The plural of nouns

Regular and irregular plural nouns

REGULAR NOUNS
Most nouns form the plural by adding -s.

Examples

Singular	Plural
boat	boats
house	houses
cat	cats
river	rivers

A noun ending in s, x, z, ch, sh makes the plural by adding-es.

Examples

Singular	Plural
bus	buses
wish	wishes
pitch	pitches
box	boxes

A noun ending in a consonant and then y makes the plural by dropping the y and adding-ies.

Examples

Singular	Plural
penny	pennies
spy	spies
baby	babies
city	cities
daisy	daisies

IRREGULAR NOUNS
There are some irregular formations for noun plurals. Some of the most common ones are listed below.

Examples

Singular	Plural
woman	women
man	men
child	children
tooth	teeth
foot	feet
person	people
leaf	leaves
mouse	mice
goose	geese
half	halves
knife	knives
wife	wives
life	lives
elf	elves
loaf	loaves
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes
cactus	cacti
focus	foci
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
syllabus	syllabi/syllabuses
analysis	analyses
diagnosis	diagnoses
oasis	oases
thesis	theses
crisis	crises
phenomenon	phenomena
criterion	criteria
datum	data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

Examples

Singular	Plural
sheep	sheep
fish	fish
deer	deer
species	species
aircraft	aircraft

IRREGULAR VERBS/NOUNS AGREEMENT
Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Plural nouns used with a singular verb	Sentence
news	The news is at 6.30 p.m.
athletics	Athletics is good for young people.
linguistics	Linguistics is the study of language.
darts	Darts is a popular game in England.
billiards	Billiards is played all over the world.

Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. They are not used in the singular, or they have a different meaning in the singular. Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits

Plural noun with plural verb	Sentence
trousers	My trousers are too tight.
jeans	Her jeans are black.
glasses	Those glasses are his.

Grammar Usage

NOUNS

ADJECTIVES

What adjectives are and what they are for
Forming and placing adjectives in English
What order to put adjectives in when you are using more than one at a time
Forming the comparative and the superlative of adjectives
Using adjectives to compare qualities
Using adjectives to compare equal quantites
Using adjectives to compare unequal quantites

ADVERBS

What adverbs are and what they are for
Forming adverbs from adjectives
Forming the comparative and the superlative of adverbs
Adverbs of place
Adverbs of time
Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of degree
Adverbs of certainty
Viewpoint and commenting adverbs
Relative adverbs
Interrogative adverbs

VERBS AND VERB TENSE

Present Tenses

- Simple present

- Present continuous

- Present perfect

- Present perfect continuous

Past tenses

- Simple Past

- Past Continuous

- Past Perfect

- Past Perfect Continuous

Perfect tenses

- Present perfect

- Present perfect continuous

- Past Perfect

- Past Perfect Continuous

- Future perfect

- Future perfect continuous

Future tenses

- Simple future tense

- Future continuous tense

- Future perfect tense

- Future perfect continuous tense

Conditional sentences

- Zero conditional sentences

- Type 1 conditional sentences

- Type 2 conditional sentences

- Type 3 Conditional Sentences

- Mixed conditional sentences

The -ing form

- Present participle

- Gerund

Infinitives
Passive voice

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