Plurals

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Explanation of regular plural nouns:

Regular nouns: (-s)

* To make regular nouns plural, add ‑s to the end.

Examples:

cat – cats

dog - dogs

house – houses 

Regular nouns: (-es) "hissing sound"

* If the singular noun ends in ‑s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z, add ‑es to the end to make it plural.

Examples:

bus – buses

marsh – marshes

lunch – lunches

tax – taxes

blitz – blitzes

Singular nouns ending in -s or -z:  you double the -s or -z prior to adding the -es 

Examples:

fez – fezzes

gas –gasses

Letter -y:

* 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.

Examples:

baby babies

city – cities

puppy – puppies

puppy's - Is singular in English! 

Example: A puppy's life (Is ONE puppy!)

Spelling (-y)

If the singular noun ends in -y and the letter before the -y is a vowel, simply add an -s to make it plural.

Examples:

ray – rays

play - plays

boy – boys

toy - toys

Letter -o:

If the singular noun ends in ‑o, preceded by a consonant, add ‑es to make it plural.

Examples:

hero - heroes

potato – potatoes

tomato – tomatoes

Exceptions:

photo – photos

piano – pianos

halo – halos

Plural Rules - Irregular Nouns

* Spelling changes

* No specific rules

* Memorize often!

* Use a dictionary if necessary

Spelling change: (-f /-fe)

* If the noun ends with ‑f or ‑fe, the -f is often changed to ‑ve before adding the -s to form the plural version.

Examples:

life - lives 

wife - wives

wolf - wolves

Exceptions: (-f/-fe)

roof – roofs

belief – beliefs

chef – chefs

chief – chiefs

(The -f is preceded by a vowel letter, thus no spelling change is needed.)

Examples:

child – children

goose – geese

man – men

woman – women

tooth – teeth

foot – feet

mouse – mice

person – people

ox - oxen

policeman - policemen

fish - fish 

spacecraft - spacecraft

louse – lice

Letter -ex/-ix:

Final -ex/-ix becomes:

Examples: 

Index – indices /indexes

Matrix – matrices

Vertex – vertices

Appendix – appendices

Letter -is:

Final -is becomes:

Examples:

Axis – axes

Genesis – geneses

Nemesis – nemeses

Crisis – crises

Letter -um:

Final um becomes -a, or just adds -s

Examples:

Datum – data

Forum – fora/forums

Medium – media/ mediums

Memorandum – memoranda/memorandums

Millennium – millennia

Ovum – ova

Spectrum – spectra

Letter -us:

Final -us becomes -i or -era or -ora or just adds -es

Examples:

Alumnus – alumni

Corpus – corpora

Census – censuses

Focus – foci

Radius – radii

Campus – campuses

Syllabus – syllabi/syllabuses

Virus – viruses/virii

Viscus – viscera 

Cactus – cactuses/cacti

Fungus – fungi

Terminus – termini/terminuses

Uterus – uteri/uteruses

Unchanging Nouns:

Singular           Plural

aircraft             aircraft

bass                  bass

bison                bison

elk                      elk

moose             moose

shrimp             shrimp

spacecraft     spacecraft

swine               swine

trout                 trout

sheep – sheep

series – series

species – species

deer – deer

cattle - cattle

Noncountable nouns:

Examples: Water, grass, sand, snow, hair, mud, dress (style, not hanging in the closet), wind, rain, sun, moon(light), heat

Example sentences:

There are many different styles of hair.

There are several varieties of grass.

There are three different kinds of mud.

The ancient people had a few types of styles of dress.

Exercises Regular Plural Nouns:

Plural of:

1. shoe
2. shoes
3. schoenen
4. shoos

Plural of:

1. taxs
2. taxen
3. tax's
4. taxes

Plural of:

1. puppies
2. puppy's
3. puppys
4. puppen

Plural of:

1. tomatos
2. tomaten
3. tomato's
4. tomatoes

Plural of:

1. heroes
2. hero's
3. heros
4. held

Exercises Irregular Plural Nouns:

Plural of:

1. sheeps
2. sheep
3. schapen
4. sheep's

Plural of:

1. ganzen
2. goosen
3. gooses
4. geese

Plural of:

1. cattle
2. cattles
3. cattle's
4. cattlen

Plural of:

1. knife's
2. knifes
3. knives
4. kniven

Plural of:

1. child's
2. childs
3. kinderen
4. children

For extra help: