Formation of plural nounsBY JULLIA KIT ESTRADA

The plural noun is generally formed by adding-sto the singular.Cow (singular), cows (plural)Boy, boysGirl, girlsBOOK, booksTree, treesDog, dogsPen, pensNouns ending in-s, -sh, -chor-xform the plural by adding-esto the singular.Class (singular), classes (plural)Brush, brushesKiss, kissesMatch, matchesDish, dishesMost nouns ending in-oalso form their plural by adding-esto the singular.Mango (singular), mangoes (plural)Hero, heroesPotato, potatoesVolcano, volcanoesNote that a few nouns ending in-omerely add-s.Dynamo (singular), dynamos (plural)Piano, pianosPhoto, photosLogo, logosKilo, kilosNouns ending in a consonant + y form their plural by changing -y into -i and adding -es.Baby (singular), babies (plural)Lady, ladiesCity, citiesStory, storiesThe following nouns ending in -f or -fe form their plural by changing -f or -fe into v and adding -es.Thief (singular), thieves (plural)Wife, wivesLeaf, leavesHalf, halvesSelf, selvesCalf, calvesLoaf, loavesKnife, knivesElf, elvesWolf, wolvesShelf, shelvesMost other nouns ending in -f or -fe add -s.Chief (singular), chiefsGulf, gulfsSafe, safesProof, proofsA few nouns form their plural by making some changes to inside vowels.Foot (singular), feet (plural)Man, menWoman, womenTooth, teethMouse, miceGoose, geese

PLURAL FORMS OF NOUNBY JULLIA KIT ESTRADA

I. Regular pluralsThe regular plural is formed by adding the suffix -s to the singular: e.g.cat cats, table tables.II. Irregular plurals1. Nouns in -ss, -sh, -ch, -xNouns ending in-ss, -sh, -ch, -xform their plural by adding-es:e.g. glass glasses, dish dishes, peach peaches, box boxes.2. Nouns in -oNouns ending in-oform their plural by adding-esif they are used frequently they have been introduced into English early:e.g. tomato tomatoes, hero heroesThey add-sonly if they are of foreign origin or abbreviated words:e.g. bamboo bamboos, kilo kilos.A number of nouns ending in-ocan take both-sand-es:e.g. tornado tornados or tornadoes, motto mottos or mottoes.3. Nouns in -yNouns ending in-ypreceded by a consonant form their plural by changing-yinto-iand adding-es:e.g. fly flies, country countries.Nouns ending in-ypreceded by a vowel form their plural by adding-sonly:e.g. boy boys, journey journeys.4. Nouns in -f or -feThe following nouns ending in -f or -fe form their plural by changing the -f into -adding -es:e.g. calf calves, wife wives. These are the following nouns:calf, life, shelf, half, loaf, thief, knife, self, wife, leaf, sheaf, wolfSome nouns ending in -f can either take -s or change the -f into -v- and add -ese.g. dwarf dwarfs or dwarves scarf scarfs or scarves.Other nouns ending in -f or -fe form their plural in the regular way:e.g. handkerchief handkerchiefs, fife fifes.5. MutationThe following nouns form their plural by a vowel change:foot feet, louse lice, man men, goose geese, mouse mice, woman women, tooth teeth6. The -en pluralThe following nouns form their plural by adding -en to the singular:brother brethren (i.e. 'fellow members of a religious society') child children ox oxen.7. Foreign nounsWords of foreign origin often form their plural according to the rules of a specific language:a) Latin: stimulus stimuli, larva larvae, curriculum curricula, codex codices.b) Greek: basis bases, criterion criteria.c) French: bureau - beueauxd) Italian: tempo - tempiHowever, foreign plurals sometimes occur along with regular plurals:e.g. index indices, indexes , antenna antennae, antennas, which indicate two different meanings or only the regular plural is used:e.g. album albums, metropolis metropolises.8. Zero pluralSome nouns do not have a separate plural form:a) the names of certain animals, birds, and fish: e.g. sheep, grouse, troutA sheep is a grass-eating animal.Sheep are kept for their flesh as food and for their wool.b) nouns denoting people of one nationality and ending in -ese or -ss:e.g. Vietnamese, SwissYesterday I met a Vietnamese.The Vietnamese are natives of Vietnam.c) craft (meaning 'boat') and aircraft:e.g. I have a handy and useful little craft.You can see all kinds of craft in the harbour.d) definite numbers and measurements:e.g. two hundred years, two score eggsbut indefinite numbers and measurements take the plural form:e.g. hundreds of years, kilos of oranges.Note that the form five kilos of oranges is also used.e) offspring occurs with a singular verb if it refers to one human or animal and it is followed by a plural verb if it refers to more than one:e.g. Their offspring is extremely intelligent. Their offspring are all slightly stupid.9. Compoundsa) The final element of compounds is usually pluralized:e.g. breakdown breakdowns, bookcase bookcases.b) In compounds whose first element is man or woman both elements are made plural:e.g. gentleman farmer gentlemen farmers woman doctor women doctors.c) Compounds consisting of countable nouns and prepositions or prepositional phrases take the plural inflection on nouns:e.g. passer-by passers-by, mother-in-law mothers-in-law. d) Compounds formed by verbs or adjectives and prepositions take the plural at the end:eg.take-off take-offs, grown-up grown-ups.e) Compounds (typical of legal English) consisting of countable nouns and lake the plural inflexion on nouns:e.g. attorney general attorneys general, notary public notaries publicbut it is also possible to have alternative forms:e.g. court-martials, postmaster-generalsf) Nouns ending in -ful become plural in two ways:e.g. spoonful spoonfuls, handful handfuls or handsful.g) Compounds whose last element is a mass noun do not form the plural:e.g. sunshine,HOMEWORK.10) Proper nounsOnly surnames can be used in the plural and then they denote a family. Such plurals are formed by adding -s:e.g. Mr. and Mrs. Brown = the BrownsMr. and Mrs. Crosby = the Crosbysexcept for names ending in a sibilant as in Mr. and Mrs. James = the Jameses, where -es in added.Rules in forming the plural of nouns. The spelling rules of plural nouns.General rulesRegular spellingSingularPlural

