Basic grammar rules: How to form the plural in English
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This is a lesson about the plural in English: how to form the plural of regular and irregular English names.
Plural in regular English
The plural is usually formed with an -s at the end of the singular name:
- book → books
- dog → dogs
- river → rivers
- horse → horses
- hat → hats
- cup → cups
- bag → bags
- boat → boats
Be careful, for names that end in -s, -sh, -ch, -ch, -x, -z or -o, the plural mark is -es:
- watch → watches
- bus → buses
- church → churches
- box → boxes
- witch → witches
- dress → dresses
- beach → beaches
- kiss → kisses
- table → tables
- potato → potatoes
- hero → heroes
- echo → echoes
Some words ending with -o take a -s in the plural:
- Zoo → Zoos
- Photo → Photos
- Piano → Pianos
- Auto → Autos
- Pro → Pros
- Tattoo → Tattoos
- Solo → Solos
- Kangaroo → Kangaroos
- Kilo → Kilos
- Memo → Memos
- Studio → Studios
- Video → Videos
Some words ending with -o may have a -s or -es in the plural (both are correct):
- buffalo → buffalos / buffaloes
- no → nos / noes
- tornado → tornados / tornadoes
- volcano → volcanos / volcanoes
- zero → zeros / zeroes
- cargo → cargos / cargoes
- mosquito → mosquitos / mosquitoes
- halo → halos / haloes
For names ending in -y, it must be replaced by -ies:
- baby → babies
- party → parties
- cherry → cherries
- fly → flies
- cry → cries
- lady → ladies
- entry → entries
- city → cities
But if the -y is preceded by a vowel, just add a -s:
- boy → boys
- toy → toys
- key → keys
- way → ways
- storey → storeys
- day → days
- tray → trays
- donkey → donkeys
For names that end in -f or -fe, the plural mark is -ves:
- wife → wives
- knife → knives
- leaf → leaves
- thief → thieves
- loaf → loaves
- shelf → shelves
- self → selves
- half → halves
- wolf → wolves
Some exceptions: belief, chief, cliff, proof, roof, oaf and safe take only one -s.
Plural in irregular English
Some names change significantly in the plural:
- man → men
- woman → women
- child → children
- person → people
- foot → feet
- tooth → teeth
- goose → geese
- mouse → mice
- louse → lice
- ox → oxen
But some names have the same form in the singular and plural: no need for -s at the end!
- sheep → sheep (NOT
sheeps) - fish → fish (NOT
fishes) - information → information (NOT
informations) - hair → hair (NOT
hairs)
and so on for salmon, deer, aircraft, series, species, species, furniture and luggage, they never take -s in the plural!!!
Family names (surnames) take one -s in the plural:
- I went to the Smiths for dinner last night.
- The Simpsons.
Some Greek or Latin words may keep their original plural:
- basis → bases
- hypothesis → hypotheses
- analysis → analyses
- crisis → crises
- diagnosis → diagnoses
- thesis → theses
- referendum → referenda
- phenomenon → phenomena
Measurements or cardinal numbers have regular plurals when used alone. If they are preceded by a number or many, they keep their singular form.
Ex: thousand, hundred, pound, foot and stone.
- thousand | thousands
- hundred | hundreds
⚠ The termination -s is not necessarily the mark of the plural. Some nouns in -s are uncountable nouns that are always followed by a verb in the singular:
– Names of diseases:
- measles
- mumps
- shingles
– Game names:
- billiards
- dominoes
- darts
– Names of materials:
- physics
- mathematics
- linguistics
Objects composed of several parts always have the termination -s
- trousers
- tweezers
- scissors
- glasses
They are often preceded by – a pair of..:
Ex: a pair of scissors
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