Irregular plural nouns

In English, there are hundreds of nouns that don’t follow the standard rules for pluralization.
There are no easy ways to remember them, so they generally have to be memorized.

Some of the rarer irregular plurals are often misused, leading to the creation of variant forms,
which usually encounter resistance at first but eventually make it into the language. For example,
the plural of formula has traditionally been formulae, but formulas is now far more common, and
few would call it incorrect.

Latinate plurals

Some nouns have retained their plural forms from Latin and other languages:

singular plural

addendum addenda

alga algae

alumnus alumni

amoeba amoebae

antenna antennae

bacterium bacteria

cactus cacti

curriculum curricula

datum data

fungus fungi

genus genera

larva larvae

memorandum memoranda

stimulus stimuli

syllabus syllabi

vertebra vertebrae

-o becoming -oes
Most nouns ending in -o are pluralized by adding an -s, but some take -es instead—for example:

singular plural

echo echoes

embargo embargoes

hero heroes

potato potatoes

tomato tomatoes

torpedo torpedoes

veto vetoes

Changing vowel sounds

Some nouns change their central vowel sounds when pluralized—for example:

singular plural

foot feet

goose geese

louse lice

man men

mouse mice

tooth teeth

woman women

-f becoming -ves

Some nouns ending in -f are pluralized by dropping the -f and adding -ves:

singular plural

calf calves

elf elves
half halves

hoof hooves

knife knives

leaf leaves

life lives

loaf loaves

self selves

shelf shelves

thief thieves

wife wives

wolf wolves

There are some exceptions though:

belif belifs

cuff cuffs

dwarf dwarfs

roof roofs

-is becoming -es

Some nouns ending in -is are pluralized by dropping the -is and adding -es:

singular plural

axis axes

analysis analyses

basis bases

crisis crises

diagnosis diagnoses

ellipsis ellipses
emphasis emphases

hypothesis hypotheses

neurosis neuroses

oasis oases

paralysis paralyses

parenthesis parentheses

thesis theses

-ix becoming -ices

Some nouns ending in -ix are pluralized by dropping the -ix and adding -ices:

singular plural

appendix appendices

index indices

matrix matrices

Unchanged plurals

A few nouns are unchanged in their plural forms:

singular plural

barracks barracks

deer deer

fish fish

gallows gallows

means means

offspring offspring

series series

sheep sheep

species species
Collective noun

The definition of a collective noun is a noun that refers to a group of people or things as one unit.

An example of a collective noun is organization.

Usage Note: In American usage, a collective noun takes a singular verb when it refers to the
collection considered as a whole, as in The family was united on this question. The enemy is suing
for peace. It takes a plural verb when it refers to the members of the group considered as
individuals, as in My family are always fighting among themselves. The enemy were showing up
in groups of three or four to turn in their weapons. In British usage, however, collective nouns
are more often treated as plurals: The government have not announced a new policy. The team
are playing in the test matches next week. A collective noun should not be treated as both
singular and plural in the same construction; thus The family is determined to press
its (not their) claim.Among the common collective nouns are committee, clergy, company,
enemy, group, family, flock, public, and team.

Some other nounsin the same category: clothes, trousers, shorts, overalls(salopeta), glasses,
spectacles(ochelari), compasses(compas), scales, binoculars(binoclu), tongs(cleste),
scissors(foarfeca), shears(foarfeca mare), pyjamas, pincers(penseta), tweezers(penseta),
pliers(cleste), flannels, tights, braces(bretele), annals(letopiset), archives, ashes(cenusa),
customs(vama), drys(zat), outskirts(periferie), wages(salariu), savings(economii), bellows(foale)

Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We
cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or
"litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:
 music, art, love, happiness
 advice, information, news
 furniture, luggage
 rice, sugar, butter, water
 electricity, gas, power
 money, currency
We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:
 This news is very important.
 Your luggage looks heavy.
 We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an
information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:
 a piece of news
 a bottle of water
 a grain of rice
We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:
 I've got some money.
 Have you got any rice?
We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:
 I've got a little money.
 I haven't got much rice.

