How to make the plural of nouns Regular and irregular plural

Spelling rules Most English noun make their plural form by adding -s one cat - two cats one dog - two dogs If the word ends in -s, -z, -sh, -ch or -x we add -es one fox - two foxes one bus - two buses Nouns ending in consonant +y make their plural by changing y to ie before adding the -s. one penny - two pennies one party - two parties But one decoy – two decoys since decoy ends in vowel +y, not consonant +y

Nouns in -f Nouns that end in -f can either form a regular plural (-fs) or use the irregular form –ves. There is unfortunately no rule to tell you which ending to use. f - fs roof - roofs cliff - cliffs safe - safes reef - reefs proof - proofs belief - beliefs chief - chiefs f - ves life - lives knife - knives calf - calves wolf - wolves half - halves loaf - loaves shelf - shelves thief - thieves wife - wives Sometimes you can choose   leaf - leafs/leaves dwarf - dwarfs/dwarves elf - elfs/elves hoof - hoofs/hooves scarf - scarfs/scarves

Nouns ending in -o Some nouns ending in –o have a regular plural form while others end in –oes. There are some rules, but they do not cover all words. Abbreviations have regular plurals kilo – kilos (from kilogram) photo – photos (from photograph) piano – pianos (from pianoforte) Nouns ending in vowel +o have regular plurals kangaroo – kangaroos zoo – zoos radio – radios

Nouns ending in -o The most common nouns that end in –oes in the plural are potato - potatoes tomato - tomatoes hero - heroes echo - echoes torpedo - torpedoes veto - vetoes domino - dominoes embargo - embargoes

Nouns ending in -o With some you can choose mosquito – mosquitos/mosquitoes buffalo – buffalos/buffaloes banjo – banjos/banjoes flamingo – flamingos/flamingoes tornado – tornados/tornadoes volcano – volcanos/volcanoes ghetto – ghettos/ghettoes zero – zeros/zeroes

Now do the first exercise

Unmarked plural Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms, i.e. they do not change in the plural one deer - two deer one sheep - two sheep one moose - two moose one swine - two swine one fish - two fish one species - two species one series - two series one offspring - two offspring one spacecraft - two spacecraft one aircraft - two aircraft The same applies to most species of fish (two trout, three pike, four salmon etc.)

Germanic words Some words that have been in the English language for a very long time have kept plural forms that are older than the modern s-plural. Some make their plural adding -en. child - children ox - oxen brother - brethren (very old-fashioned today and used much less often than brothers) Other make their plural by changing the vowel. (The same words often change their vowel in other Germanic languages like Swedish and German, as well.) man - men woman - women goose - geese mouse - mice louse - lice foot - feet tooth - teeth

Now do exercise 2 Exercise 2