Download - GRAMMAR - PLURALS 002 - PLURALS
grammar - plurals & counts 002
PLURALS
Fill in the missing nouns and their plurals:
A ______
TWO ______
A ______
SEVEN ______
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ONE ______
FOUR ______
AN____
TWELVE _____ (OR A DOZEN ____)
SIX ______ (OR HALF-A-DOZEN ______)
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ONE ______
TWO ______
A CHICKEN ______
A PLATE OF ______
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AN______
MANY ______
ONE ______
SIX ______
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A ______
TWO ______
A _____
FOUR ______
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A _____
TWO _______
Answers:
A boat. Two boats.A carton. Seven Cartons. [Or, a box. Seven boxes]One child. Four children.An egg. Twelve eggs. [Or, a dozen eggs.]Six eggs. [Or, half-a-dozen eggs.]One ox. Two oxen.A chicken sandwich. A plate of sandwiches.An umbrella. Many umbrellas.One man. Six men.A woman. Two women.A ring. Four rings.A bus. Two buses.
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NOTICE: Where plural nouns end with an "s", "e" needs to be inserted only if the singular form end in "s", "sh", "ch", "z" or "x" all of which would lose their plural sounds in conversation without the extra syllable. But be aware that some words do not follow this rule: "oxen" uses "n" not "s" in plural form, whilst "foxes" is the plural of "fox" and for "index", the plural is "indices". "Men", "women" and "children" also behave atypically. Unfortunately no simple rules can be applied universally. The only way to know which is correct is to learn one word at a time. This is because English contains so many words of foreign origin, many having different plural rules.
As you can see, most nouns make their plurals by simply adding –s to the end (e.g. cat/cats, book/books, journey/journeys).
The main types of noun that do not are:
NOUNS THAT ARE THE SAME SINGULAR AND PLURALOne category more than any which can cause confusion are English words which have no distinction between singular and plural:
SINGULAR PLURALDEER DEER FISH FISHMEANS MEANSOFFSPRING OFFSPRINGPOLICE POLICESERIES SERIESSHEEP SHEEPSPECIES SPECIES
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NOUNS ENDING IN "-y"
If the noun ends with a consonant plus -y, the plural is formed by changing "-y" to "-ies":SINGULAR PLURAL
BERRY BERRIESACTIVITY ACTIVITIESDAISY DAISIES
Nouns ending with "-ch", "-s", "-sh", "-x", or "-z"
Add "-es" to form the plural:
SINGULAR PLURALCHURCH CHURCHESBUS BUSESFOX FOXES
NOTICE: There is one exception to this rule. Whenever the "-ch" ending is pronounced with a ‘k’ sound, you add "-s" instead of "-es":
SINGULAR PLURALSTOMACH STOMACHSEPOCH EPOCHS
NOUNS ENDING IN "-f" or "-fe"
Nouns that end in a consonant or a single vowel plus "-f " or "-fe", change the "-f" or "-fe" to "-ves" in their plural forms:
SINGULAR PLURALKNIFE KNIVES
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HALF HALVESSCARF SCARVES
Notice: nouns which end in two vowels plus "-f" usually form plurals in the normal way, with just an "-s":
SINGULAR PLURAL
CHIEF CHIEFSSPOOF SPOOFS
NOUNS ENDING IN "-o":
Nouns ending in "-o" can add either "-s" or "-es" in the plural, and some can be spelled either way.
As a general rule, most nouns ending in "-o" add "-s" to make the plural:
SINGULAR PLURALSOLO SOLOSZERO ZEROSAVOCADO AVOCADOS
Those which have a vowel before the final "-o" always just add "-s":
SINGULAR PLURALSTUDIO STUDIOSZOO ZOOSEMBRYO EMBRYOS
The most common nouns ending in "-o" that are always spelled with "-es" in the plural are listed below:
SINGULAR PLURALBUFFALO BUFFALOES
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DOMINO DOMINOESECHO ECHOESEMBARGO EMBARGOESHERO HEROESMOSQUITO MOSQUITOESPOTATO POTATOESTOMATO TOMATOESTORPEDO TORPEDOESVETO VETOES
These common nouns ending in "-o" can be spelled with either "-s" or "-es" in the plural:
SINGULAR PLURALBANJO BANJOS OR BANJOESCARGO CARGOS OR CARGOESFLAMINGO FLAMINGOS OR FLAMINGOESFRESCO FRESCOS OR FRESCOESGHETTO GHETTOS OR GHETTOESHALO HALOS OR HALOESMANGO MANGOS OR MANGOESMEMENTO MEMENTOS OR MEMENTOESMOTTO MOTTOS OR MOTTOESTORNADO TORNADOS OR TORNADOESTUXEDO TUXEDOS OR TUXEDOESVOLCANO VOLCANOS OR VOLCANOES
PLURALS OF FOREIGN NOUNS
The English language has absorbed words from many foreign sources, perhaps more than any other language. It continues to do so today. The plurals of foreign words which have come into English such as Latin or Greek often have two possible spellings: the foreign
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plural spelling and an English one. For example, you can spell the plural of "aquarium" (from Latin) as either "aquaria" (the Latin plural) or "aquariums" (the English plural).
