What is a Plural Noun?

The answer is a relatively easy one, as grammar goes. A plural noun is a word that indicates that
there is more than one person, animal place, thing, or idea. When you talk about more than one
of anything, you’re using plural nouns. When you write about more than one of anything, you
usually use the same word, simply adding an s, es, or ies to the end. There are a few exceptions
to this rule, but not many – one of the best is that a single moose is a moose, and a group of
moose are still moose.

Singular and Plural Nouns

The difference between singular and plural nouns is easy to spot. When a noun indicates one
only, it is a singular noun. When a noun indicates more than one, it is plural.

Singular Noun Examples

The following sentences contain singular nouns examples.

1. The boy had a baseball in his hand.

2. My horse prefers to wear an English saddle.
3. That cat never seems to tire of jumping in and out of the box.
4. You stole my idea and didn’t give me any credit.
5. Your mom is going to be upset about that broken lamp.
6. It’s not difficult to grow a tree as long as you give it plenty of water.
7. I can’t believe you let your dog stick his head out the window while you drive.

Plural Noun Examples

The following sentences contain plural noun examples.

1. The boys were throwing baseballs back and forth between bases.
2. Our horses are much happier wearing lightweight English saddles.
3. Those cats never seem to tire of chasing one another in and out of those boxes.
4. You stole my ideas and didn’t give me any credit.
5. Our moms are going to be upset that we stayed out all night going to parties.
6. It’s not too difficult to grow trees as long as you provide them with plenty of water.
7. I can’t believe you allow your dogs to climb all over the seats while you are driving.
Singular – Plural Nouns Exercises

Transform each of the following words into plurals:

1. Day
2. Tax
3. Taxi
4. Lady
5. Mountain

Answers 1-5:

1. Days
2. Taxes
3. Taxis
4. Ladies
5. Mountains

Choose the correct plural for each of the words that follows:

1. Choice

a. Choices b. Choices c. Choiceies

2. Box

a.Boxs b. Boxies c. Boxes

3. Thief

a.Thiefies a. Thiefs c. Thieves

4. Army

a.Armys b. Armies c. Army

5. Owl

a.Owls b. Owlies c. Owelds

Answers:

–a
–c
–c
–b
–a
Choose the best word to fit into each of the following sentences:

1. The men sharpened their _____________ before throwing them at the targets.

A – knife B – knifes C – knives

2. Please eat the rest of your _____________.

A – pease B – Peas C – Peies

3. I’d like you to stop leaving your ________________ on the floor.

A – Socks B – Sockses C – Sox

4. We saw a lot of _________________ at the park.

A – Deers B – Deeries C – Deer

5. This recipe calls for a lot of _____________.

A – Tomatos B – Tomatoes C – Tomaties

Answers:

–C

–B

–A

–C

–B

What are regular nouns?

A regular noun is the noun thats plural form is formed only by adding -s or -es.

For example,

Apple, apples

Mango (singular), mangoes (plural)

Hero, heroes

Volcano, volcanoes
Those nouns whose plurals are formed by changing the spellings in addition to adding -s or
-es are irregular nouns.

