English singular and plural

Plural Nouns

Plural nouns are words used to indicate that there is more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea. The difference between singular and plural nouns is simple once you know what to look for. Here, we take a look at singular and plural nouns, providing both singular nouns examples and plural noun examples to help you recognize plural nouns when you see them.

What is a Plural Noun

The answer is a relatively easy one, as grammar goes. A plural noun is a word that indicates that there is more than one person, animal place, thing, or idea. When you talk about more than one of anything, you’re using plural nouns. When you write about more than one of anything, you usually use the same word, simply adding an s, es, or ies to the end. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but not many – one of the best is that a single moose is a moose, and a group of moose are still moose.

Singular and Plural Nouns
A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.

Usually, the first page of a grammar book tells you about nouns. Nouns give names of concrete or abstract things in our lives. As babies learn “mom,” “dad,” or “milk” as their first word, nouns should be the first topic when you study a foreign language.

For the plural form of most nouns, add s.

bottle – bottles
cup – cups
pencil – pencils
desk – desks
sticker – stickers
window – windows

For nouns that end in ch, x, s, or s sounds, add es.

box – boxes
watch – watches
moss – mosses
bus – buses

For nouns ending in f or fe, change f to v and add es.

wolf – wolves
wife – wives
leaf – leaves
life – lives

Some nouns have different plural forms.

child – children
woman – women
man – men
mouse – mice
goose – geese

Nouns ending in vowels like y or o do not have definite rules.

baby – babies
toy – toys
kidney – kidneys
potato – potatoes
memo – memos
stereo – stereos

A few nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

sheep – sheep
deer – deer
series – series
species – species

[Quiz 1.1]

Choose the correct form of the noun in each sentence.

1)I have three (child, children).
2)There are five (man, men) and one (woman, women).
3)(Baby, Babies) play with bottles as toys.
4)I put two big (potato, potatoes) in the lunch box.
5)A few men wear (watch, watches).
6)I put a (memo, memos) on the desk.
7)I saw a (mouse, mice) running by.
8)There are few (bus, buses) on the road today.

Answers
[1.1]
1) children
2) men, woman
3) Babies
4) potatoes
5) watches
6) memo
7) mouse
8) buses

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English singular and plural 

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English singular and plural

Plural Nouns: Rules and Examples

Most singular nouns are made plural by simply putting an -s at the end. There are many different rules regarding pluralization depending on what letter a noun ends in. Irregular nouns do not follow plural noun rules, so they must be memorized or looked up in the dictionary.

Plural Noun Rules

There are many plural noun rules, and because we use nouns so frequently when writing, it’s important to know all of them! The correct spelling of plurals usually depends on what letter the singular noun ends in.

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

With the unique word volcano, you can apply the standard pluralization for words that end in -o or not. It’s your choice! Both of the following are correct:

volcanoes

volcanos

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

Plural Nouns

When we are talking about two or more people, animals, places or things, we have to make the countable nouns plural.

Plural nouns usually end in s.

Singular	Plural
lamp	lamps
worker	workers
hawk	hawks
place	places
rope	ropes

When the last letters of singular nouns are ch, sh, s or x, you usually add es to form the plural. Some exceptions are stomach and monarch where you add s instead of es. This is because the ch in these words sounds like k.

Singular	Plural
arch	arches
branch	branches
brush	brushes
flash	flashes
bus	buses
address	addresses
box	boxes
fox	foxes
stomach	stomachs
monarch	monarchs

In the case of nouns that end in o, some nouns we need to add s to form the plural whereas others we need to add es to form the plural.

Singular	Plural
kangaroo	kangaroos
video	videos
zoo	zoos
tomato	tomatoes
tornado	tornadoes
hero	heroes
potato	potatoes

With some nouns that end in y, we form the plural by changing the y to i, and adding es.

Singular	Plural
lady	ladies
baby	babies
lily	lilies
trophy	trophies
jelly	jellies
story	stories

However, if there is a vowel before the y (ay, ey, oy), we just add s to form the plural.

Singular	Plural
bay	bays
way	ways
key	keys
jersey	jerseys
toy	toys
boy	boys

With some nouns ending in f, the plural ending is ves. We change f to v, and add es.

Singular	Plural
leaf	leaves
wolf	wolves
calf	calves
loaf	loaves
thief	thieves

With some nouns that end in f or fe, we just add s to form the plural.

Singular	Plural
chief	chiefs
cliff	cliffs
roof	roofs
giraffe	giraffes

With some nouns ending in fe, we change f to v, and add s.

Singular	Plural
knife	knives
wife	wives
life	lives

The plural of some nouns is the same as the singular.

Singular	Plural
deer	deer
fish	fish
salmon	salmon
reindeer	reindeer
sheep	sheep

The plural form of some nouns is different from the singular form.

