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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



If you are interested to study more 

Contact: samons mathews 

in skype: englishtutor4u

facebook:-  https://www.facebook.com/englishtutor4u

email: tutorsamons@gmail.com





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