For example,

Man, men

Woman, women

Mouse, mice

Goose, geese

Wife, wives

Plural, Regular and Irregular Nouns

Rule for
Type of
Forming Examples Exceptions
Noun
the Plural
arch/arches, atlas/atlases, ax/axes, bash/bashes,
bench/benches, bias/biases, botch/botches,
box/boxes, brush/brushes, bunch/bunches,
bus/buses, bush/bushes, canvas/canvases,
catch/catches, church/churches, class/classes,
compass/compasses, crash/crashes,
cross/crosses, dais/daises, dish/dishes,
dress/dresses, equinox/equinoxes, etch/etches,
fetch/fetches, fix/fixes, fox/foxes, gas/gases,
Word ends
Add 'es' to grass/grasses, itch/itches, kiss/kisses,
in s, x, ch, or axis/axes, ox/oxen
the end larch/larches, lash/lashes, latch/latches,
sh
mantis/mantises, march/marches,
marsh/marshes, mash/mashes, mass/masses,
match/matches, moss/mosses, mix/mixes,
pass/passes, patch/patches, pox/poxes,
radish/radishes, sash/sashes, sketch/sketches,
starch/starches, stitch/stitches, tax/taxes,
touch/touches, trash/trashes, twitch/twitches,
vehicle/vehicles, wish/wishes, witch/witches,
wrench/wrenches
Word ends Add 'zes' to buzz/buzzes, fizz/fizzes, klutz/klutzes,
in z the end quiz/quizzes, topaz/topazes, waltz/waltzes
alley/alleys, attorney/attorneys, essay/essays,
Ending in 'y'
boy/boys, delay/delays, guy/guys, jay/jays,
preceded by Add an 's'
key/keys, osprey/ospreys, play/plays, ray/rays,
a vowel
stray/strays, toy/toys, tray/trays, turkey/turkeys,
 valley/valleys, way/ways
ally/allies, army/armies, baby/babies,
beauty/beauties, berry/berries, cherry/cherries,
city/cities, colony/colonies, country/countries,
dictionary/dictionaries, duty/duties,
enemy/enemies, fairy/fairies, family/families,
ferry/ferries, fly/flies, gallery/galleries,
Ending in 'y' Change the history/histories, injury/injuries, jelly/jellies,
preceded by final 'y' to kitty/kitties, lady/ladies, lily/lilies, navy/navies,
a consonant 'ies' history/histories, party/parties, pony/ponies,
reply/replies, secretary/secretaries, sky/skies,
spy/spies, story/stories, study/studies,
symphony/symphonies, theory/theories,
trophy/trophies, try/tries,
university/universities, variety/varieties,
victory/victories
belief/beliefs,
chef/chefs,
chief/chiefs,
dwarf/dwarfs,
grief/griefs,
calf/calves, elf/elves, half/halves, hoof/hooves, gulf/gulfs,
Ends with 'f'
Change the knife/knives, leaf/leaves, life/lives, loaf/loaves, handkerchief/handke
or 'fe' (but
'f' or 'fe' to knife/knives, loaf/loaves, scarf/scarves, rchiefs,
not 'ff' or
'ves' self/selves, shelf/shelves, wife/wives, kerchief/kerchiefs,
'ffe')
wolf/wolves mischief/mischiefs,
muff/muffs,
oaf/oafs,
proof/proofs,
roof/roofs,
safe/safes, turf/turfs
albino/albinos,
armadillo/armadillos
, auto/autos,
cameo/cameos,
cello/cellos,
buffalo/buffaloes, cargo/cargoes, echo/echoes, combo/combos,
embargo/embargoes, grotto/grottoes, duo/duos, ego/egos,
hero/heroes, mosquito/mosquitoes, folio/folios,
Ends with 'o' Add 'es'
motto/mottoes, potato/potatoes, halo/halos,
tomato/tomatoes, torpedo/torpedoes, inferno/infernos,
veto/vetoes, volcano/volcanoes, zero/zeroes lasso/lassos,
memento/mementos,
memo/memos,
piano/pianos,
photo/photos,
portfolio/portfolios,
 pro/pros, silo/silos,
solo/solos,
stereo/stereos,
studio/studios,
taco/tacos,
tattoo/tattoos,
tuxedo/tuxedos,
typo/typos,
veto/vetoes,
video/videos,
yo/yos, zoo/zoos
child/children, die/dice, foot/feet, goose/geese,
louse/lice, man/men, mouse/mice, ox/oxen,
Irregular Variable
person/people, that/those, this/these,
tooth/teeth, woman/women
analysis/analyses, axis/axes, basis/bases,
crisis/crises, ellipsis/ellipses,
Ends with
Change final hypotheses/hypothesis, neurosis/neuroses,
'is' (from a
'is' to 'es' oasis/oases, paralysis/paralyses,
Greek root)
parenthesis/parentheses, synopsis/synopses,
synthesis/syntheses, thesis/theses
abacus/abacuses,
crocus/crocuses,
genus/genera,
Ends with alumnus/alumni, bacillus/bacilli, cactus/cacti,
octopus/octopuses
'us' (if the Change final focus/foci, fungus/fungi, locus/loci,
(not octopi, since
word is from 'us' to 'i' nucleus/nuclei, radius/radii, stimulus/stimuli,
octopus is from the
the Latin) syllabus/syllabi, terminus/termini, torus/tori
Greek language),
rhombus/rhombuses,
walrus/walruses
bacterium/bacteria, curriculum/curricula,
datum/data, erratum/errata,
Ends with Change final album/albums,
gymnasium/gymnasia, medium/media,
'um' 'um' to 'a' stadium/stadiums
memorandum/memoranda, ovum/ova,
stratum/strata
agenda/agendas,
alfalfa/alfalfas,
Ends with 'a' aurora/auroras,
alga/algae, alumna/alumnae, antenna/antennae,
but not 'ia' Change final banana/bananas,
larva/larvae, nebula/nebulae, pupa/pupae (or
(from a 'a' to 'ae' barracuda/barracuda
pupas), vertebra/vertebrae, vita/vitae
Latin root) s, cornea/corneas,
nova/novas,
phobia/phobias
Ends with automaton/automata, criterion/criteria, balloon/balloons,
Change final
'on' (from a phenomenon/phenomena, carton/cartons and
'on' to 'a'
Greek root - polyhedron/polyhedra many, many others
- not 'tion')
annex/annexes,
complex/complexes,
Ends with Change final duplex/duplexes,
vertex/vertices, vortex/vortices
'ex' 'ex' to 'ices' hex/hexes,
index/indexes or
indices
advice, aircraft, bison, corn, deer, equipment ,
Singular and evidence, fish (sometimes), gold, information,
Unchanging plural are jewelry, kin, legislation, luck, luggage, moose,
the same music, offspring, sheep, silver, swine, trousers,
trout, wheat
barracks, bellows, cattle, congratulations, deer,
dregs, eyeglasses, gallows, headquarters,
Only the
Unchanging mathematics, means, measles, mumps, news,
plural exists
oats, pants, pliers, pajamas, scissors, series,
shears, shorts, species, tongs, tweezers, vespers
attorney general/attorneys general, bill of
fare/bills of fare, chief of staff/chiefs of staff,
court-martial/courts-martial, daughter-in-
law/daughters-in-law, father-in-law/fathers-in-
law, full moon/full moons, he-man/he-men,
journeyman/journeymen, lady-in-
The plural
waiting/ladies-in-waiting, lieutenant
ending is
Compound colonel/lieutenant colonels, maid-of-honor,
usually
nouns maids-of-honor, master-at-arms/masters-at-
added to the
arms, middle class/middle classes, mother-in-
main noun
law/mothers-in-law, post office/post offices,
secretary of state/secretaries of state, sergeant
major/sergeants major, son-in-law/sons-in-law,
passer-by/passers-by, she-wolf/she-wolves,
stepsister/stepsisters, ten-year-old/ten-year-olds

