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CHAPTER 13. NOUNS: THE FORMATION OF PLURALS |
A
noun is a word used as the name of a person or a thing. In the
following examples, the nouns are underlined.
He opened the
parcel.
She is a
student.
The
weather is warm.
A
cat is sitting on the
steps.
1. Proper nouns
Names of individual persons or things are referred to as
proper nouns.
In English, proper nouns must begin with a capital letter. The
underlined words in the following sentences are proper nouns.
e.g. The capital of
England is
London.
My friend,
George, is an
American.
2. Countable nouns
Countable nouns are nouns which can form a plural, and which can be
preceded by
a,
an, or a number. In the following examples, the
countable nouns are underlined.
e.g. A
bus is coming.
You may need an
umbrella.
Here are two
books.
Twenty
students are present.
3. The formation of plurals
In general, when a countable noun refers to two or more things, it must
be put into the plural. In English, the plural of most countable nouns
is formed by adding
s. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| hat | hats |
| letter | letters |
| pencil | pencils |
| student | students |
It has already been explained that a verb must agree with its subject.
When the subject of a verb is a singular noun, the verb must be in the
third person singular. The third person singular is the form of the
verb used with the personal pronouns
he,
she, and
it.
When the subject of a verb is a plural noun, the verb must be in the
third person plural. The third person plural is the form of the verb
used with the personal pronoun
they. In the following examples, the
verbs are printed in bold type and their subjects are underlined.
Singular Subject: The
book is interesting.
Plural Subject: The
books are interesting.
Singular Subject: A
duck was flying overhead.
Plural Subject: Two
ducks were flying overhead.
Singular Subject: One
student lives here.
Plural Subject: Three
students live here.
See
Exercise 1.
a. Nouns ending in ch, s, sh, x or z
For nouns ending in
ch,
s,
sh,
x or
z, the plural is formed
by adding
es. The reason for this is that these words would be
difficult to pronounce if only
s were added. The ending
es is
pronounced as a separate syllable. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| branch | branches |
| match | matches |
| bus | buses |
| pass | passes |
| dish | dishes |
| marsh | marshes |
| ax | axes |
| fox | foxes |
| buzz | buzzes |
It should be noted that when a plural is formed by adding
s to words
ending in
ce,
ge,
se or
ze, the final
es is pronounced as a
separate syllable. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| place | places |
| voice | voices |
| change | changes |
| page | pages |
| house | houses |
| phrase | phrases |
| size | sizes |
In each of the preceding examples, the singular noun consists of one
syllable, whereas the plural noun consists two syllables.
See
Exercise 2.
b. Nouns ending in y
Nouns ending in
y preceded by a consonant usually form the plural by
changing the
y to
i and adding
es. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| candy | candies |
| city | cities |
| lady | ladies |
| story | stories |
Nouns ending in
y preceded by a vowel usually form the plural simply
by adding
s. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| boy | boys |
| day | days |
| key | keys |
| toy | toys |
See
Exercise 3.
c. Plurals of proper nouns
Proper nouns form plurals following the rules given above, except that
proper nouns ending in
y always form the plural simply by adding
s,
even when the
y is preceded by a consonant. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| Jill | Jills |
| Tom | Toms |
| George | Georges |
| Grace | Graces |
| Jones | Joneses |
| Max | Maxes |
| May | Mays |
| Nancy | Nancys |
| Sally | Sallys |
See
Exercise 4.
d. Nouns ending in f or fe
Some English nouns ending in
f or
fe change the
f to
v when
forming the plural. For instance, the following nouns ending in
f
form the plural by changing the
f to
v and adding
es:
| Singular | Plural |
| calf | calves |
| elf | elves |
| half | halves |
| leaf | leaves |
| loaf | loaves |
| self | selves |
| sheaf | sheaves |
| shelf | shelves |
| thief | thieves |
| wolf | wolves |
In addition, the following nouns ending in
fe form the plural by
changing the
f to
v and adding
s:
| Singular | Plural |
| knife | knives |
| life | lives |
| wife | wives |
There are also a few nouns ending in
f which can form the plural in
two different ways. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| hoof | hoofs or hooves |
| scarf | scarfs or scarves |
| staff | staffs or staves |
| wharf | wharfs or wharves |
Most other nouns ending in
f or
fe form the plural simply by
adding
s.
See
Exercise 5.
e. Nouns ending in o
Some English nouns ending in
o form the plural by adding
s, some
form the plural by adding
es, and some can form the plural by adding
either
s or
es. The following fairly commonly used nouns form the
plural by adding
es:
| Singular | Plural |
| archipelago | archipelagoes |
| cargo | cargoes |
| echo | echoes |
| hero | heroes |
| innuendo | innuendoes |
| mosquito | mosquitoes |
| potato | potatoes |
| tomato | tomatoes |
| tornado | tornadoes |
| torpedo | torpedoes |
| veto | vetoes |
| volcano | volcanoes |
Most other nouns ending in
o, particularly those of Spanish or
Italian origin, can form the plural simply by adding
s; however
a good dictionary should be consulted in cases of doubt. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| albino | albinos |
| alto | altos |
| casino | casinos |
| piano | pianos |
| radio | radios |
| ratio | ratios |
| silo | silos |
| solo | solos |
| sombrero | sombreros |
| soprano | sopranos |
| studio | studios |
See
Exercise 6.
f. Foreign words
Many words from other languages have been adopted into the English
language. Most of these form the plural by adding
s or
es, but
some, particularly Greek and Latin words used for scientific purposes,
form the plural in the same way that they do in the original language. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| analysis | analyses |
| axis | axes |
| basis | bases |
| crisis | crises |
| criterion | criteria |
| honorarium | honoraria |
| hypothesis | hypotheses |
| medium | media |
| nebula | nebulae |
| nucleus | nuclei |
| oasis | oases |
| parenthesis | parentheses |
| phenomenon | phenomena |
| spectrum | spectra |
| stimulus | stimuli |
| stratum | strata |
| synopsis | synopses |
| synthesis | syntheses |
| thesis | theses |
| vertebra | vertebrae |
See
Exercise 7.
g. Hyphenated nouns
In the case of nouns formed from two or more words joined by hyphens,
usually only the last word forms a plural. However, there are a few
cases in which only the first word forms a plural. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| brother-in-law | brothers-in-law |
| daughter-in-law | daughters-in-law |
| father-in-law | fathers-in-law |
| mother-in-law | mothers-in-law |
| runner-up | runners-up |
| sister-in-law | sisters-in-law |
| son-in-law | sons-in-law |
h. Numbers and letters
Numbers, letters, and other symbols can form plurals by adding
's. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| 3 | 3's |
| b | b's |
| % | %'s |
i. Irregular plurals
The English language has not always used
s to form plurals. There are
still a few words surviving from Old English, which do not use
s to
form the plural. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| child | children |
| foot | feet |
| goose | geese |
| tooth | teeth |
| louse | lice |
| mouse | mice |
| ox | oxen |
| man | men |
| woman | women |
Nouns ending in
man usually form the plural by changing
man to
men. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| gentleman | gentlemen |
| policeman | policemen |
| policewoman | policewomen |
A few nouns do not change in the plural. For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| deer | deer |
| sheep | sheep |
| salmon | salmon |
See
Exercise 8.