'-s' in most casescatcats

tubtubs

dogdogs

househouses

'-es' when a noun ends with:-opotatopotatoes

tomatotomatoes

-ssclassclasses

-xboxboxes

-chwatchwatches

-shbushbushes

WARNING:words of foreign origin take '-s'-odynamodynamos

kilokilos

kimonokimonos

photophotos

pianopianos

sopranosopranos

consonant + -y turns intoiescountrycountries

babybabies

flyflies

ladyladies

crycries

vowel + y takes '-s'-aydaydays

-eykeykeys

-oyboyboys

-uyguyguys

proper nounsFrythe Frys

Kennedythe Kennedys

nouns ending with -f / -fe-vesloafloaves

knifeknives

lifelives

calfcalves

leafleaves

shelfshelves

thiefthieves

wifewives

wolfwolves

halfhalves

wharfwharves

EXCEPTIONSchiefchiefs

cliffcliffs

handkerchiefhandkerchiefs

roofroofs

some nouns have both forms-s or -veshoofhoofs/ hooves

scarfscarfs/ scarves

dwarfdwarfs/ dwarves

nouns which change vowelsfootfeet

louselice

mousemice

womanwomen

goosegeese

manmen

toothteeth

childchildren

oxoxen

PLURAL NOUN FORMSBY JULLIA KIT ESTRADA

The plural form of most nouns is created simply by adding the letters. more than one snake = snakes more than one ski = skis more than one Barrymore = BarrymoresWords that end in-ch,x,sors-likesounds, however, will require an-esfor the plural: more than one witch = witches more than one box = boxes more than one gas = gases more than one bus = buses more than one kiss = kisses more than one Jones = JonesesNote that some dictionaries list "busses" as an acceptable plural for "bus." Presumably, this is because the plural "buses" looks like it ought to rhyme with the plural of "fuse," which is "fuses." "Buses" is still listed as the preferable plural form. "Busses" is the plural, of course, for "buss," a seldom used word for "kiss."There are several nouns that have irregular plural forms. Plurals formed in this way are sometimes calledmutated (or mutating) plurals. more than one child = children more than one woman = women more than one man = men more than one person = people more than one goose = geese more than one mouse = mice more than one barracks = barracks more than one deer = deerAnd, finally, there are nouns that maintain their Latin or Greek form in the plural. (See media and data and alumni, below.) more than one nucleus = nuclei more than one syllabus = syllabi more than one focus = foci more than one fungus = fungi more than one cactus = cacti (cactusesis acceptable) more than one thesis = theses more than one crisis = crises* more than one phenomenon = phenomena more than one index = indices (indexesis acceptable) more than one appendix = appendices (appendixesis acceptable) more than one criterion = criteria*Note the pronunciation of this word,crises: the second syllable sounds likeease.More than one base in the game of baseball isbases,but more than onebasisfor an argument, say, is alsobases,and then we pronounce the word basease.A handful of nouns appear to be plural in form but take a singular verb: The newsisbad. Gymnasticsisfun to watch. Economics/mathematics/statisticsissaid to be difficult. ("Economics" can sometimes be a plural concept, as in "The economics of the situationdemandthat . . . .")Numerical expressions are usually singular, but can be plural if the individuals within a numerical group are acting individually: Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money. One-half of the faculty is retiring this summer. One-half of the faculty have doctorates. Fifty percent of the students have voted already.And another handful of nouns might seem to be singular in nature but take a plural form and always use a plural verb: My pantsaretorn. (Nowadays you will sometimes see this word as a singular "pant" [meaning one pair ofpants]especially