Irregular Nouns in the Plural / English Grammar Forming Rules
What are Irregular Plural Nouns?
Irregular plural nouns are irregular nouns in plural form. An irregular noun becomes plural by changing its spelling in other ways than adding an “s” or “es” to the end of the word. This change can happen in different ways. Below are examples and rules that you are going to learn and understand with ways in forming irregular nouns to plural form. This lesson also provides list of irregular nouns with plural forms.
To start with, we are going to start with the easy one, let’s look at the regular noun, and the basic rule is that we simply add -s to the end of a noun to make it plural.
Watch the video here to view the full discussion on irregular nouns with their plural form.
Example of regular nouns in its plural form:
Singular plural
flower ” flowers
road ” roads
table ” tables
map ” maps
bridge ” bridges
and many more…
The first exception to the rule, the first type of irregular now is a group of nouns which end in –ch, –sh, –s (or “-s sound), –x or –z; for all of these nouns in the plural we form a plural by adding -es.
Another forms of plural nouns by adding “es” by the end of the word:
Singular plural
bunch ” bunches
class ” classes
box ” boxes
crash ” crashes
fox ” foxes
grass ” grasses
bush ” bushes
and many more…
All of these nouns have the same rule, simply take the singular form and in the plural we add –es, so there is an extra syllable when we pronounce and you hear it.
If a noun end in a consonant then a letter y change the y to i and add –es.
Singular plural
lady ” ladies
army ” armies
beauty ” beauties
country ” countries
family ” families
duty ” duties
and many more…
If a noun ends in a vowel then a letter y add –s
Singular plural
key ” keys
guy ” guys
turkey ” turkeys
essay ” essays
toy ” toys
and many more…
If a noun end in –f of –fe; change the -f or -fe to –ves;
Singular plural Singular plural
calf ” calves wife ” wives
life ” lives wolf ” wolves
scarf ” scarves hoof ” hooves
loaf ” loaves shelf ” shelve
knife ” knives leaf ” leaves
half ” halves thief ” thieves
For most of the nouns ending in –f or –fe just add –s:
roof ” roofs
giraffe ” giraffes
and many more…
Irregular Nouns in their Plural Form:
- Nouns ending in –o; add -s or ending in a consonant + o:
Singular plural
radio ” radios
zoo ” zoos
- Irregular nouns add -es
Singular plural
potato ” potatoes
tomato ” tomatoes
hero ” heroes
echo ” echoes
veto ” vetoes
torpedo ” torpedoes
embargo ” embargoes
buffalo ” buffaloes
domino ” dominoes
mosquito ” mosquitoes
All the others:
- Some of them we must only add –s:
- the others we can choose to add –s or –es
- We will add –s to all the others (EASY!)
Singular plural
casino ” casinos
photo ” photos
solo ” solos
volcano ” volcanos
tornado ” tornados
And many more…
Foreign nouns
Nouns ending in –us, change –us to –I;
Singular plural
fungus ” fungi
nucleus ” nucli
alumnus ” alumni
cactus ” cacti
radius ” radii
Nouns ending in -is; replace –is to –es;
Singular plural
axis ” axes (Latin)
analysis ” analyses (Greek)
crisis ” crises (Greek)
diagnosis ” diagnoses (Greek)
hypothesis ” hypotheses (Greek)
thesis ” theses (Greek)
Nouns ending in -ix or -ex; replace with –ices;
Singular Plural
appendix ” appendices (Latin)
matrix ” matrices (Latin)
index ” indices (Latin)
vertex ” vertices (Latin)
Irregular nouns
For a variety of historical reasons, some words change in spelling substantially when made plural.
Singular plural
mouse ” mice
foot ” feet
child ” children
man ” men
woman ” women
person ” people
tooth ” teeth
ox ” oxen
goose ” geese
Irregular Nouns That Do Not Change At All When Made Plural
Some English nouns are identical in both the singular and the plural forms. Many of these are names for animals.
Singular plural
sheep ” sheep
shrimp ” shrimp
deer ” deer
fish ” fish
deer ” deer
swine ” swine
aircraft ” aircraft
spacecraft ” spacecraft
watercraft ” watercraft
So, you’ve just learned the rules of Irregular Plural nouns on how to change from singular to plural, simply learned the rules and use them correctly.
Downloadable Material
Here’s the downloadable material of Tutorial on Irregular Nouns in the Plural here.
For more readings
- Quiet or quite / Confusing English words
- Expressing PREFERENCES: English Lesson
- Comparing Things with “AS” / English Grammar
- Comparative Adjectives – English Grammar Lesson
- Adjectives in English Grammar – Position in a Sentence
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