Irregular plural nouns

  In English, there are hundreds of nouns that don’t follow the standard rules for
pluralization. There are no easy ways to remember them, so they generally have to be
memorized.

Some of the rarer irregular plurals are often misused, leading to the creation of variant
forms, which usually encounter resistance at first but eventually make it into the language.
For example, the plural of formula has traditionally been formulae, but formulas is now far
more common, and few would call it incorrect.

Latinate plurals
Some nouns have retained their plural forms from Latin and other languages:
singular plural
addendum addenda
alga algae
alumnus alumni
amoeba amoebae
antenna antennae
bacterium bacteria
cactus cacti
curriculum curricula
datum data
fungus fungi
genus genera
larva larvae
memorandum memoranda
stimulus stimuli
syllabus syllabi
vertebra vertebrae
-o becoming –oes
Most nouns ending in –o are pluralized by adding an –s, but some take –es instead—for
example:
singular plural
echo echoes
embargo embargoes
hero heroes
potato potatoes
tomato tomatoes
torpedo torpedoes
veto vetoes
Changing vowel sounds
Some nouns change their central vowel sounds when pluralized—for example:
singular plural
foot feet
goose geese
louse lice
man men
mouse mice
tooth teeth
woman women
-f becoming –ves

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Some nouns ending in –f are pluralized by dropping the –f and adding –ves:
singular plural
calf calves
elf elves
half halves
hoof hooves
knife knives
leaf leaves
life lives
loaf loaves
self selves
shelf shelves
thief thieves
wife wives
wolf wolves
-is becoming –es
Some nouns ending in –is are pluralized by dropping the –is and adding –es:
singular plural
axis axes
analysis analyses
basis bases
crisis crises
diagnosis diagnoses
ellipsis ellipses
emphasis emphases
hypothesis hypotheses
neurosis neuroses
oasis oases
paralysis paralyses
parenthesis parentheses
thesis theses
-ix becoming –ices
Some nouns ending in –ix are pluralized by dropping the –ix and adding –ices:
singular plural
appendix appendices
index indices
matrix matrices
Unchanged plurals
A few nouns are unchanged in their plural forms:
singular plural
barracks barracks
deer deer
fish fish
gallows gallows
means means
offspring offspring
series series
sheep sheep
species species