English
Nouns and PluralsA noun refers to a person, place, or thing.
| doctor |
Robert |
| church |
Moscow |
| assistance |
Islam |
A noun can be singular or plural. A singular noun is one of something and
a plural noun is two or more.
General Rule: In English, the plural form of most nouns is formed by adding -s to the
singular form.
| book |
books |
| idea |
ideas |
| toy |
toys |
| village |
villages |
| choice |
choices |
Exceptions:
Nouns ending in -s, -x, -sh,
or -ch form the plural by adding -es.
| lens |
lenses |
| kiss |
kisses |
| tax |
taxes |
| dish |
dishes |
| church |
churches |
Note:
When the plural requires -es another syllable
is added to the noun. For example, the word book and its plural
books each have one syllable. But the word
dish has one syllable
while the plural dishes has two syllables.
Singular nouns ending in -y
preceded by a consonant change the -y to -i
and adding -es.
| city |
cities |
| fly |
flies |
| itinerary |
itineraries |
Note that nouns ending in -y preceded by a vowel form the
plural by adding -s, like the general rule.
Singular nouns ending in -o
preceded by a consonant generally form the plural by adding -es.
| hero |
heroes |
| potato |
potatoes |
| zero |
zeroes |
Note: In this case, the number of syllables doesn't change.
Some exceptions:
| halo |
halos |
| kilo |
kilos |
| piano |
pianos |
| taco |
tacos |
Singular nouns ending in -f or -fe
generally form the plural by changing the -f to -v and
adding -s or -es.
| leaf |
leaves |
| thief |
thieves |
| knife |
knives |
| wife |
wives |
Nouns that have -oo often become -ee in
the plural.
| tooth |
teeth |
| foot |
feet |
| goose |
geese |
Nouns that end in -us become
plural by changing to -i.
| cactus |
cacti |
| radius |
radii |
| focus |
foci |
Finally, here are three important irregular plurals.
| child |
children |
| woman |
women |
| man |
men |
Quiz - Nouns and Plurals
Definite Article
Indefinite Article
Learn English
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