7-1 Regular and Irregular Plural Nouns

(a) son g — s o n g s The plural of most nouns is

formed by adding final -s .*

(b) box— bo xes Final -es is added to nouns that

end in -sh, -ch, -s, -z, and - x *

(c) baby — b a b ie s T he plural of words that end in a

consonant + -y is spelled - ie s *

(d) m an — m en ox— oxen tooth — teeth T he nouns in (d) have irregular

wom an — wom en foot— feet mouse — m ice plural forms that do not end in -s.
child — c h ild re n goose — ge ese louse — lice

(e) echo — e ch o e s potato — p o ta to e s Som e nouns that end in -o add

hero — h e ro e s tomato — tom ato es -es to form the plural.

(f) auto — a u to s photo — p h o to s studio — s tu d io s Som e nouns that end in -o add

ghetto — g h e tto s
kangaroo — k a n g a ro o s
kilo— k ilo s
mem o — m e m o s
piano — p ia n o s
radio — ra d io s
solo — s o lo s
soprano — so p ra n o s
tatoo — ta to o s only -s to form the plural.
video — vid eo s
n o t e : W hen in doubt, use your
zoo — zo o s
dictionary or spellcheck.

(g) mem ento— m e m e n to e s /m e m e n to s volcano— vo lc a n o e s /v o lc a n o s Some nouns that end in -o add

mosquito— m o s q u ito e s /m o s q u ito s zero— z e ro e s/ze ro s either -es or -s to form the plural
tornado— to rn a d o e s /to rn a d o s (with -es being the more usual
plural form).

(h) calf— ca lv e s life— live s thief— thie ves Som e nouns that end in - f or -fe
half— h a lve s loaf— lo ave s wolf— w o lves are changed to -ves to form the
knife— k n iv e s self— se lve s scarf— s c a rv e s /s c a rfs plural.
leaf — le ave s shelf— sh e lve s

; ( i) belief— b e lie fs cliff— c liffs S om e nouns that end in - f simply

chief— c h ie fs roof— ro o fs add -s to form the plural.

(j) one deer — tw o d e e r one series — tw o se rie s Som e nouns have the sam e
one fish — tw o fis h * * one sheep — tw o she ep singular and plural form: e.g.,
one means— tw o m ea ns one shrimp — tw o s h rim p * * * One deer i s ___
one offspring — tw o o ffs p rin g one species — tw o sp e cie s Two deer a r e ___

(k) criterion — c rite ria (m) analysis — an alyses Som e nouns that English has
phenom enon — p h e n o m e n a basis — bases borrowed from other languages
crisis— crise s have foreign plurals.
|(1) bacterium — b a c te ria hypothesis — h yp o th e se s
curriculum — c u rric u la parenthesis — pa re n th e se s
datum — data thesis — theses
medium — m edia
m em orandum — m em o ra n d a

*F o r information about the pronunciation and spelling of words ending in -s l-e s , see Chart 6-1, p. 85.
**Fishes is also possible but rarely used.
***Especially in British English, but also occasionally in American English, the plural o f shrimp can be shrimps.

Nouns 101
□ Exercise 3. Game. (Chart 7-1)
Divide into teams of three to five members. The leader has paper and a pen. Use Chart 7-1
to list plural nouns that fit the given categories.
The team that comes up with the most words within the given time limit wins. Be ready
to explain a choice if another team questions it. Your teacher will decide if the word belongs
on the list.

Example: things that cause people physical problems

Te a m A L e a d e r w rite s : m osqu itoes, lice, torn adoes, au tos, e tc .
Te a m B: How do autos cause physical problems?
T ea m A : T h e y h it p e o p le .
T e a c h e r : We’ll accept autos o n the list.

M ake a list of:

1. things that you find in nature
2. things that you see every day
3. things in life that can be dangerous
4. things that you can hear

□ Exercise 4. Looking at spelling. (Chart 7-1)

Write the plural form of each word in the correct column. Some forms have two possible spellings.

/b e lie f /d e e r leaf photo tomato

box fish life potato video
chief /h e ro loaf scarf wolf
class kilo match sheep zoo
cloud /k n ife memo shelf

-s -es -v es no change

beliefs heroes knives d eer

102 CHAPTER 7
Exercise 5. Looking at grammar. (Chart 7-1)
Write the correct forms of the given nouns. Use each noun only one time.

attorney discovery /m a tch piano

beach laboratory medium phenomenon
box man ox /to o th
cliff

1. The baby has been crying and not sleeping well at night because she is getting her first
t e e th __________

2. I need some m a tch es______ to light the fire.

3. Studies are showing that ___________________ process information differently from

women.

4. Maria needed some legal advice for her businesses, so she contacted two

5. New scientific ___________________ are made every day in _______________________________

throughout the world.

6. The farmer loaded his cart with ___________________ o f fresh vegetables to take to market.
His cart was pulled by tw o ____________________

7. The north side o f the island has no ___________________ for people to walk on. There are
only s te e p ____________________ No one can climb these steep walls of rock.

8. The music building at the university has 27 ___________________ for students to play on.
Students need to sign up for practice times.

9. Thunder and lightning are ___________________ of nature.

10. People get most of their news about the world through the mass ____________________ , that
is, through radio, television, the internet, newspapers, and magazines.

Nouns 103