2. To form the plural of most English nouns simply add –s to the end of the word. house  houses car  cars photo  photos Nouns that end in s, x, z, sh and ch take –es at the end. tax  taxes church  churches boss  bosses lash  lashes

3. Some nouns that end in an –o preceded by a consonant take –es in the plural form potato  potatoes hero  heroes Other nouns, especially those derived from Italian, take only –s. Piano  pianos Soprano  sopranos

4. Some nouns that have an –f in the last syllable change to –ves in the plural. wolf  wolves wife  wives Other nouns that end in –f are regular roof  roofs belief  beliefs (believes is the verb form)

5. For nouns that end in –y preceded by a consonant, drop the –y and add –ies. baby  babies army  armies fly  flies Nouns that end in –y preceded by a vowel are regular. donkey  donkeys valley  valleys

6. Some are just weird! sheep  sheepdeer  deerfish  fish foot  feettooth  teeth man  menwoman  women ox  oxenchild  children mouse  micelouse  lice And many more…

7. In many cases, English, like Dutch, uses Latin plurals  a  ae: alumna  alumnae, verterbra  vertebrae  us  i: radius  radii, stimulus  stimuli  um  a: medium  media, ovum  ova (but museum  museums)  is  es: basis  bases, crisis  crises  on  a: criterion  criteria, phenomenon  phenomena

8. The possessive form can be used to indicate physical ownership, action or feeling, measure and association. To form the possessive simply add ‘s to the end of the noun.  The desk of the man  The man’s desk  The ambition of Maria  Maria’s ambition  The delay of one hour  One hour’s delay  The defeat of the army  The army’s defeat

9. For singular nouns that end in s, you also add ‘s to the end.  The boss’s mugThomas’s friend You can also simply add an apostrophe if the extra –s make pronunciation difficult  Dickens’ novelsJesus’ teachings For plural nouns ending in s add only an apostrophe  the dogs’ barkingladies’ room

10. Add ‘s to the end of compound nouns  My mother-in-law’s recipes  The commander-in-chief’s responsibility Add ‘s to the end of the last noun to show joint possession of an object  Elena and Harry’s summer home  Pepe and Frank’s party

11. Please note that it’s ALWAYS means it is. Just as his, hers, yours and ours do not need an apostrophe, neither does its.  The dog has its own bed.  The hospital has its own generator. Similarly, who’s means who is. To ask to whom something belongs use whose.  Who’s in there? (Who is in there?)  Whose clothes are these? (To whom do they belong?)

12. Choose the correct word. 1. The family’s/families house is quite large. 2. The worker’s/workers agreed to the terms. 3. Have you seen my dog’s/dogs leash? 4. The creche was filled with the sound of baby’s/babies’ cries. 5. The men’s/mens’ wives were not there. 6. Can you hear echo’s/ echoes in the canyon? 7. My cat has it’s/its own room. 8. That is the one who’s/whose always late. 9. The study group’s/groups meet in there. 10. Who’s/whose socks are these?