:p>
fox, foxes <o:p></o:p>
Exercise 30 <o:p></o:p>
(a) lady, ladies (b) valley, valleys <o:p></o:p>
ally, allies alley, alleys <o:p></o:p>
soliloquy, soliloquies journey, journeys <o:p></o:p>
Name five words belonging to group (a) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case? <o:p></o:p>
Name other words belonging to the group (b) above. Does a vowel or a consonant precede the y in each case?[19] <o:p></o:p>
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. <o:p></o:p>
Exercise 31—Words ending in o <o:p></o:p>
(a) <o:p></o:p>
potato, potatoes hero, heroes mulatto, mulattoes <o:p></o:p>
tomato, tomatoes buffalo, buffaloes cargo, cargoes <o:p></o:p>
negro, negroes echo, echoes motto, mottoes <o:p></o:p>
(b) <o:p></o:p>
solo, solos piano, pianos memento, mementos <o:p></o:p>
halo, halos lasso, lassos canto, cantos <o:p></o:p>
zero, zeros quarto, quartos soprano, sopranos <o:p></o:p>
stilletto, stillettos <o:p></o:p>
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. <o:p></o:p>
Exercise 32—Nouns in f and fe <o:p></o:p>
leaf, leaves calf, calves wife, wives <o:p></o:p>
loaf, loaves sheaf, sheaves shelf, shelves <o:p></o:p>
half, halves wolf, wolves elf, elves <o:p></o:p>
life, lives beef, beeves wharf, wharves (or wharfs) <o:p></o:p>
self, selves knife, knives <o:p></o:p>
With the exception of the words given above, nouns ending in an f sound form the plural in the regular way; as, <o:p></o:p>
hoof, hoofs scarf, scarfs beliefs, beliefs <o:p></o:p>
chief, chiefs reef, reefs grief, griefs <o:p></o:p>
Exercise 33—Irregular Plurals <o:p></o:p>
Some nouns form their plural by a change of vowel; as, <o:p></o:p>
man men foot feet <o:p></o:p>
woman women tooth teeth <o:p></o:p>
goose geese mouse mice <o:p></o:p>
A few words retain the old time plural en; as, <o:p></o:p>
brother brethren <o:p></o:p>
child children ox oxen <o:p></o:p>
A few words are the same in both singular and plural; as, <o:p></o:p>
sheep, trout, deer <o:p></o:p>
Some nouns have two plurals which differ in meaning; as, <o:p></o:p>
Singular Plural <o:p></o:p>
brother brothers brethren <o:p></o:p>
penny pennies pence <o:p></o:p>
pea peas pease <o:p></o:p>
die dies dice <o:p></o:p>
Exercise 34—Compound Nouns <o:p></o:p>
Singular Plural <o:p></o:p>
brother-in-law brothers-in-law <o:p></o:p>
father-in-law fathers-in-law <o:p></o:p>
court-martial courts-martial <o:p></o:p>
commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief <o:p></o:p>
man-of-war men-of-war <o:p></o:p>
major general major generals <o:p></o:p>
goose quill goose quills <o:p></o:p>
bill of fare bills of fare <o:p></o:p>
spoonful spoonfuls <o:p></o:p>
cupful cupfuls <o:p></o:p>
Rule 3.—Compound nouns usually add the sign of the plural to the fundamental part of the word. <o:p></o:p>
NOTE.—In spoonfuls the thought is of one spoon many times full. <o:p></o:p>
Plural of Letters and Figures <o:p></o:p>
Rule 4.—Letters and figures form the plural by adding the apostrophe (') and s; as, <o:p></o:p>
a a's 3 3's <o:p></o:p>
w w's 5 5's <o:p></o:p>
The same rule applies to the plural of words which ordinarily have no plural; as, <o:p></o:p>
Don't use so many and's and if's. <o:p></o:p>
Exercise 35—Foreign Plurals <o:p></o:p>
Some nouns derived from foreign languages retain their original plural. The following are in common use. <o:p></o:p>
Singular Plural Singular Plural <o:p></o:p>
crisis crises stratum strata <o:p></o:p>
thesis theses radius radii <o:p></o:p>
hypothesis hypotheses parenthesis parentheses <o:p></o:p>
focus foci synopsis synopses <o:p></o:p>
datum data basis bases <o:p></o:p>
alumnus alumni automaton automata <o:p></o:p>
alumna alumnae analysis analyses <o:p></o:p>
oasis oases nucleus nuclei <o:p></o:p>
axis axes phenomenon phenomena <o:p></o:p>
genus genera <o:p></o:p>
Some words admit of two plurals, one the foreign plural, and one the regular English plural; as, <o:p></o:p>
Singular Plural <o:p></o:p>
beau beaux beaus <o:p></o:p>
formula formulae formulas <o:p></o:p>
vertex vertices vertexes <o:p></o:p>
index indices indexes <o:p></o:p>
cherub cherubim cherubs <o:p></o:p>
seraph seraphim seraphs <o:p></o:p>
bandit banditti bandits <o:p></o:p>
Focus:Spelling Plural Forms of Countable Nouns <o:p></o:p>
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:p></o:p>
EXAMPLES: a. potato potatoes <o:p></o:p>
b. class classes <o:p></o:p>
Mosquito <o:p></o:p>
Child <o:p></o:p>
Crisis <o:p></o:p>
Piano <o:p></o:p>
Attorney <o:p></o:p>
Man <o:p></o:p>
Fish <o:p></o:p>
Parenthesis <o:p></o:p>
Mouse <o:p></o:p>
Country <o:p></o:p>
Umbrella <o:p></o:p>
Knife <o:p></o:p>
Valley <o:p></o:p>
Thesis <o:p></o:p>
Gentleman library <o:p></o:p>
Analysis <o:p></o:p>
Woman <o:p></o:p>
Soprano <o:p></o:p>
Tooth <o:p></o:p>
Party <o:p></o:p>
Roof <o:p></o:p>
Boy <o:p></o:p>
Radius <o:p></o:p>
Goose <o:p></o:p>
Axis <o:p></o:p>
Life <o:p></o:p>
Tax <o:p></o:p>
Dictionary <o:p></o:p>
Dee<o:p></o:p>
Zoo <o:p></o:p>
Leaf <o:p></o:p>
Foot <o:p></o:p>
Series <o:p></o:p>
Datum <o:p></o:p>
Ox <o:p></o:p>
Calf <o:p></o:p>
Handkerchief <o:p></o:p>
Tray <o:p></o:p>
Hero <o:p></o:p>
Couch <o:p></o:p>
Radio <o:p></o:p>
Self <o:p></o:p>
Stomach <o:p></o:p>
Thief <o:p></o:p>
Criterion <o:p></o:p>
Bush <o:p></o:p>
Phenomenon <o:p></o:p>
Means <o:p></o:p>
Loaf <o:p></o:p>
Stimulus <o:p></o:p>
Half <o:p></o:p>
Epoch <o:p></o:p>
Wolf <o:p></o:p>
Day <o:p></o:p>
Shelf <o:p></o:p>
Party <o:p></o:p>
Wif<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
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