In our previous article, we discussed noun numbers first part. We were able to see the three key methods of changing singular nouns to plural nouns. We also discussed these methods one after the other with examples. Hence, in this particular post, we will proceed to see the noun numbers part 2 in English grammar.
Most nouns as we learned make their plural by adding “S” to the singular. But there are some that make their plural differently.
So, in this part, we are going to see the five different rules that guide changing singular nouns to plural nouns considering the last letters of the words.
Rules That Guide Changing Singular Nouns To Plural Nouns
Below are the Five rules and their examples;
1. Nouns that end in “SH” “CH” “X” and some that end in “S” make their plurals by adding “ES”
For examples:
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Brush Brushes Watch Watches
Box Boxes Fox Foxes
Church Churches Loss Losses
Bus Buses Pass Passes
Gas Gases
2. Some nouns that end in “O” form their plurals by adding “ES”
For examples
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Tomato Tomatoes Cargo Cargoes
Hero Heroes Mosquito Mosquitoes
Potato Potatoes Motto Mottoes
[Under this category, there are one or two words that disobey this rule such as; Piano and Biro that just add “S”]
3. Nouns that end in “F” or “Fe” generally make their plurals by changing the “F” or Fe” to “Ves”
For examples;
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Leaf Leaves Wife Wives
Half Halves Knife Knives
Wolf Wolves Thief Thieves
Hoof Hooves Life Lives
[Also, a few words under this category disobeys the rule of changing “F” or “Fe” by just adding “S” after the last letter. E.g., Roof, Chief, Belief, Proof, Safe.]
ALSO READ: Noun Numbers Part 1 – Parts Of Speech In English Grammar
4. There are some nouns that end in “Y” that make their plural by changing the “Y” into “ies”
For examples;
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Baby Babies Army Armies
Lady Ladies City Cities
Fly Flies Body Bodies
[However, not all nouns that end in “Y” make their plural by changing the “Y” to “ies”. They only do so when consonants (b, d, l, m, etc.) comes before the “Y”. When a “Y” comes after a vowel in a word, that word only adds “S” to make it plural. E.g., Guy — Guys. Boy — Boys. Play — Plays. Lay — Lays].
5. Last but not least is a small number of nouns that don’t follow any of these rules, and these are words that you meet quite often. Some of them fall in the method of changing the root vowels while some fall in the method of adding a suffix as we talked about in our previous article.
For Examples;
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Man Men Tooth Teeth
Woman Women Louse Lice
Child Children Mouse Mice
Foot Feet Sheep Sheep
Ox Oxen Crisis Crises
Thesis Theses Oasis Oases
Deer Deer
On the other hand, there are some nouns that have no corresponding singulars
For instance;
Amends Antipodes Spectacles
Annals Scissors Oats
Assets Thanks Premises
Nuptials Vespers
Also, there are other nouns that have two plurals
For examples;
Brother *Brothers [By Blood]
*Brethren [Of a society or church]
Cloth *Cloths [Kinds of cloth]
*Clothes [Garments]
Die *Dies [Stamps for coin etc.]
*Dice [For gaming]
Index *Indexes [To books]
*Indices [Signs in algebra]
That’s it! However, before we draw the curtain for the noun numbers part 2, here are some exercises to keep your mind refreshed on the lessons you learned above!
EXERCISES ON NOUN NUMBERS PART 2
1. Change the following sentences from singular to plural. [Hint: Note that as a (eg., a knife) means one knife, there is no ‘a’ in plurals. The simplest plural in such cases is formed by changing ‘a’ to ‘some’.]
(a). The boy had a knife
(b). The child came into the room
(b). The man looked on the shelf
(c). A bird sang on the branch of a tree
(d). The foot of the deer crushed the flower
(e). The donkey ran down the street
2. Change the following sentences from plural to singular. [Hint: Note that each singular noun must have ‘a’ or ‘the’ in front of it.]
(a). The nurses bathed the babies
(b). The boys had pencils
(c). Monkeys ate the bananas
(d). The women told the children stories
(e). The babies laughed at the children.
Good luck and stay tuned for our next lessons!