The Common Method

Nouns form their plural regularly by adding s or es to the singular. s is added if the singular ends with a sound that unites easily with s; thus, boy, boys, es is added, forming another syllable, if the singular does not end with a sound that unites easily with s; thus, box, boxes.

Exercise

Write the plurals of the following nouns: hat, branch, tigress, table, adz, book, apple, lass, lad, flash, dream, crash, ax.

Nouns Ending In O

Some nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant add es to the singular to form the plural, without forming an additional syllable; thus, heroes, potatoes, echoes, calicoes.

But some form their plural regularly; thus, pianos, banjos, solos, chromos, halos, burros.

Nouns Ending In Y

Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant form their plural by changing the y to i and adding es. Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel form their plural by adding s only.

Exercise

Write the plurals of the following nouns: lady, pony, alley, ally, toy, library, century, trolley, day, lily, buggy, mummy, company.

Nouns Ending In Fe

The following fifteen nouns ending in f or fe change the f to v and add es to form their plural: beef, calf elf, half knife, leaf life, loaf self sheaf shelf thief wharf wife, wolf.

Plurals In N

A few nouns form the plural by adding en or ne with or without another change: oxen, children, brethren, kine.

In Old English many nouns formed their plural by adding en to the singular; but for most of them the s or es ending has now been adopted. Some have two plurals; as, brothers and brethren. These plurals generally have different meanings.

Root Changes

A few nouns change the vowel of the root to form the plural; as, feet, teeth, mice, men, women, geese, lice.

Some Foreign Nouns retain their foreign plurals. The plural of focus is foci and of analysis is analyses. Some of these words have both an English and a foreign plural; thus, vertexes and vertices. It is better to use the English plural in such cases unless the two forms have different meanings.

Exercise

The foreign plurals of these nouns are still in general use. Learn the meanings and the plurals of the nouns. Use the plurals in sentences: oasis, focus, parenthesis, alumna, alumnus, bandit, analysis, formula, crisis, axis, radius, stratum, larva, appendix, phenomenon.

Figures, Symbols, and Letters form their plurals by adding an apostrophe and s; thus, 6's, + 's, b's.

Plurals Of Compound Words

Most compound words can be analyzed into a main word and an adjunct. The main word is generally made plural; thus, brothers-in-law, writing-desks, hangers-on, bluebirds, buttercups, footballs, men-of-war, hat-boxes.

When the parts have become so united that the word hardly seems a compound word, the tendency is to make the last part plural; thus, spoonfuls, mouthful*, major-generals.

Compounds consisting of two nouns sometimes inflect both parts; thus, men-servants.

Singular And Plural Forms Alike

A few nouns have their singular and plural forms alike. Some of the most common of these are, deer, sheep, swine, trout, salmon, brace, yoke, pair, head (of cattle), heathen, score.

The nouns mile and year must not be confused with this group of words. They have both singular and plural forms. We may say two pair of oxen and five head of cattle/but we must say two miles from here and three years ago, instead of two mile from here and three year ago.