in clothing ads, but most writers would regard that as an affectation.) Her scissorswerestolen. The glasseshaveslipped down his nose again.When a noun names the title of something or is a word being used as a word, it is singular whether the word takes a singular form or not. Facesisthe name of the new restaurant downtown. Okies,which most people regard as a disparaging word,wasfirst used to describe the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s. Chelmsley Brothersisthe best moving company in town. Postcardsis my favorite novel. The termOkieswas used to describe the residents of Oklahoma during the 1930s. (In this sentence, the wordOkiesis actually an appositive for the singular subject, "term.")Plural Compound NounsCompound words create special problems when we need to pluralize them. As a general rule, the element within the compound that word that is pluralized will receive the plural -s, but it's not always that simple.Daughters-in-lawfollows the general rule, butcupfulsdoes not. See the special section onCompound Nouns and Modifiersor, better yet, a good dictionary, for additional help.Problem ChildrenMany careful writers insist that the wordsdataandmediaare Latin plurals and must, therefore, be used as plural words. The singular Latin forms of these words, however, are seldom used:datumas a single bit of information ormediumas a single means of communication. Many authorities nowadays approve sentences like My dataislost. and The mediaisout to get the President. Even textbooks in computer science are beginning to use "data" as a singular.Alumniandalumnaeremain problematic. The plural of masculine singularalumnusisalumni; the plural of feminine singularalumnaisalumnae.In traditional Latin, the masculine plural form,alumni,could include both genders. This does not go over well with some female alums. We note, furthermore, that Vassar College, which now has both, has lists of alumni and alumnae. Hartford College for Women, we assume, has only alumnae. In its publication style manual, Wesleyan University approves of alumni/ae. The genderlessgraduateand the truncated and informalalumhave much to commend them.Special CasesWith words that end in a consonant and ay,you'll need to change theyto aniand addes. more than one baby = babies more than one gallery = galleries(Notice the difference between this andgalleys,where the final y is not preceded by a consonant.) more than one reality = realitiesThis rule does not apply to proper nouns: more than one Kennedy = KennedysWords that end inocreate special problems. more than one potato = potatoes more than one hero = heroes. . .however. . . more than one memo = memos more than one cello = cellos. . .and for words where another vowel comes before theo. . . more than one stereo = stereosPlurals of words that end in-for-feusually change thefsound to avsound and addsor-es. more than one knife = knives more than one leaf = leaves more than one hoof = hooves more than one life = lives more than one self = selves more than one elf = elvesThere are, however, exceptions: more than one dwarf = dwarfs more than one roof = roofsWhen in doubt, as always, consult a dictionary. Some dictionaries, for instance, will list bothwharfsandwharvesas acceptable plural forms ofwharf.It makes for good arguments when you're playing Scrabble. The online version ofMerriam-Webster's WWWebster Dictionaryshould help.Collective Nouns, Company Names,Family Names, Sports TeamsThere are, further, so calledcollective nouns, which are singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole (which happens sometimes, but not often).audiencebandclasscommitteecrowddozenfamilyflockgroupheapherdjurykindlot[the] numberpublicstaffteam