	Plural
goose	geese
foot	feet
ox	oxen
child	children
woman	women
man	men
mouse	mice

What are Possessive Nouns?

Possessive nouns are nouns that show “relationships”

1. Possessive nouns can be used to show 'belonging to' or 'ownership'.

Examples:

This is Jill’s house. (Jill owns the house)
They were not able to find Paul’s shoes. (The shoes belong to Paul)
The cat’s dish is empty.
The lamp's base is broken.

2. Possessive nouns can show where someone works or studies or spends time.

Examples:

I went to Jack’s school.
Put this box in Colin’s office.

3. Possessive nouns can indicate family relationships.

Examples:

Gordon’s mother is a dentist.
He went with Brian’s brother.

General Rules for Forming Possessive Nouns

Rule 1:

Add an apostrophe s (‘s) to form the possessive of singular nouns. This rule also applies to singular nouns ending in s.

Examples:

Singular Nouns	Possessive Nouns
lamp	lamp’s
egg	egg’s
branch	branch’s
mango	mango’s
Paul	Paul’s
Simon	Simon’s
goose	goose’s
woman	woman’s
leaf	leaf’s
lady	lady’s
bus	bus’s
class	class’s

Rule 2:

Add an apostrophe s (‘s) to form the possessive of plural nouns that do not end with s.

Plural Nouns	Possessive Nouns
geese	geese’s
oxen	oxen’s
women	women’s
children	children’s

Rule 3:

Add an apostrophe (‘) to form the possessive of plural nouns that end with s.

Plural Nouns	Possessive Nouns
lamps	lamps’
eggs	eggs’
branches	branches’
mangoes	mangoes’
leaves	leaves’
ladies	ladies’
buses	buses’
classes	classes’

Rule 4:

For the names of people that end with s, add an apostrophe s (‘s) or apostrophe (‘). (Both methods are acceptable)

Names of People that ends with s	Possessive Nouns
Phyllis	Phyllis’s or Phyllis’
Thomas	Thomas’s or Thomas’
Jones	Jones’s or Jones’

Rule 5:

Add an apostrophe s (‘s) or apostrophe (‘) to the end of a compound noun.

Compound Noun	Possessive Noun
classroom	classroom’s
classrooms	classrooms’
fire engine	fire engine’s
fire engines	fire engines’
son-in-law	son-in-law’s
son-in-laws	son-in-laws’

Singular Noun Examples

The following sentences contain singular nouns examples.

1. The boy had a baseball in his hand.
2. My horse prefers to wear an English saddle.
3. That cat never seems to tire of jumping in and out of the box.
4. You stole my idea and didn’t give me any credit.
5. Your mom is going to be upset about that broken lamp.
6. It’s not difficult to grow a tree as long as you give it plenty of water.
7. I can’t believe you let your dog stick his head out the window while you drive.

Plural Noun Examples

The following sentences contain plural noun examples.

1. The boys were throwing baseballs back and forth between bases.
2. Our horses are much happier wearing lightweight English saddles.
3. Those cats never seem to tire of chasing one another in and out of those boxes.
4. You stole my ideas and didn’t give me any credit.
5. Our moms are going to be upset that we stayed out all night going to parties.
6. It’s not too difficult to grow trees as long as you provide them with plenty of water.
7. I can’t believe you allow your dogs to climb all over the seats while you are driving.

Singular – Plural Nouns Exercises

Transform each of the following words into plurals:

1. Day
2. Tax
3. Taxi
4. Lady
5. Mountain

Answers 1-5:

1. Days
2. Taxes
3. Taxis
4. Ladies
5. Mountains

Choose the correct plural for each of the words that follows:

1. Choice
   a. Choices b. Choices c. Choiceies
2. Box
   a.Boxs b. Boxies c. Boxes
3. Thief
   a.Thiefies a. Thiefs c. Thieves
4. Army
   a.Armys b. Armies c. Army
5. Owl
   a.Owls b. Owlies c. Owelds

Answers:

1. –a
2. –c
3. –c
4. –b
5. –a

Choose the best word to fit into each of the following sentences:

1. The men sharpened their _____________ before throwing them at the targets.
   A – apple B – knifes C – knives
2. Please eat the rest of your _____________.
   A – pease B – Peas C – Peies
3. I’d like you to stop leaving your ________________ on the floor.
   A – Socks B – Sockses C – Sox
4. We saw a lot of _________________ at the park.
   A – Deers B – Deeries C – Deer
5. This recipe calls for a lot of _____________.
   A – Tomatoss B – Tomatoes C – Tomatiesd

Answers:

1. –C
2. –B
3. –A
4. –C
5. –B