16112019-Plural Noun moodle

PLURAL NOUN

What is a Plural Noun?

The answer is a relatively easy one, as grammar goes. A plural noun is a word
that indicates that there is more than one person, animal place, thing, or idea.
When you talk about more than one of anything, you’re using plural nouns. When
you write about more than one of anything, you usually use the same word,
simply adding an s, es, or ies to the end. There are a few exceptions to this rule,
but not many – one of the best is that a single moose is a moose, and a group of
moose are still moose.

Singular and Plural Nouns

The difference between singular and plural nouns is easy to spot. When a noun
indicates one only, it is a singular noun. When a noun indicates more than one,
it is plural.

Singular Noun Examples

The following sentences contain singular nouns examples.

▪ The boy had a baseball in his hand.
▪ My horse prefers to wear an English saddle.
▪ That cat never seems to tire of jumping in and out of the box.
▪ You stole my idea and didn’t give me any credit.
▪ Your mom is going to be upset about that broken lamp.
▪ It’s not difficult to grow a tree as long as you give it plenty of water.
▪ I can’t believe you let your dog stick his head out the window while you

drive.

Plural Noun Examples

The following sentences contain plural noun examples.

▪ The boys were throwing baseballs back and forth between bases.
▪ Our horses are much happier wearing lightweight English saddles.
▪ Those cats never seem to tire of chasing one another in and out of those

boxes.
▪ You stole my ideas and didn’t give me any credit.
▪ Our moms are going to be upset that we stayed out all night going to parties.
▪ It’s not too difficult to grow trees as long as you provide them with plenty of

water.
▪ I can’t believe you allow your dogs to climb all over the seats while you are

driving.

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PLURAL NOUN

RULE 01:

sThe plural of nouns is usually formed by adding to a singular noun.

Example:

Singular Plural
lamp lamps
cat cats
fork forks
flower flowers
pen pens

RULE 02:

Nouns ending in s, z, x, sh, and ch form the plural by adding es.

Example:

Singular Plural
moss mosses
buzz buzzes
box boxes
dish dishes
church churches

Special Note:

If you add s to such nouns as fox, bush, and bench, you will find that you
cannot pronounce them without making an additional syllable. This is why
such nouns form the plural by adding es.

RULE 03:

Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant is formed into a plural by
changingy to ies.

Examples:

Singular Plural
lady ladies
city cities
army armies
fly flies
baby babies

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PLURAL NOUN

RULE 04:

Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel form their plurals by adding s.
Example:

Singular Plural
boy boys
day days
toy toys
essay essays
pay pays

RULE 05:
Most nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant is formed into a plural by
adding es.
Example:

Singular Plural
hero heroes
grotto grottoes
motto mottoes
volcano volcanoes

NOTE:

Mosquito , halo , tornado , buffalo , portico , canto , solo , piano , lasso ,
halo, memento , albino , sirocco are uncommon and may add s or es

Most nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel is formed into a plural by adding
s

Singular Plural
folio folios
cameo cameos
studio studios
portfolio portfolios

RULE 06:

Some nouns ending in f or fe are made plural by changing f or fe to ves.
Example:

Singular Plural
beef beeves
wife wives

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PLURAL NOUN

IRREGULAR PLURALS

"There are no easy rules, unfortunately, for irregular plurals in English. They
simply have to be learnt and remembered."

Not all nouns conform to the standard pattern. In fact, some of the most common
English nouns have irregular plural forms, such as woman/women and
child/children. In addition, several nouns have alternative plurals, one regular
and the other irregular.

Singular Plural
woman women
tooth teeth
louse lice
child children
ox oxen
goose geese

man men
foot feet

PLURAL - ONLY NOUNS (no singular form)
There is a small group of nouns that exist only in the plural form, for example:

scissors oats tongs cattle
pinchers bellows snuffers tweezers
measles mumps dregs trousers
shears vespers

These nouns do not exist in the singular form and are usually described as
"plural-only nouns".

Plural-Only Nouns with Two Parts

Many plural-only nouns are tools or items of clothing that have two parts (like
trousers, which have two legs).

Clothing :panties, boxers, briefs, tights, jeans, pants, pyjamas, shorts, trousers

Tools: headphones, pliers, scissors, tongs, tweezers, binoculars, glasses, goggles,
sunglasses

pair of: Because the above examples have two parts, we can refer to them as "pair
of" or "pairs of" to quantify them.

To talk about one item, we can say a pair of, one pair of, my pair of, this pair of
etc. To specify more than one item we can say two pairs of, three pairs of etc.

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PLURAL NOUN

SINGULAR - ONLY NOUNS (no plural form)

Some nouns are always singular. Some of these nouns may be used in the plural
when different kinds are meant as,

gold silver corn molasses
copper sugar cotton news
gallows mathematics ethics coffees

Singular nouns use this and that.
Plural nouns use these and those.

SPECIAL CASES Plural
brothers – in – law
Singular by – ways
brother – in – law cupfuls
by – way hangers-on
cupful men-of-war
hanger-on bye-laws
man-of-war
bye-law mouse-traps
mouse-trap passers-by
passer-by sons-in-law
son-in-law spoonfuls
spoonful

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