What are plurals and examples?

Plurals are forms of nouns that refer to more than one. For example, "one dog" uses a singular form dog , while "three dogs" uses the plural form dogs.

Plurals are forms of words (usually nouns) that refer to multiple items of the nouns being discussed. For example, tables , violinists , corpora and data are all plural forms of nouns.

How do you use plural?

You can use the term "plural" in a sentence to refer to something that is 'more than one.' "Plural" also describes forms of nouns that refer to more than one of their namesake.

What is a plural in a sentence example?

The singular noun leaf is altered to leaves for its plural form. An example of the plural form in a sentence could be: The leaves were falling from the trees quickly now that the summer was over.

What are the different types of plurals?

Plural nouns can be separated into either regular or irregular plurals. Regular plural nouns occur when an -S is added onto the singular form. Irregular plural nouns are divided into different categories depending on the ending letters of the singular form. Each ending has it's own rules regarding pluralization. There are also some plurals that have the same form as their singular counterparts.

Navigating English Grammar: Examples and Types of Plurals

Plurals

When creating a piece of writing, there are many rules to follow to ensure your spelling and grammar remain correct. Spellings can provide lots of places for us to trip up - especially when it comes to plurals. Not to worry, though! In this article, we'll have a look at different aspects of plurals, including:

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The meaning of plural
Types of plurals
Regular plural nouns
Irregular plural nouns
The rules for regular and irregular plural nouns
Examples of plurals

Plurals Meaning

Before we begin discussing plurals, let's make sure we know what plural means.

If something is plural, it means there is more than one of it. Only nouns, pronouns, or determiners can be either singular or plural.

Nouns are initially considered in their singular form and are modified to become plurals. This process is referred to as pluralization. The pluralization process most commonly involves adding suffixes (e.g., -s); however, the process can differ between different types of nouns.

Pronouns and determiners each have their own sets of words that denote pluralization:

Pronouns = we, you, and they
Determiners = these and those

In this article, we will focus on the plural forms of nouns.

Plural Nouns

Now we have a good idea of the meaning of the term plural, let's refresh ourselves with what a noun is.

A noun is a part of speech used to name a person, place, object, or concept.

Here are some examples of singular and plural nouns. Familiarize yourself with these before we go on to discuss them in more detail.

box - boxes
splash - splashes
reindeer - reindeer
fish - fish/fishes
cactus - cacti
hobbit - hobbits
leaf - leaves
cup - cups
gas - gasses
roof - roofs
guppy - guppies
tomato - tomatoes

You might notice that some of these words have been pluralized in different ways. This is because they are different types of plural nouns (e.g., regular, irregular, or zero) and therefore follow different rules to create plural forms.

Fish or Fishes?

People often get confused with the plural form of fish, but the rule is quite simple.

When there are multiple fish of the same breed, the plural is fish.

When there are multiple different breeds of fish, the plural is fishes.

Types of Plural Nouns

So, what are the different types of plural nouns?

There are three types of plural nouns:

Regular plural nouns
Irregular plural nouns
Zero plural nouns (nouns that don't change when pluralized)

We'll now discuss each of these in turn.

Regular Plural Nouns

Regular plural nouns are nouns in which we add the affix '-s' to the end of the singular form to create the plural.

Inflectional Affixes

An inflectional affix is a letter or group of letters added to a root word to show a grammatical change. When a word undergoes an inflectional change, the core meaning of the word stays the same.

Inflections can show a change in:

Number, e.g., + '-s'
Aspect, e.g., + '-ing'
Person, e.g., + '-s'
Tense, e.g., + '-ed'

Some examples of regular plural nouns are shown below:

Singular	Plural
cat	cats
dog	dogs
turtle	turtles
lemon	lemons
bowl	bowls
arrangement	arrangements
reference	references
photo	photos
emotion	emotions
paper	papers
book	books
web	webs

Plurals Image of dogs StudySmarter Fig. 1 - Dogs is a regular plural noun - meaning the affix '-s' is added to the end.

Irregular Plural Nouns

Irregular plural nouns are nouns that don't follow the regular rule of adding an '-s'. There are many different rules for creating irregular plurals, each depending on what letters the singular word ends in. Let's look at some of the most important rules now.

Rules for Irregular Plural Nouns

Most of the rules for irregular plural nouns depend on the ending letters of the noun. For example, a word ending with 'ch' follows a different rule than a word ending with 'f'.

Words that End in 'S', 'SS', 'SH', 'CH', 'X', or 'Z'

These words are the closest to following the regular add an '-s' rule of regular plurals. However, for these words, you need to add '-es' to make them plural.

Some examples of words like these are:

bus → buses

moss → mosses

wish → wishes

beach → beaches

box → boxes

blitz → blitzes

There is a slight exception to this rule. Some words that end in a single -s (such as gas), add another 's' before the '-es', e.g., gasses.

Words that End in 'F' or 'FE'

Most of the words that end in '-f' or '-fe' change to '-ve' before the plural '-s' is added. Here are some examples:

calf → calves

knife → knives

leaf → leaves

wife → wives

life → lives

loaf → loaves

Not all words ending in '-f' follow this rule, however, and words that end in '-ff' (e.g., puff or huff) usually follow the rule of regular plurals and just have an '-s' added (e.g. puffs or huffs). Additionally, some words ending in a singular '-f' simply use the regular plural rule (roof → roofs).