WORDS OF LATIN ORIGIN
This is a list of some common words of Latin origin which can form plurals in two different ways:
WORD LATIN PLURAL ENGLISH PLURALANTENNA ANTENNAE ANTENNASAPPENDIX APPENDICES APPENDIXESCACTUS CACTI CACTUSESCURRICULUM CURRICULA CURRICULUMSFORMULA FORMULAE FORMULASINDEX INDICES INDEXESMILLENNIUM MILLENNIA MILLENNIUMSREFERENDUM REFERENDA REFERENDUMSSTADIUM STADIA STADIUMSTERMINUS TERMINI TERMINUSESTHESAURUS THESAURI THESAURUSESVORTEX VORTICES VORTEXES
NOTICE: There are a few Latin nouns in English which always form their plurals in the Latin way. These are usually scientific or technical terms. The most common ones are:
SINGULAR PLURALALGA ALGAEALUMNUS ALUMNAELARVA LARVAE
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WORDS OF GREEK ORIGIN
Nouns which end in "-is" usually come from Greek. Their plurals are made by changing the "-is" to "-es":
SINGULAR PLURAL
CRISIS CRISES
ANALYSIS ANALYSES
NEUROSIS NEUROSES
NOTICE: The plural form of "octopus" should always be "octopuses" and never "octopi". This is because the word was originally Greek, not Latin, and so the rules for Latin plurals don't apply.
WORDS OF FRENCH ORIGIN
Certain words of French origin have two possible plural forms: the original French plural and an English one. These words end in the letters "-eau", for example:
WORD FRENCH PLURAL ENGLISH PLURALBUREAU BUREAUX BUREAUSCHATEAU CHATEAUX CHATEAUSGATEAU GATEAUX GATEAUSTROUSSEAU TROUSSEAUX TROUSSEAUS
The English tend to use the French endings more often than Americans, who prefer to use the 'English' "-s".
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WORDS OF ITALIAN ORIGIN
Most Italian words which have come into English form their plurals with an "-s", as if they were English words. For example, the Italian plural of "cappuccino" is "cappuccini", but when the word is used in English, its plural form is "cappuccinos". Here are some more examples:
WORD ITALIAN PLURAL ENGLISH PLURALESPRESSO ESPRESSI ESPRESSOSPIZZA PIZZE PIZZASRISOTTO RISOTTI RISOTTOSFRESCO FRESCHI FRESCOS OR FRESCOES
NOTICE: A notable exception to this is the word "paparazzo", the plural form of which is "paparazzi" in English.
English has also taken over Italian words in their plural forms, typically these are the names for various kinds of pasta.
For example:"spaghetti"; "tagliatelle"; "tortellini"; "cannelloni"; "lasagne".
Although these words are already in their Italian plural forms, they can take an "-s" to form English plurals in certain contexts.
For example:"Table one have ordered three spaghettis and two cannellonis".
[Here, the meaning is ‘a dish or serving of spaghetti’ rather than ‘a kind of pasta’.]
Note that in British English, you should spell "lasagne" with an "-e" at the end. In American English it's spelled with an "-a" at the end, i.e. "lasagna" [which is the Italian singular form, though this is almost never used in Italian itself].
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Words that have come into English from foreign languages are known as loanwords. Some of these loanwords have developed plural (or singular) forms in English that are regarded as grammatically incorrect because they go against the grammar of the original language, nevertheless, they are in common currency.
Unlike many other languages, English evolves not by following an agreed set of rules, but through the argot that develops in daily speech. An understanding of these developments is essential to learning the language.
You have seen the rules by which IRREGULAR NOUNS take their plural forms. Below is a list of COMMON IRREGULAR NOUNS:
SINGULAR PLURAL A
addendum addenda
alga algae
alumna alumnae
alumnus alumni
analysis analyses
antenna antennas, antennae
apparatus apparatuses
appendix appendices, appendixes
axis axes
B
bacillus bacilli
bacterium bacteria
basis bases
beau beaux
bison bison
buffalo buffalos, buffaloes
bureau bureaus
bus busses, buses
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C
cactus cactuses, cacti
calf calves
child children
corps corps
corpus corpora, corpuses
crisis crises
criterion criteria
curriculum curricula
D
datum data
deer deer
die dice
dwarf dwarfs, dwarves
diagnosis diagnoses
E
echo echoes
elf elves
ellipsis ellipses
embargo embargoes
emphasis emphases
erratum errata
F
fireman firemen
fish fish, fishes
focus focuses
foot feet
formula formulas
fungus fungi, funguses
G
genus genera
goose geese
H
half halves
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hero heroes
hippopotamus hippopotami, hippopotamuses
hoof hoofs, hooves
hypothesis hypotheses
I
index indices, indexes
K
knife knives
L
leaf leaves
life lives
loaf loaves
louse lice
M
man men
matrix matrices
means means
medium media
memorandum memoranda
millennium millenniums, milennia
moose moose
mosquito mosquitoes
mouse mice
N
nebula nebulae ,nebulas
neurosis neuroses
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nucleus nuclei
O
oasis oases
octopus octopuses
ovum ova
ox oxen
P
paralysis paralyses
parenthesis parentheses
person people
phenomenon phenomena
potato potatoes
R
radius radii, radiuses
S
scarf scarfs, scarves
self selves
series series
sheep sheep
shelf shelves
scissors scissors
species species
stimulus stimuli
stratum strata
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syllabus syllabi, syllabuses
symposium symposia, symposiums
synthesis syntheses
synopsis synopses
T
tableau tableaux
that those
thesis theses
thief thieves
this these
tomato tomatoes
tooth teeth
torpedo torpedoes
V
vertebra vertebrae
veto vetoes
vita vitae
W
watch watches
wife wives
wolf wolves
woman women
Z
zero zeros, zeroes
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