1. Singular and Plural Nouns
Writing Lab
Singular and Plural Nouns

2. Plural and “’s”
To form the plural of most nouns, add -s: Singular Plural Ski skis Guru gurus miser misers Banana bananas Menu menus Encyclopedia encyclopedias Breakfast breakfasts

3. Plural and “-y” Endings
To form the plural of a noun ending in –y preceded by vowel, add only an –s.
Singular Plural
Key keys
Ploy ploys
Birthday birthdays
Jersey jerseys

4. Plurals, “-y” endings, and “-ies”
To form the plural of a noun ending in –y preceded by a consonant, change the “–y” to “–I” and add “– es.”
Singular Plural
Country countries
Spy spies
Dictionary dictionaries

5. EXCEPTION:
To form the plural of proper nouns ending in –y preceded by a consonant, just add an –s.
the Kennedys
the Bradys
the Cosbys
two hot Julys

6. For –s, -sh, -ch, -z, or x, add –es:
To form the plural of a noun ending in –s, -sh, -ch, - z, or x, add –es:
Singular Plural
Fax faxes
Bonus bonuses
Atlas atlases
Leash leashes
Watch watches
Tax taxes

7. Double the final consonant
Double the final consonant of one-syllable words ending in a single –s or –z preceded by vowel:
Singular Plural
Bus buses or busses
Quiz quizzes

8. Proper nouns ending in –s, -sh, ch, -z, and –x
Proper nouns ending in –s, -sh, ch, -z, and –x also form their plurals with an –es:
the Joneses
the Harrises
the Willises
two Gladyses in my class
the Hirsches
the Martinezes

9. False Pronunciation
Don’t add –es to a proper noun ending in –s if the additional inflection creates a false pronunciation:
two Mercedes, not two Mercedeses.

10. Dictionaries’ Spelling
Dictionaries may differ in their spelling of words ending in –o:
Singular Plural
Tornado tornadoes or tornados
Memento mementos or mementoes
Halo halos or haloes
Mosquito mosquitoes

11. Ending in –o and Preceded by a Vowel
To form the plural of a noun ending in–o preceded by a vowel, add an –s:
Singular Plural
Stereo stereos
Rodeo rodeos
Shampoo shampoos
Radio radios

12. Nouns Ending in –o and Preceded by a Consonant
To form the plural of some nouns ending in –o preceded by a consonant, add –s:
Singular Plural
Taco tacos
Photo photos
Ghetto ghettos
Embryo embryos
Piano pianos

13. Nouns Ending in –o and Preceded by a Consonant cont.
To form the plural of some nouns ending in –o preceded by a consonant, add –es:
Singular Plural
Potato potatoes
Veto vetoes

14. Plurals cont. 1
To form the plural of some words ending in –f or –fe, add –s only; to others, change the –f to –v and add –es:
Singular Plural
Belief beliefs
Roof roofs
Sheriff sheriffs
Tiff tiffs
Half halves
Leaf leaves
Life lives
Shelf shelves
Dwarf dwarfs or dwarves
Scarf scarfs or scarves

15. Irregular Ways Some nouns form their plurals in irregular ways:
Singular Plural
ox oxen
Child children
Man men
Woman women
Die dice
Mouse mice

16. Change the Last Element
To form the plural of some compound nouns, change the last element of the compound: Singular Plural a three-year-old three-year-olds handful handfuls cease-fire cease-fires madman madmen

17. Most Important
With other compound nouns, change the form of the word that’s
clearly the most important:
Singular Plural
statute of limitations statutes of limitations
mother-in-law mothers-in-law
rule of thumb rules of thumb
passer-by passers-by
runner-up runners-up
bill of sale bills of sale
poet laureate poets laureates
court martial court martials
attorney general attorneys general or attorney generals

18. Foreign Words Change
Nouns derived from foreign words change their spelling altogether:
Singular Plural
Alumnus alumni
Alumna alumnae
Crisis crises
Analysis analyses
Nucleus nuclei
Parenthesis parentheses
Medium media
Criterion criteria
Basis bases
Memorandum memorandums or memoranda
Syllabus syllabuses or syllabi
Bacterium bacteria
Opus opera

19. Some nouns don’t change their form.
species
corps
salmon
series
status
hiatus
deer
sheep
means
Chinese

20. Plurals cont. 2
To form the plural of symbols, letters, and words, add an apostrophe and –s:
four “S’s” in the word Mississippi
no “if’s,” “and’s,” or “but’s”

21. That’s all, folks!
This lesson is part of the UWF Writing Lab Grammar Mini-Lesson Series
Lessons adapted from Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon
To find out more, visit the Writing Lab’s website where you can take a self-scoring quiz corresponding to this lesson