Definition
Noun is a word generally naming a person, place, or thing. It is either singular or plural.
The singular noun names only one place, person, or thing, while the plural noun names more than one person, place or thing.
There is a set of rules organizing the transformation from singular to plural nouns which can be introduced as following:
Rule (1)
To form the most plural nouns, we only add “-s” to the end of the singular nouns.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Flower Train Car spoon | Flowers Trains Cars spoons |
Rule (2)
The singular nouns end in "s","ss","sh","ch","x", we usually add "-es" at the end to form the plural.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Watch Bus Fox Flash | Watches Buses Foxes Flashes |
Rule (3)
To form the plural of the most singular nouns ending in "y" , we simply turn the "y" to "i" , and we add "-es" at the end.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Family Library City Lady | Families Libraries Cities Ladies |
Rule (4)
To form the plural of the singular nouns which have a vowel before the "y", we add an "-s" at the end.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Boy Day Cowboy Toy | Boys Days Cowboys Toys |
Rule (5)
For the singular nouns ending in "f", we can distinguish three cases:
- First: to form the plural of the singular nouns, we often turn "f" to "v", and add "-es" at the end.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Half Thief | Halves Thieves |
- second: sometimes, we only add "-s"to the end of some nouns in order to get the plural form.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Roof Cliff | Roofs Cliffs |
- Third: for some nouns, we have two possibilities either using the first or second technique while we operate the transformation from the singular to plural.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Dwarf Hoof | Dwarfs or Dwarfes Hoofs or Hoofes |
Rule (6)
To form the plural of the singular nouns ending in "fe", we often change "f" to "v", and add "-s" at the end.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Knife Wife Life | Knives Wives Lives |
Rule (7)
To form the plural of the singular nouns which end in "o", we can also distinguish three cases:
- first: we usually add "-s" to the end of the singular nouns.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Hero Tomato | Heros Tomatos |
- Second: with some singular nouns, we add "-es" at the end.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Hero Tomato | Heros Tomatos |
- Third: we can use either the first or the second technique with other some singular nouns to get the plural form.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Mango zero | Mangos or Mangoes Zeros or Zeroes |
Rule (8)
To form the plural of the singular nouns, we change the spelling.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Woman Man Foot | Women Men Feet |
Rule (9)
We keep the same form of some nouns while we transform them to plural.
Example:
Nouns | |
Singular | Plural |
Sheep Bison Deer | Sheep Bison Deer |
Exercises
1) Turn the following singular nouns into plural
student- example- comb- noun- cloth- business- mongoose- virus- box- peach.
2) Put the following singular nouns under their suitable head to get the correct plural form
key- monkey- family- city- tray- lorry- trolley- chimney- fly- butterfly.
Nouns | |
-s | -ies |
3) Mention the singular form of the following plural nouns
analyses- moose- fishes- oxen- dice- leaves- children- people- data- staff- mosquitos.
Answer key
Exercise (1)
students- examples- combs- nouns- cloths- businesses- mongooses- viruses- boxes- peaches.
Exercise (2)
"-s": key- monkey- tray- trolley- chimney.
"ies": family- city- lorry- fly- butterfly
Exercise (3)
analysis- moose- fish- ox- dice- leaf- child- person- data- staff- mosquito.
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