Singular & Plural – English grammar courses

In English, the plural is often formed by adding “s” to the singular form. This is also the case for words that end with vowel+y. For example:

Singular Plural
lesson

book

car

person

dog

boy

toy

lessons

books

cars

persons

dogs

boy

toys

But there are cases where we add more than “s”. For words ending with consonant+y, we substitute -y with -ies.

Singular Plural
City

Cherry

Lady

Trolley

Pony

Baby

cities

cherries

ladies

Trolleys

Ponies

Babies

For words ending by x, s, z, ch or sh, we add -es.

Singular Plural
Church

Sandwich

Box

Lunch

Beach

Fox

churches

sandwiches

boxes

Lunches

Beaches

Foxes…

For the words ending with f or fe, we substitute with -ves.

Singular Plural
Thief

Knife

Wife

Life

Leaf

Elf

thieves

knives

wives

lives

leaves

elves…

For the words ending with o, we add -es.

Singular Plural
Tomato

Potato

Volcano

Mosquito

Mango

Zero

Tomatoes

Potatoes

Volcanoes

Mosquitoes

Mangoes

Zeroes

In addition to these forms of plural, there are irregular forms:

 

Singular Plural
Man

Woman

Mouse

Foot

Tooth

Ox

Child

Men

Women

Mice

Feet

Teeth

Oxen

Children

Latin and Greek words also change irregularly.

Words that end with -us can become -i for plural like alumnus to alumni.  Words that end with -um will usually end with -a like medium and media. Words that end with -ex and -ix can end with -ices like appendix and appendices. Nouns that end with -is will usually end with -es like analysis and analyses. Nouns that end with -on will usually end with a like criterion and criteria.

 

Some nouns have an -s at the end but are actually singular like news and economics.

Some nouns do not have any change at the end but are actually plural like baggage and luggage. The only way to be sure about these words is to actively memorize and recognize them.

 

Let’s do some exercises with what we have learned already. Write the plural version of the following words:

apartment, street, road, sky, fly, tornado, avocado, loaf, half, punch, bus, goose, appendix.