In English, nouns can be categorized based on whether they refer to one item or multiple items. This is known as the concept of numbers.
There are two types of numbers in English:
1. Singular Number: Any noun that stands for only one person or thing is said to be in the singular number; e.g., chair, man, pencil, glass, book etc.
2. Plural Number: Any noun that stands for more than one person or thing is said to be in the plural number; e.g., chairs, men, pencils, glasses, books, etc.
Note: While most nouns can be made plural, some nouns are uncountable and do not have a plural form.
The following rules are used to change singular nouns into plural ones:
1. Most nouns form their plurals by adding –s to the singular:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
chair | chairs | horse | horses |
book | books | king | kings |
ribbon | ribbons | girl | girls |
rose | roses | apple | apples |
flower | flowers | tiger | tigers |
door | doors | gun | guns |
bottle | bottles | rod | rods |
2. By adding –es to nouns ending in –s, –ss, –x, –sh, –ch:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
glass | glasses | bush | bushes |
gas | gases | brush | brushes |
ass | asses | bench | benches |
box | boxes | church | churches |
fox | foxes | watch | watches |
Note: When ‘ch’ has the sound of ‘k’, the plural is formed by adding ‘s’, not ‘es’; as
Stomach – stomachs
monarch – monarchs
3. By changing –y into –ies when a noun ends in –y and the –y has a consonant before it:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
army | armies | fly | flies |
baby | babies | story | stories |
lady | ladies | reply | replies |
country | countries | duty | duties |
city | cities | diary | diaries |
fairy | fairies | lily | lilies |
4. By adding –s when a noun ends in –y and the –y has a vowel before it:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
boy | boys | monkey | monkeys |
day | days | ray | rays |
donkey | donkeys | toy | toys |
key | keys | valley | valleys |
5. Nouns ending in –f or –fe form their plurals by changing –f or –fe into–ves:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
calf | calves | knife | knives |
half | halves | thief | thieves |
shelf | shelves | wolf | wolves |
leaf | leaves | wife | wives |
Note: However, the following nouns form their plurals by simply adding –s to the singular:
chief – chiefs
gulf – gulfs
proof – proofs
roof – roofs
6. Nouns ending in –o form their plurals by adding –es to the singular:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
buffalo | buffaloes | mango | mangoes |
cargo | cargoes | mosquito | mosquitoes |
hero | heroes | tomato | tomatoes |
Note: But there are some exceptions:
photo – photos
piano – pianos
7. By changing the inside vowels:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
foot | feet | woman | women |
goose | geese | mouse | mice |
tooth | teeth | louse | lice |
man | men | radius | radii |
8. By adding –en to the singular:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
brother | brothers | ox | oxen |
brethren | |||
child | children |
9. By adding –s to the principal word in compound nouns:
Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural |
brother-in-law | brothers-in-law | father-in-law | fathers-in-law |
looker-on | lookers-on | major-general | major-generals |
passer-by | passers-by | washer-man | washer-men |
10. Some nouns have the same form in both the numbers; e.g.,
deer, dozen, fish, score, sheep
11. Some nouns are used only in plural number; e.g.,
cattle, socks, shoes, scissors, spectacles, trousers, measles
12. Some nouns are used only in singular number; e.g.,
furniture, news, innings, scenery, economics, politics, summons
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