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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
