Plurals

Plurals Meaning

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Some examples of regular plural nouns are shown below:

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:

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:

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:

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:

And some regular forms:

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

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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.

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:

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.