SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUN : ONE AND MANY
Words which name only ONE person, place, animal or thing are called SINGULAR nouns.
Words which name MANY persons, places, animals or things are called PLURAL nouns.
Most singular nouns are made plural by simply putting an -s at the end
There are many plural noun rules
1 To make regular nouns plural, add ‑s to the end.
cat – cats
house – houses
2 If the singular noun ends in ‑s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z, add ‑es to the end to make it plural.
truss – trusses
bus – buses
marsh – marshes
lunch – lunches
tax – taxes
blitz – blitzes
3 In some cases, singular nouns ending in -s or -z, require that you double the -s or -z prior to adding the -es for pluralization.
fez – fezzes
gas –gasses
4 If the noun ends with ‑f or ‑fe, the f is often changed to ‑ve before adding the -s to form the plural version.
wife – wives
wolf – wolves
Exceptions:
roof – roofs
belief – beliefs
chef – chefs
chief – chiefs
5 If a singular noun ends in ‑y and the letter before the -y is a consonant, change the ending to ‑ies to make the noun plural.
city – cities
puppy – puppies
6 If the singular noun ends in -y and the letter before the -y is a vowel, simply add an -s to make it plural.
ray – rays
boy – boys
7 If the singular noun ends in ‑o, add ‑es to make it plural.
potato – potatoes
tomato – tomatoes
Exceptions:
photo – photos
piano – pianos
halo – halos
8 If the singular noun ends in ‑us, the plural ending is frequently ‑i.
cactus – cacti
focus – foci
9 If the singular noun ends in ‑is, the plural ending is ‑es.
analysis – analyses
ellipsis – ellipses
10 If the singular noun ends in ‑on, the plural ending is ‑a.
phenomenon – phenomena
criterion – criteria
11 Some nouns don’t change at all when they’re pluralized.
sheep – sheep
series – series
species – species
deer –deer
Plural Noun Rules for Irregular Nouns
Irregular nouns follow no specific rules, so it’s best to memorize these or look up the proper pluralization in the dictionary.
child – children
goose – geese
man – men
woman – women
tooth – teeth
foot – feet
mouse – mice
person – people