Section outline

  • Introduction

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    Singular Noun refers to one person, place, animal, thing or idea.

    Examples: bird, toy, girl, bike, river

    Plural Noun refers to more than one person, place, animal, thing or idea.

    Examples: birds, toys, girls, bike, rivers

    Formation of plural nouns depends on the ending letter of the singular noun.

  • The 's' rule

    For most of the singular nouns:

    Just add 's' at the end to make it plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural  Singular Plural
    book books pencil pencils
    bird birds doll dolls
    cap caps nest nests
    duck ducks flower flowers

    Most common nouns follow this rule.

  • The 'es' rule

    For singular nouns ending with ‘o, s, x, z, ss, ch, sh’:

    Add ‘es’ at the end of the to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural Singular Plural
    bus buses bush bushes
    gas gasses mango mangoes
    box boxes class classes
    blitz blitzes branch  branches
    dish dishes tomato  tomatoes

    Exception:

    For some singular nouns ending with ‘o’ :

    Add 's' at the end to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    photo photos
    piano pianos
    video videos
    zoo zoos
    avocado avocados
    radio radios

  • The 'ies' rule

    For singular nouns ending with a consonant & ‘y’:

    Replace 'y' & add ‘ies’ to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    baby babies
    fly flies
    city cites
    lady ladies
    story stories

    Exception:

    For singular nouns ending with a vowel & letter ‘y’:

    Add 's' at the end to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    key keys
    day days
    boy boys
    kidney kidneys
    donkey donkeys

  • The 'ves' rule

    For singular nouns ending with ‘f / fe’:

    Replace 'f / fe' & add ‘ves’  to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    wife wives
    leaf leaves
    thief thieves
    calf calves
    life lives
    elf elves

    Exception:

    For some singular nouns ending with ‘f / fe’:

    Add 's' at the end to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    roof roofs
    chef chefs
    chief chiefs
    giraffe giraffes
    cliff cliffs
    belief beliefs

  • The ‘us’ to ‘i’ rule

    For singular nouns ending with ‘us’:

    Replace 'us' with ‘i’ to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    cactus cacti
    focus foci
    fungus fungi
    nucleus nuclei
    syllabus syllabi

  • The ‘is’ to ‘es’ rule

    For singular nouns ending with ‘is’:

    Replace 'is' with ‘es’ to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    analysis analyses
    diagnosis diagnoses
    oasis oases
    thesis theses
    crisis crises
    ellipsis ellipses

  • The ‘on’ to ‘a’ rule

    For singular nouns ending with ‘on’:

    Replace 'on' with ‘a’ to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular  Plural
    phenomenon phenomena
    criterion criteria

  • Special Rules

    There are some nouns that follow different rules to form plurals.

    These special rules are:

    1. Some singular nouns don’t follow any rules.

    Examples:

    Singular Plural Singular Plural
    man men woman women
    ox oxen goose geese
    child children person people
    foot feet tooth teeth
    mouse mice louse lice

    The above plural nouns have to be remembered.

    2. Some nouns have the same singular and plural form.

    Examples:

    hair, deer, reindeer, sheep, gold, fish, tuna, bison, series, species, furniture, information, aircraft, scenery, etc.

    3. Plurale tantum: These nouns are used only in the plural form as they function in set or pairs.

    Examples:

    shoes, socks, googles, jeans, pants, gloves, chopsticks, shorts, pliers, spectacles, binoculars, scissors, trousers, etc.

    These nouns do not have a singular form.

    4. Some nouns appear to be plural but they are used as singular nouns.

    Examples:  

    • Mathematics is an interesting subject.
    • This news is being published today.
    5. Collective nouns appear to be singular but are plural nouns.

    Examples: 

    • The people are standing in a queue.
    • The cattle is kept in the shed.

    6. In singular compound nouns with several words:

    Add 's' to the main word to form plural.

    Examples:

    Singular Plural
    son-in-law sons-in-law
    maid-servant maid-servants
    passer-by passers-by
    close-up close-ups
    step-mother step-mothers
     

  • Summary

    The following table summarizes all the main rules to change singular to plural:

    Rule Singular Noun Ending Plural Noun
    The ‘s’ rule Most common nouns Add ‘s’
    The ‘es’ rule o, s, x, z, ss, ch, sh< Add ‘es’
    The ‘ies’ rule ‘y’ Replace ‘y’ with ‘ies’
    The ‘ves’ rule ‘f’ or ‘fe’ Replace ‘f’/fe’ with ‘ves’
    The ‘us’ to ‘i’ rule ‘us’ Replace ‘us’ with ‘i’
    The ‘is’ to ‘es’ rule ‘is’ Replace ‘is’ with ‘es’
    The ‘on’ to ‘a’ rule ‘on’ Replace ‘on’ with ‘a’

    Remember all the rules and exceptions to solve the worksheets!

    In next course, we will learn about words that replace nouns; pronouns.