Form plurals: review
Key Notes:
Regular Plurals
- Add ‘s’: The most common way to form the plural of a noun is by adding ‘s’ to the end.
- Examples: book -> books, cat -> cats, car -> cars.
Plurals of Nouns Ending in ‘s’, ‘x’, ‘z’, ‘ch’, or ‘sh’
- Add ‘es’: For nouns ending in ‘s’, ‘x’, ‘z’, ‘ch’, or ‘sh’, add ‘es’ to form the plural.
- Examples: bus -> buses, box -> boxes, buzz -> buzzes, church -> churches, dish -> dishes.
Nouns Ending in ‘y’
- Change ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘es’: If a noun ends in a consonant + ‘y’, change the ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘es’.
- Examples: baby -> babies, city -> cities.
- Add ‘s’ if preceded by a vowel: If the noun ends in a vowel + ‘y’, simply add ‘s’.
- Examples: boy -> boys, key -> keys.
Nouns Ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’
- Change ‘f’ to ‘v’ and add ‘es’: For many nouns ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’, change the ‘f’ to ‘v’ and add ‘es’.
- Examples: leaf -> leaves, wolf -> wolves.
- Some simply add ‘s’: There are exceptions where you just add ‘s’.
- Examples: roof -> roofs, chef -> chefs.
Irregular Plurals
- Complete Change: Some nouns have irregular plurals that change completely.
- Examples: man -> men, woman -> women, child -> children.
- No Change: Some nouns have the same form for both singular and plural.
- Examples: sheep -> sheep, deer -> deer, series -> series.
Nouns Ending in ‘o’
- Add ‘es’ or ‘s’: For nouns ending in ‘o’, sometimes ‘es’ is added, especially if preceded by a consonant.
- Examples: potato -> potatoes, hero -> heroes.
- Add ‘s’: If preceded by a vowel, just add ‘s’.
- Examples: radio -> radios, zoo -> zoos.
Foreign Plurals
- Latin and Greek Origins: Some nouns retain their original plural forms.
- Examples: cactus -> cacti, criterion -> criteria, phenomenon -> phenomena.
Compound Nouns
- Pluralize the main noun: In compound nouns, typically the main noun is pluralized.
- Examples: mother-in-law -> mothers-in-law, passerby -> passersby.
Let’s practice!✒️
