Tuesday, March 17, 2015

NOUNS AND PRONOUNS - Plural forms of nouns

(a) Singular: one bird, one street, one rose
Plural: two birds, two streets, two roses
To make most nouns plural, add -s
(b) Singular: one dish, one match, one class, one box
Plural: two dishes, two matches, two classes, two boxes
Add -es to nouns ending in -sh, -ch, -ss, and -x
(c) Singular: one baby, one city
Plural: two babies, two cities
(d) Singular: one toy, one key
Plural: two toys, two keys
If a noun ends in a consonant + -y, change the y to i and add -es, as in ( c)
If -y is preceded by a vowel, add only -s, as in (d).
(e)  Singular: one knife, one shelf
Plural: two knives, two shelves
(f) Singular: one tomato, one zoo, one zero
Plural: two tomatoes, two zoos, two zeros/zeroes
The plural of nouns that end in  -o is sometimes -oes and sometimes -os.
-oes: tomatoes, potatoes, heroes, echoes
-os: zoos, radios, studios, pianos, solos, sopranos, phoyos, autos, videos.
-oes or -es: zeroes/zeros, volcanoes/volcanos, tornadors/tornados, mosquitoes/mosquotos
(g) Singular: one child, one foot, one goose, one man, one mouse, one tooth, one woman
Plural: two children, two feet, two geese, two men, two mice, two teeth, two women, two people
Some nouns have irregular plural forms. (note: the singular form of people can be person, woman, man, child. For example, one man and one child = two people)
(h) Singular: one deer, one fish, one sheep, one offspring, one specirs
Plural: two deer, two fish, two sheep, two offspring, two species
The plural form of some nouns is the same as the singular form.
(i) Singular: one  bacterium, one cactus, one crises, one phenomena
Plural: two bacteria, two cacti, two crises, two phenomena.
Some nouns that English has borrowed from other language have foreign plurals.

No comments:

Post a Comment