Singular and Plural Nouns

1. Usually add the letter s to the end of a singular noun to make it plural.

 book - books

Singular	Plural
boat	boats
hat	hats
house	houses
river	rivers

 2. In compound nouns, add s only to the main noun.

  son-in-law - sons-in-law.


  3. If the singular noun ends with a consonant + y, drop the y, replace with an i and add es. Don’t drop the y, if the y is preceded by a vowel.


 a baby – babies, a country – countries

Singular	Plural
a cry	cries
a fly	flies
a nappy	nappies
a poppy	poppies
a city	cities
a lady	ladies
a baby	babies

  
4. If the singular noun ends with a consonant + o, add es. If the o is preceded by a vowel, only add s

 a potato – five potatoes, a hero – heroes, an echo – echoes

 
5. nouns ending with f, fe, drop this ending and add ves to make the plural form.

 a knife – knives, one half – two halves, my life – their lives, a wolf – wolves.


 6. Watch out! Here are the exceptions!!

a man – men

a woman – women

(Plural pronounced /wimen/)

a person -- people          a foot – feet

a goose – geese

a tooth – teeth

a child – children

an ox – oxen (castrated bulls)

a brother – brethren (in church orders), brothers (in a family)          a mouse – mice

a louse – lice

a die – dice (for playing game

Singular	Plural
woman	women
man	men
child	children
tooth	teeth
foot	feet
person	people
leaf	leaves
half	halves
knife	knives
wife	wives
life	lives
loaf	loaves
potato	potatoes
cactus	cacti
focus	foci
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
syllabus	syllabi/syllabuses
analysis	analyses
diagnosis	diagnoses
oasis	oases
thesis	theses
crisis	crises
phenomenon	phenomena
criterion	criteria
datum	data

  

Many nouns have identical forms for both singular and plural.

 
a sheep – sheep, a deer – deer, a moose – moose
a fish – fish (fishes, if used for different species of fish)
a dozen – two dozen roses, a hundred – several hundred men

Singular	Plural
sheep	sheep
fish	fish
species	species
aircraft	aircraft

Plural-Only Nouns

 pants / jeans / shorts.

 scissors or nail clippers.

binoculars and police

 news ---The news is on at 6.30 p.m.

athletics ---Athletics is good for young people.

 Linguistics--- Linguistics is the study of language.

darts ----Darts is a popular game in England.

 Billiards---- Billiards is played all over the world.

Singular Nouns with an S Ending

 diseases: measles, rabies.
fields of study and occupation: economics, ethics, linguistics, politics, physics, gymnastics.
games: dominoes, darts, cards

    trousers ---My trousers are too tight.

    jeans ----Her jeans are black.

    glasses ----Those glasses are his.

savings, thanks, steps, stair, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits

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