Uncount nouns often refer to:

 Substances: food; water; wine; salt; bread; iron

 Human feelings or qualities: anger; cruelty; happiness; honesty; pride;
 Activities: help; sleep; travel; work; business
 Abstract ideas: beauty; death; fun; life

So we do not use uncount nouns in the plural and we do not use them with the indefinite article,
a/an.

We ate a lot of foods > We ate a lot of food

We bought some new furnitures > We bought some new furniture
That’s a useful information > That’s useful information

We can use some quantifiers with uncount nouns:

He gave me some useful advice.

They gave us a lot of information.

Common uncount nouns

There are some common nouns in English, like accommodation, which are uncount nouns even
though they have plurals in other languages:
advice baggage equipment furniture homework information

knowledge luggage machinery money news traffic

Let me give you some advice.

How much luggage have you got?

If we want to make these things countable, we use expressions like:

a piece of... pieces of... a bit of... bits of... an item of... items of...

Let me give you a piece of advice.

That’s a useful piece of equipment.
We bought a few bits of furniture for the new apartment.
She had six separate items of luggage.

but we do not use accommodation, money and traffic in this way.

Common problems with count/uncount nouns

1: Uncount nouns used as count nouns

Although substances are usually uncount nouns...

Would you like some cheese?

Coffee keeps me awake at night.
Wine makes me sleep.

... they can be also used as count nouns:

I’d like a coffee please. = I’d like a [cup of] coffee.

May I have a white wine. = May I have a [glass of] white wine.
They sell a lot of coffees. = They sell a lot of [different kinds of] coffee.

I prefer white wines to red. = I prefer [different kinds of] white wine to red.

They had over twenty cheeses on sale. = They had over twenty [types of] cheese on sale.

This is an excellent soft cheese. = This [kind of] soft cheese is excellent.

2: Some nouns have both a count and an uncount form:

We should always have hope.

George had hopes of promotion.
Travel is a great teacher.
Where did you go on your travels?

3: Nouns with two meanings

Some nouns have two meanings, one count and the other non count:

His life was in danger.

There is a serious danger of fire.

Linguistics is the study of language.

Is English a difficult language?

It’s made of paper.

The Times is an excellent paper.

Other words like this are:

business death industry marriage power property

tax time victory use work

4: Uncount nouns that end in -s

Some uncount nouns end in -s so they look like plurals even though they are singular nouns.
 These nouns generally refer to:

Subjects of study: mathematics, physics, economics, etc.

Activities: gymnastics, athletics, etc.

Games: cards, darts, billiards, etc.

Diseases: mumps, measles, rabies, etc.

Economics is a very difficult subject.

Billiards is easier than pool or snooker.

5: Group nouns

Some nouns, like army, refer to groups of people, animals or things, and we can use them either as
singular nouns or as plural nouns.

army audience committee company crew enemy

family flock gang government group herd

media public regiment staff team

We can use these group nouns either as singular nouns or as plural nouns:

My family is very dear to me.

I have a large family. They are very dear to me. (= The members of my family…)
The government is very unpopular.
The government are always changing their minds.

Sometimes we think of the group as a single thing:

 The audience always enjoys the show.

 The group consists of two men and three women.

Sometimes we think of the group as several individuals;

 The audience clapped their hands.
 The largest group are the boys.

The names of many organisations and teams are also group nouns, but they are usually plural in spoken
English:

 Barcelona are winning 2-0.

 The United Oil Company are putting prices up by 12%.

6: Two-part nouns

A few plural nouns, like binoculars, refer to things that have two parts.

glasses jeans knickers pincers pants pliers

pyjamas scissors shorts spectacles tights trainers

trousers tweezers

These binoculars were very expensive

Those trousers are too long.

To make it clear we are talking about one of these items, we use a pair of …

I need a new pair of spectacles.

I’ve bought a pair of blue jeans.

If we want to talk about more than one, we use pairs of … :

We’ve got three pairs of scissors, but they are all blunt.
I always carry two pairs of binoculars.