Form and use plurals: review

Key Notes :

Regular Plural Forms:

• Most nouns form their plural by adding -s or -es.
• For nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z, add -es (e.g., box → boxes, church → churches).
• If a noun ends in -f or -fe, change the ending to -ves (e.g., leaf → leaves, wife → wives).

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Irregular Plurals:

• Some nouns have irregular plural forms that do not follow the standard rules (e.g., man → men, child → children, tooth → teeth).
• Nouns that end in -us often change to -i (e.g., cactus → cacti).
• Nouns that end in -is change to -es (e.g., analysis → analyses).

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Nouns Ending in -y:

• If the noun ends in a consonant + -y, change the -y to -ies (e.g., baby → babies).
• If the noun ends in a vowel + -y, simply add -s (e.g., key → keys).

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Nouns Ending in -o:

• Nouns ending in a consonant + -o usually add -es (e.g., tomato → tomatoes, hero → heroes).
• For nouns ending in a vowel + -o, add -s (e.g., radio → radios).

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Nouns with Same Singular and Plural Forms:

• Some nouns have the same form for both singular and plural (e.g., sheep, deer, fish).

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Compound Nouns:

• For compound nouns, pluralize the primary word (e.g., mother-in-law → mothers-in-law, passerby → passersby).

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Collective Nouns:

• Collective nouns refer to a group but are singular in form. They can be singular or plural depending on context (e.g., team, family, class).

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Foreign Plurals:

• Nouns borrowed from other languages often keep their original plural forms (e.g., phenomenon → phenomena, criterion → criteria).

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Usage in Sentences:

• Ensure subject-verb agreement with plural nouns (e.g., The books are on the table).
• Use appropriate determiners and quantifiers with plural nouns (e.g., many, several, a few).

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Possessive Forms:

• To show possession with plural nouns, add an apostrophe after the -s (e.g., the teachers’ lounge, the cats’ toys).