PLURAL OF NOUNS

Most nouns make their plurals by simply adding –s to the end 

• cat/cats, 
• book/books, 
• journey/journeys.

Nouns ending in -y

If the noun ends with a consonant plus -y, make the plural by changing -y to -ies:

singular	plural
berry	berries
activity	activities
daisy	daisies

Nouns ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z

If the noun ends with -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z, add -es to form the plural:

singular	plural
church	churches
bus	buses
fox	foxes

There’s one exception to this rule. If the -ch ending is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound, you add -s rather than -es:

singular	plural
stomach	stomachs
epoch	epochs

Nouns ending in -f or -fe

With nouns that end in a consonant or a single vowel plus -f or -fe, change the -f or -fe to -ves:

singular	plural
knife	knives
half	halves

Nouns ending in -o

Nouns ending in -o can add either -s or -es in the plural, and some can be spelled either way.

•  As a general rule, most nouns ending in -o add -s to make the plural:

singular	plural
solo	solos
zero	zeros
avocado	avocados

•  Those which have a vowel before the final -o always just add -s:

singular	plural
studio	studios
zoo	zoos
embryo	embryos

• Here’s a list of the most common nouns ending in -o that are always spelled with -es in the plural:

singular	plural
buffalo	buffaloes
domino	dominoes
echo	echoes
embargo	embargoes
hero	heroes
mosquito	mosquitoes
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes
torpedo	torpedoes
veto	vetoes

• Here are some of the common nouns ending in -o that can be spelled with either -s or -es in the plural:

singular	plural
banjo	banjos or banjoes
cargo	cargos or cargoes
flamingo	flamingos or flamingoes
fresco	frescos or frescoes
ghetto	ghettos or ghettoes
halo	halos or haloes
mango	mangos or mangoes
memento	mementos or mementoes
motto	mottos or mottoes
tornado	tornados or tornadoes
volcano	volcanos or volcanoes

Some nouns have identical singular and plural. Many of these are the names of animals:
fish  sheep   deer
duck  bison   buffalo
moose  pike  salmon
trout  plankton   squid
swine  aircraft  spacecraft

Different forms of singular and plural

singular	plural
man	men
woman	women /wimin/
child	children
ox	oxen
mouse	mice
louse	lice
goose	geese
foot	feet
tooth	teeth
die	dice*
penny	pence**

* die – dice (in the context of gaming, where dice is also often used as the singular; and also in the semiconductor industry. Otherwise dies is used.)

** penny – pence (in the context of an amount of money in Britain). The 1p or 1-cent coins are called pennies. Pence is abbreviated p 

FOREIGN PLURALS

singular	plural
analysis	analyses
appendix	appendices/appendixes
axis	axes
basis	bases
cactus	cactuses / cacti
criterion	criteria
datum	data
diagnosis	diagnoses
index	indexes/indices
medium	mediums/media
oasis	oases
phenomenon	phenomena
octopus	octopuses/octopi
syllabus	syllabuses/syllabi
thesis	theses

For more information about different plural forms, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plurals

Additional exercises http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/agreesum.html

NOUNS

A noun is a word that identifies:

• a person (woman, boy, doctor, neighbour)
• a thing (dog, building, tree, country)
• an idea, quality, or state (truth, danger, birth, happiness).

There are several different types of noun, as follows:

Common noun

A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in general, e.g. boy, country, bridge, city, birth, day, happiness.

Proper noun

A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, or thing, e.g. Steven, Africa, Tower Bridge, London, Monday. In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters.

Concrete noun

A concrete noun is a noun which refers to people and to things that exist physically and can be seen, touched, smelled, heard, or tasted. Examples include dog, building, tree, rain, beach, tune, Tower Bridge.

Abstract noun

An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions - things that cannot be seen or touched and things which have no physical reality, e.g. truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship, humour.

Collective nouns

Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things, e.g. audience, family, government, team, jury. Collective nouns can usually be treated as singular or plural, with either a singular or plural verb. Both the following sentences are grammatically correct:

The whole family was at the table.

The whole family were at the table.

Most collective nouns can be treated as singular or plural, with either a singular or plural verb:

√ The whole family was at the table. [singular verb]

√ The whole family were at the table. [plural verb]

There are a few collective nouns which are always used with a plural verb, the commonest of which are police and people:

√ She’s happy with the way the police have handled the case.

X She’s happy with the way the police has handled the case.

If you aren’t sure whether to use a singular or a plural verb with a collective noun, look it up. Most dictionaries will tell you which is correct.

A noun may belong to more than one category. For example, happiness is both a common noun and an abstract noun, while Tower Bridge is both a concrete noun and a proper noun.