Form and use plurals: review

Key Notes :

What is a Plural?

• Plural means more than one.
• Example:
  • 1 cat 🐱 → 2 cats 🐱🐱
  • 1 book 📖 → 3 books 📖📖📖

Regular Plural Rules ✅

1. Most nouns: add -s
   • dog → dogs 🐶🐶
   • chair → chairs 🪑🪑
2. Nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, sh: add -es
   • box → boxes 📦📦
   • brush → brushes 🖌️🖌️
3. Nouns ending in y:
   • Consonant + y → change y → i + -es
     • baby → babies 👶👶
   • Vowel + y → just add -s
     • key → keys 🔑🔑
4. Nouns ending in f or fe: often change f → v + -es
   • leaf → leaves 🍃🍃
   • knife → knives 🔪🔪
     (Some just add -s: roof → roofs 🏠🏠)

Irregular Plurals ❗

• Some nouns don’t follow rules. You have to remember them:
  • man → men 👨👨
  • woman → women 👩👩
  • child → children 🧒🧒
  • foot → feet 🦶🦶
  • tooth → teeth 😁😁
  • mouse → mice 🐭🐭

Plurals of Foreign Words 🌍

• Words from Latin or Greek sometimes change differently:
  • cactus → cacti 🌵🌵
  • criterion → criteria ✅
  • fungus → fungi 🍄🍄

Use of Plurals in Sentences ✏️

• Always match plural nouns with plural verbs:
  • The dogs are barking 🐶🐶.
  • The children play in the park 🧒🧒.
• Some nouns are always plural:
  • scissors ✂️, pants 👖, glasses 👓
  • Example: The scissors are on the table.

Common Mistakes to Avoid ❌

1. Adding -s to uncountable nouns: wrong: furnitures ✅ correct: furniture
2. Using singular verb with plural noun: wrong: The cats is cute ✅ correct: The cats are cute
3. Forgetting irregular plurals: wrong: childs ✅ correct: children

Quick Tips 💡

• If a noun is countable, it can have a plural form.
• If a noun is uncountable, it usually doesn’t have a plural.
• Memorize irregular plurals – they appear a lot in writing & reading.