Thus, if we're talking about eggs, we could say "A dozenisprobably not enough." But if we're talking partying with our friends, we could say, "A dozenarecoming over this afternoon." The jurydelivers itsverdict. [But] The jury came in and tooktheirseats. We could say the Tokyo String Quartetisone of the best string ensembles in the world, but we could say the Beatlesweresome of the most famous singers in history. Generally, band names and musical groups take singular or plural verbs depending on the form of their names: "The Mamas and the Papaswereone of the best groups of the 70s" and "Metallicaismy favorite band."Note that "the number" is a singular collective noun. "The numberof applicantsissteadily increasing." "Anumber," on the other hand, is a plural form: "There are several students in the lobby.A numberarehere to see the president."Collective nouns arecount nounswhich means they, themselves, can be pluralized: a university has several athleticteamsandclasses. And the immigrantfamilieskept watch over theirherdsandflocks.The word following the phraseone of the(as an object of the prepositionof) will always be plural. One of the reasonswe do this is that it rains a lot in spring. One of the studentsin thisROOMis responsible.Notice, though, that the verb ("is") agrees withone,which is singular, and not with the object of the preposition, which is always plural.When afamily name(a proper noun) is pluralized, we almost always simply add an "s." So we go to visit the Smiths, the Kennedys, the Grays, etc.When a family name ends ins, x, ch, sh,orz,however, we form the plural by added-es,as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes, the Bushes, the Rodriguezes. Donotform a family name plural by using an apostrophe; that device is reserved for creating possessive forms.When a proper noun ends in an "s" with a hard "z" sound, we don't add any ending to form the plural: "The Chambers are coming to dinner" (not the Chamberses); "The Hodges used to live here" (not the Hodgeses). There are exceptions even to this: we say "The Joneses are coming over," and we'd probably write "The Stevenses are coming, too." A modest proposal: women whose last names end in "s" (pronounced "z") should marry and take the names of men whose last names do not end with that sound, and eventually this problem will disappear.Thenames of companies and other organizationsare usually regarded as singular, regardless of their ending: "General Motorshasannounceditsfall lineup of new vehicles." Try to avoid the inconsistency that is almost inevitable when you think of corporate entities as a group of individuals: "General Motorshasannouncedtheirfall lineup of new vehicles." But note that some inconsistency is acceptable in all but the most formal writing: "Ford has announced its breakup with Firestone Tires.Theircars will no longer use tires built by Firestone." Some writers will use a plural verb when a plural construction such as "Associates" is part of the company's title or when the title consists of a series of names: "Upton, Vernon, and Gridleyaremoving to new law offices next week" or "Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego & Associateshavewon alltheircases this year." Singular verbs and pronouns would be correct in those sentences, also.Thenames of sports teams, on the other hand, are treated as plurals, regardless of the form of that name. We would write that "The Yankeeshavesigned a new third baseman" and "The Yankeesarea great organization" (even if we're Red Sox fans) and that "For two years in a row, the Utah Jazzhaveattempted to draft a big man." When we refer to a team by the city in which it resides, however, we use the singular, as in "Dallashasattempted to secure the services of two assistant coaches that Green Bayhopesto keep." (This is decidedly not a British practice. In the UK, the city or country names by which British newspapers refer to soccer teams, for example, are used as plurals a practice that seems odd and inconsistent to American ears: "A minute's silence will precede the game at Le Stadium today, when ToulouseplayMunster, and tomorrow at Lansdowne Road, when Leinsterattemptto reach their first European final by beating Perpignan" [report in the onlineLondon Times].)In a rare dictum-making mood, William Safire (inNo Uncertain Terms,2003) declares that pluralized names like Packers and Yankees should take plural verbs (obviously), but that team names like the Jazz, the Heat, the Lightning, the Connecticut Sun should take singular verbs. This dictum seems to prevail in Safire's ownNew York Times:"The [Miami] Heat, typical of its resilience at home,wasfar from through. " But just about everywhere else in the world of sports reporting, this is not the case. Even in theTimes, an AP report asserts that "The Heat, down 2-0 in the East Conference semifinal series,havewon 16 straight home games." TheBoston Globesays that "the [New England] Revolutionarereestablishingtheirreputation for resourcefulness and spirited play." and "the Heatwerein it in the first half." TheHartford Courantwrites that "When the Connecticut Sunplayan exhibition game tonight in Houston, coach Mike Thibault will have two more players." Finally, NBA Media Ventures writes that "The Utah Jazzwereexpected to follow the rebuilding mode ." [All quotations are from May 10th and 20th, 2004, online sources.)Plurals and ApostrophesWe usean apostrophe to create plural formsin two limited situations: for pluralized letters of the alphabet and when we are trying to create the plural form of a word that refers to the word itself. Here we also should italicize this "word as word," but not the 's ending that belongs to it. Donotuse the apostrophe+s to create the plural of acronyms (pronounceable