12 Plural Nouns formation
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Introduction
Nouns refer to a person, place, thing, event, substance or quality.
Plural form is used to indicate that there is more than one person, animal, place or thing.
Form
Plural nouns can be formed from singular forms by just adding a suffix. The various cases of the formation of plurals are:
Regular
The plural of the regular nouns are formed by just adding -s to the singular forms.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| car | cars |
| classmate | classmates |
| table | tables |
| teacher | teachers |
| student | students |
Irregular
The plural of the nouns can be formed differently, depending on the suffix of the singular form. The various cases of the formation of the plural, grouped according to their suffix, are:
- Nouns with suffix -ch, -s, -sh, -x or -z: add -es.
| – | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| -ch | witch | witches |
| -s | boss | bosses |
| -sh | bush | bushes |
| -x | box | boxes |
| -z | quiz | quizzes |
- Nouns with suffix -y: change -y- to -i- and add -es.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| baby | babies |
| city | cities |
| daisy | daisies |
- Nouns with suffix -fe or -f: change -f(e) to -v and add –(e)s.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| life | lives |
| wife | wives |
| wolf | wolves |
Example
Regular
- Student ⇒ Peter and Eva are students.
Irregular
Nouns with suffix -ch, -s, -sh -x or -z
- Witch ⇒ Witches are not always scary.
- Boss ⇒ Nobody likes Mondays, not even bosses.
- Bush ⇒ I like these bushes in spring.
- Box ⇒ We have 10 boxes.
- Quiz ⇒ Friday is time for quizzes.
Nouns with suffix -y
- Story ⇒ He tells me some stories.
Nouns with suffix -fe or -f
- Wife ⇒ They are wives.
- Wolf ⇒ We saw many wolves at the zoo.
Use
We use the singular when there is only one thing; we use the plural when there are two things or more than two. We usually use the plural just with countable nouns (amount of the things that can be counted with numbers).
Uncountable nouns do not follow the rules of plural formation.
Summary
The plural of the nouns can be formed differently, depending on the suffix of singular nouns. In most cases, we only have to add an -s to the end.
For example:
— “One cup.” ⇒ “Three cups.” = We add -s at the end of the noun.
However, there are some irregularities about plural formation, depending on the ending of nouns.
For example:
— With suffixes -ch, -s, -sh, -x or -z: “One fox.” ⇒ “Two foxes.” = We add -es to the noun.
— With suffix -y: “One lady.” ⇒ “Two ladies.” = We change -y to -i and add -es.
— With suffixes -fe or -f: “One life.” ⇒ “Two lives.” = We change -f- to -v- and add -es (in some cases we just add an -s).
Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.
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