Nouns: Singular Nouns v. Plural Nouns
Nouns represent people, places, and things.
Singular nouns refer to one person, one place, or one thing.
teacher, city, apple
Plural nouns refer to more than one person, more than one place, or more than one thing.
teachers, cities, apples
Typically, we make plural nouns by adding -s to the end of a word.
apes, bottles, calculators, Cheerios, phones
But, of course, this is English, so there are some exceptions:
Some plural nouns are formed by:
| Irregular Rule: | Examples: |
| add s to the nouns ending in a vowel and a y | boy$\rightarrow$ boy+s = boys tray$\rightarrow$ tray+s = trays |
| adding es to nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, and sh | fox$\rightarrow$ fox+es = foxes witch$\rightarrow$ witch+es = witches splash$\rightarrow$ splash+es = splashes |
| change the y to an i and adding es if the noun ends with a consonant and a y | family$\rightarrow$ family-y + ies = families city$\rightarrow$ city-y + ies = cities |
| add s to the nouns ending in a vowel and o. | video $\rightarrow$ video + s = videos radio $\rightarrow$ radio + s = radios |
| add es to nouns ending in a consonant and o. | hero $\rightarrow$ hero + es = heroes potato $\rightarrow$ potato + es = potatoes |
add a ves to nouns ending in f or fe | leaf $\rightarrow$ leaf -f +ves = leaves elf $\rightarrow$ elf - f + ves = elves |
| Some nouns completely change their spelling. | mouse $\rightarrow$ mice goose $\rightarrow$ geese cactus $\rightarrow$ cacti octopus $\rightarrow$ octopi |