abbreviations such as laser and IRA and URL*) and other abbreviations. (A possible exception to this last rule is an acronym that ends in "S": "We filed four NOS's in that folder.") Jeffrey got four A's on his last report card. Towanda learned very quickly to mind herp's andq's. You have fifteenand's in that last paragraph.Notice that we do not use an apostrophe-sto create the plural of a word-in-itself. For instance, we would refer to the "ins and outs" of a mystery, the "yeses and nos" of a vote (NYPLWriter's Guide to Style and Usage), and we assume that Theodore Bernstein knew what he was talking about in hisBOOKDos, Don'ts & Maybes of English Usage. We would also write "The shortstop made two spectacular outs in that inning." But when werefer toa word-as-a-word, we first italicize it I pointed out the use of the wordoutin that sentence. and if necessary, we pluralize it by adding the unitalicized apostrophe -s "In his essay on prepositions, Jose used an astonishing three dozenout's." This practice is not universally followed, and in newspapers, you would find our example sentence written without italics or apostrophe: "You have fifteen ands in that last paragraph."Some abbreviations have embedded plural forms, and there are often inconsistencies in creating the plurals of these words. The speed of an internal combustion engine is measured in "revolutionsper minute" orrpm(lower case) and the efficiency of an automobile is reported in "milesper gallon" ormpg(no "-s" endings). On the other hand, baseball players love to accumulate "runsbatted in," a statistic that is usually reported asRBIs(although it would not be terribly unusual to hear that someone got 100RBIlast year and some baseball commentators will talk about "ribbies," too). Also, the U.S. military provides "mealsready to eat" and those rations are usually described asMREs(not MRE). When an abbreviation can be used to refer to a singular thing a run batted in, a meal ready-to-eat, a prisoner of war it's surely a good idea to form the plural by adding "s" to the abbreviation: RBIs, MREs, POWs. (Notice that no apostrophe is involved in the formation of these plurals. Whether abbreviations like these are formed with upper- or lower-case letters is a matter of great mystery; only your dictionary editor knows for sure.)Notice, furthermore, that we donotuse an apostrophe to create plurals in the following: The1890sin Europe are widely regarded as years of social decadence. I have prepared1099sfor the entire staff. Rosa and her brother have identicalIQs, and they both havePhDsfrom Harvard. She has over 400URLs* in her bookmark file.Authority for this last paragraph:Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbookby Ann Raimes. Houghton Mifflin: New York. 1996.Singular Subjects, Plural Predicates, etc.We frequently run into a situation in which a singular subject is linked to a plural predicate: My favoritebreakfastiscereal with fruit, milk, orange juice, and toast.Sometimes, too, a plural subject can be linked to singular predicate: Mistakes in parallelism are the onlyproblemhere.In such situations, remember that the number (singular or plural) of the subject, not the predicate, determines the number of the verb. See the section onSubject-Verb Agreementfor further help.A special situation exists when a subject seems not to agree with its predicate. For instance, when we want each student to see his or her counselor (and each student is assigned to only one counselor), but we want to avoid that "his or her" construction by pluralizing, do we say "Students must see theircounselors" or "Students must see theircounselor"? The singularcounseloris necesssary to avoid the implication that students have more than one counselor apiece. Do we say "Many sons dislike theirfatherorfathers"? We don't mean to suggest that the sons have more than one father, so we use the singularfather.Theodore Bernstein, inDos, Don'ts and Maybes of English Usage, says that "Idiomatically the noun applying to more than one person remains in the singular when (a) it represents a quality or thing possessed in common ("The audience'scuriositywas aroused"); or (b) it is an abstraction ("The judges applied theirreasonto the problem"), or (c) it is a figurative word ("All ten children hada sweet tooth") (203). Sometimes good sense will have to guide you. We might want to say "Puzzled, the children scratched their head" to avoid the image of multi-headed children, but "The audience rose to their foot" is plainly ridiculous and about to tip over.In "The boys moved their car/cars," the plural would indicate that each boy owned a car, the singular that the boys (together) owned one car (which is quite possible). It is also possible that each boy owned more than one car. Be prepared for such situations, and consider carefully the implications of using either the singular or the plural. You might have to avoid the problem by going the opposite direction of pluralizing: moving things to the singular and talking about what each boy did.*The jury still seems to be out on whether URL (acronym for Uniform [or Universal] Resource Locator), the address of a Website on the World Wide Web, should be pronounced like the name of your UncleEarlor as a series of letters: U*R*L. The information technology experts at the college where I work use the "earl" pronunciation, and one would have to ask why you'd want to say "you-are-ell" when a simple "earl" would suffice. In either case, though, the plural of URL would be spelled URLs.The New York Times,by the way, would insist on U.R.L.'s because their style guide requires that everything be capitalized in headlines and URLS would look dumb in a headline. So use URLs unless you're writing for theNew York Times.