Name: ____________________________________ Class/group: _____________ Date: _______________________

A brief history of IRREGULAR PLURALS

There are many irregular plurals in English. The regular form is, of course, to add ‘s’, for
example: one dog, two dogs. If a singular noun ends in s, ch,
sh, o or x, we add es. An example is boxes. Y changes to ies,
as in ladies. Then there are the nouns which end in f or fe.
These change to ve. One example is shelf>shelves. So far, so
good. If there is a rule, it makes things a bit easier!
Unfortunately, there are irregular plurals which you just have
to learn. But there is always a reason why something is
irregular. Let’s have a look at a few. The plural of corn is corn and there are quite a few nouns
like this, where we have no change. These words are from Old English, where the plural ended
in ‘u’ and has now been dropped. We also have nouns where the middle part changes, such as
goose>geese. These nouns follow a Germanic pattern. The same Germanic origin accounts for
plural nouns ending in en, like women. Next, we have many ‘science’ words, for example,
stimulus>stimuli, stomata> stomatae. These nouns follow the Latin and occasionally, the Ancient
Greek pattern. Some concept words follow the Greek form, e.g. criterion>criteria,
crisis>crises. Is that all clear? I hope so! There are other words adopted from foreign
languages which obey the rules of the original language. Then there are a few words which have
two plurals, for example person>persons/people. Both of these forms derive from Latin.
Nowadays, ‘persons’ is used in more formal situations, as in, when the police are seeking
‘persons of interest.’ However, something is puzzling me: why are trousers plural? It is one
garment! Likewise, shorts, knickers, jeans and tights. One explanation is that originally, there
were two parts to these items and they were put on separately. Maybe! Which leads us to
irregular verbs, but I think we have had enough of irregulars for now, don’t you agree?!

So, do you know the PLURALS of the following nouns? Let’s see! Write them in .
p. Foot _________ k. fox_________ f. man _________ a. knife _________
q. Wolf ________ l. tomato ________ g. child ________ b. wheat ________
r. Church ________ m. ash ________ h. fungus ________ c. wife ________
s. Baby _________ n. bacterium ______ i. phenomenon _____ d. prefix _________
t. Elf ________ o. half _______ j. cherry ________ e. dish ________

Have a look at the following sentences and decide if they are TRUE or FALSE:
1. All English nouns are regular T/F 6. ‘Science’ irregular plurals are mainly derived
2. The plural of book is books T/F from Greek. T/F
3. If there is a rule, it simplifies things. T/F 7. Plurals in ‘en’ are of Germanic origin. T/F
4. There are usually reasons to explain any 8. People can be used as a plural of person.T/F
irregulars. T/F 9. Although trousers are one garment, it is a
5. Words which are the same in singular and plural noun. T/F
plural stem from Old French. T/F 10.There are no irregular verbs in English. T/F

OVER TO YOU: 1. Can you name the items in the box in the top left-hand corner and state
their plurals? What is their derivation/origin? 2. How are plurals formed in your language? Do
you think they are hard or easy for foreign students to learn? Explain your answer.
KEYS:

a. Feet, b. wolves, c. churches, d. babies e. elves, f. foxes, g. tomatoes, h. ashes, i.

bacteria, j. halves, k. men, l. children, m. fungi*, n. phenomena, o. cherries, p. knives,
q. wheat, r. wives, s. prefixes, t. dishes.

T/F 1F, 2T, 3T, 4.T. 5F, 6F (Greek and Latin), 7T, 8T, 9T, 10F

In the box: sheep,(OE) children,(German) mice,(German) teeth, (German) fish (can be

fishes),OE men, women. – both German.

 Fungi is pronounced ‘fun guy’, in fact there are many jokes along those lines😉
 Phenomenon/a is Greek.
 Other plurals which have a completely different form: cow>cattle (also cows)