Forming Plurals

Rule 1: Most words form their plural by adding s.

Rule 2: Words ending in s, x, ch, sh often form their plural by
adding es.
Compare the plural form of the words below.
Barn...barns
Gas...gases
Crate...crates
Church...churches
Horse...horses
Box...boxes
Car...cars
Mattress...mattresses
Channel...channels
Dish...dishes
Rule 3: Some words that end in f form their plurals by changing the f
to v before the ending. Some have irregular plural forms and should be
memorized.
Rule 4: When the last two letters of a word are a vowel followed by y,
keep the letter y and add the ending.
Monkey...monkeys
Boy...boys
Donkey...donkeys
Survey...surveys
Play...plays
Delay...delays
Pay...pays (but, paid)
Buy...buys
Day...days
guy...guys
Rule 5: If the last two letters of a word are a consonant followed by y, the
y changes to i before the suffix is added.
City...cities
Study...studies
Copy...copies
Oddity...oddities
Subsidy...subsidies
Vanity...vanities
When a noun ends in a vowel and y, form its plural by adding s

Valley valleys

Rule 6: Nouns ending in o usually form their plural by adding s.

Studio...studios
Zoo...zoos
Tatoo...tatoos
Ego...egos
Hippo...hippos
Kangaroo...kangaroos
Piano...pianos
Silo...silos
There are some exceptions that you should make a special effort to learn. Nouns
which end in o and are preceded by a consonant, add es to form the plural.
Echo...echoes
Hero...heroes
Potato...potatoes
Tomato...tomatoes
Embargo...embargoes
Rule 7: A number of other words ending in o may form their plurals by adding
either s or es.
Banjo
Motto
Buffalo
Cargo
Halo
Zero
Tornado
Rule 8: Some words form their plurals in an unusual way. Because English
contains many words borrowed from other languages, these words often form
their plurals the way they did in their language of origin. These irregular plurals
must also be learned thoroughly.
Rule 9: Nouns ending in
Exercise
Try to write the correct plural form (or forms) of each of these words in
your notebook. If you need to, review the rules for forming plurals.
1. Birch
2. Fax
3. Wharf
4. Try
5. Cargo
6. leech
7. Fish
8. Criterion
9. Reply
10.Hoof
11.Box
12. radio
13.Midwife

14. turkey
15. datum
16.Bunny
17. goose
18.Mother-in-law
19.Crisis
20.Ox 3
21.Crisis*
22.Deer
23.Father-in-law
24.Handful
25.Foot
26.Louse
27.Formula
28.Oasis 32
29.Ox
30.Phenomenon*
31. radius*
32.Memorandum
33.Datum*
34.Sheep
35.Moose
36.Fish
37.Vertebra
38.Passer-by*
39.Parenthesis*
40.Octopus*
41.Criterion*
42.Alumnus*
43.Analysis