1. Noun Plurals and Possessives
9th Grade

2. How to make a noun plural…
1.) For most nouns, add an s.
Examples: candle, candles / cat, cats
2.) For nouns ending in o, add es as long as the o is after a consonant.
Examples: domino, dominoes / torpedo, torpedoes
3.) For nouns ending in s, ch, sh, x, or z, add es.
Examples: gas, gases / rich, riches / dish, dishes / box, boxes / fez, fezes

3. How to make a noun plural…
4.) For nouns ending in f or fe, change the f to a v and add es.
Examples: wolf, wolves / half, halves / life, lives
5.) For nouns ending in is, add an e in place of the i.
Examples: basis, bases / crisis, crises
6.) For nouns ending in us, add es to the end of the word. Sometimes you will need to substitute i for us.
Examples: bus, buses / cactus, cacti / focus, foci

4. How to make a noun plural…
7.) For nouns ending in y, replace the y with ies if the y is after a consonant.
Examples: cherry, cherries / story, stories / way, ways / boy, boys
8.) Some words do not change spellings between the singular and plural forms.
Examples: one deer, five deer / one sheep, ten sheep / one grain of wheat, two bushels of wheat

5. How to make a noun plural…
9.) For compound nouns, make the most important word plural.
Examples: mothers-in-law / maids-of-honor / masters-of-ceremony

6. Make each of the following words plural.
frame
octopus
tornado
popcorn
crop
trench
ferry
flesh
tax
wish
11. story
12. elephant
13. alumnus
14. calf
15. wife
16. play
17. taste
18. shelf
19. donkey
20. potato

7. What is a collective noun?
A collective noun names a group of people or things.
Examples: army, assembly, audience, band, board, chorus, class, club, collection, committee, company, crew, crowd, family, flock, government, group, herd, jury, navy, number, orchestra, pack, panel, public, school, society, swarm, team, tribe, troop

8. How to make a noun possessive…
1.) To make singular nouns possessive, add an apostrophe and an s.
Examples: Sarah’s idea / the cat’s water bowl / the boss’s best employee / the heiress's fortune
2.) To make a plural noun ending in s possessive, add only an apostrophe.
Examples: the three boys’ toy train / the Keckleys’ residence

9. How to make a noun possessive…
3.) If a plural noun does not end in s, the word is made possessive by adding an apostrophe and an s.
Examples: the women’s gym / the sheep’s food supply
4.) For compound words, make the last word in the group possessive.
Examples: my son-in-law’s birthday / the master-of-ceremony’s speech

10. How to make a noun possessive…
5.) To show personal possession by two or more owners, make each noun possessive. To show joint possession of the same object, make only the last noun possessive.
Examples:
Robert Plant’s and Axl Rose’s singing styles are very different.
Dawn and Kent’s dad will be coming home tomorrow.

11. The End!!!