Singulars and Plurals
The plural of a noun is usually made by adding s to the singular.
- Eg: dog - dogs, day - days, house - houses
Exceptions
Nouns ending in o or ss, sh, ch or x form their plural by adding es to the singular.
- Eg: tomato - tomatoes, kiss - kisses, brush - brushes, watch - watches, box - boxes
Nouns ending in y following a consonant form their plural by dropping the y and adding ies.
- Eg baby - babies, lady - ladies, country - countries, fly - flies
Twelve nouns ending in f or fe drop the f or fe and add ves. These nouns are wife, life, knife, wolf, self, calf, shelf, leaf, loaf, thief, sheaf, and half.
The nouns scarf, wharf, and hoof take either s or ves in the plural.
A few nouns form their plural by a vowel change.
- Eg: man - men, woman - women
A few names of fish and animals do not change in the plural
- Eg: fish, sheep, deer
Words which retain their original Greek or Latin forms make their plurals according to the rules of Greek or Latin
- Eg: agendum - agenda, memorandum - memoranda, radius - radii, basis - bases, oasis - oases.
In compound nouns normally the last word is made plural.
- Eg: bookcase - bookcases,
Where man or woman is prefixed both parts are made plural
- Eg: manservant - menservants
Compound nouns formed with prepositions or adverbs, make only the first word plural.
- Eg: sister in law - sisters in law, looker on - lookers on
Words ending in ful form their plurals in the usual way.
- Eg: handful - handfuls.
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