Words that End in 'Y'

Words that end in '-y' can be split into two types.

Words with a '-y' following a consonant (e.g., city)
Words with a '-y' following a vowel (e.g., toy)

The latter type follows the same rule for regular plurals, meaning you just need to add an '-s' to make it plural (e.g., toys).

The first type discussed are irregular plurals and follow a consistent rule: remove the '-y' and replace it with '-ies'. Let's have a look at some examples:

puppy → puppies

lorry → lorries

activity → activities

baby → babies

berry → berries

spy → spies

Words that End in 'O'

Words ending with '-o' can follow both regular and irregular plural rules, ending either in '-s' or '-es'. Unfortunately, there are no set rules to which words end with which affix, and they simply need to be learned.

Let's have a look at some irregular forms:

potato → potatoes

tomato → tomatoes

hero → heroes

echo → echoes

And some regular forms:

photo → photos
piano → pianos
logo → logos

To add to the confusion, some words ending in '-o' can be pluralized in either the regular or irregular form. Here's a list of some of the words that can take either form:

volcano → volcanos or volcanoes
tornado → tornados or tornadoes
mosquito → mosquitos or mosquitoes
buffalo → buffalos or buffaloes

Plurals Image of volcano StudySmarter Fig. 2 - The plural of volcano can be volcanos or volcanoes.

Words that End in 'UM'

For words that end with '-um' the plural form is most often created by removing the '-um' and replacing it with an '-a'. For example:

datum → data

millennium → millennia

spectrum → spectra

Some words that end in '-um' can also be pluralized by adding an '-s' to the end. For example, the word forum can be pluralized to either fora or forums (this being the more common plural form).

Words that End in 'ON'

When singular nouns ending with '-on' are pluralized, the '-on' is usually replaced with an '-a'. This can be seen in the following examples:

phenomenon → phenomena

automaton → automata

criterion → criteria

Words that End in 'IS'

Words ending with '-is' and '-es' are often easily confused (e.g., analysis and analyses), but there's a simple rule to follow to help you understand the difference/

The singular form of a word ends in '-is,' and the plural forms end in '-es.' You can see this in the following words:

crisis → crises

analysis → analyses

axis → axes

nemesis → nemeses

Words that End in 'US'

Singular nouns that end in '-us' are often pluralized by replacing the ending with an '-i.' Let's have a look at some examples:

cactus → cacti

radius → radii

alumnus → alumni

fungus → fungi

There are exceptions to this rule, and some singular nouns ending in '-us' are instead altered to end in '-era,' '-ora,' or '-es.' Here are some examples of where this occurs:

genus → genera

corpus → corpora

octopus → octopuses

Words the End in 'EX' or 'IX'

The final rule for pluralizing irregular nouns applies to words that end in either '-ex' or '-ix.' In these cases, the endings are replaced with '-ices' to create a plural. Here are some words that have these endings:

vertex → vertices

index → indices

appendix → appendices

Zero Plural Nouns

Now that we've looked at all of the rules for irregular plural nouns, let's look at nouns that have the same spelling for both their singular and plural forms - zero plural nouns.

There isn't a rule for identifying these irregular plurals; you simply need to memorize them. Don't worry, though, as many of these will be words you've come across before.

fish
deer
reindeer
species
series
sheep

Plurals Image of sheep StudySmarter Fig. 3 - The plural of sheep is simply sheep

Nouns that Change Completely for Pluralization

Another type of irregular plural noun is nouns that change their spelling completely from their plural forms. These changes in spellings tend not to follow any rule and also need to be memorized.

Here's a list of nouns that have different spellings in their singular and plural forms:

person - people
child - children
man - men
woman - women
mouse - mice
goose - geese
louse - lice
ox - oxen
foot - feet
tooth - teeth
penny - pence

Examples of Plurals

Now that we've gone through all of the rules for plural nouns, let's recap them all with an example for each.

Rule	Singular Form	Plural Form
Regular plurals	laptop, thought	laptops, thoughts
Nouns ending with -S, -SS, -SH, -CH, -X, and -Z	bus, lass, galosh, witch, fox, fez	buses, lasses, galoshes, witches, foxes, fezzes
Nouns ending with -F or -FE	elf, wife	elves, wives
Nouns ending with -Y	bunny	bunnies
Nouns ending with -O	hero	heroes
Nouns ending with -UM	datum	data
Nouns ending with -ON	criterion	criteria
Nouns ending with -IS	crisis	crises
Nouns ending with -US	radius	radii
Nouns ending with -EX or -IX	vertex, appendices	vertices, appendices
nouns that stay the same	species, sheep	species, sheep
nouns that change almost completely	person, foot	people, feet

Plurals - Key Takeaways

Nouns go through an inflection process to show their plural form. Regular plural nouns have an -S added to the end of the word.
Singular nouns that end in -S, -SS, -SH, -CH, -X, or -Z often need -ES added to create their corresponding plural forms.
There are different types of irregular plural nouns, each of which follows its own rules to form plurals.
Some irregular plural nouns are identical to their singular forms (such as sheep).
Some irregular plural nouns don't follow a pattern and their spelling changes entirely (such as person → people and tooth → teeth).