Noun and Number: Rules for Changing Singular to Plural

Before this chapter “Noun and Number”, we have discussed “Noun and its types‘ and “Gender of Nouns.” You’d better read those two important lessons. Anyway, we’re going to see the definition of singular nouns and plural nouns as well as the rules for changing singular to plural.

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Noun and Number

When we talk about nouns and numbers, we simply talk about the following:

1. Singular Noun: A noun that refers to one person, place, or thing is called a singular noun.

For example Boy, Girl, Table, etc,

2. Plural Noun: A noun that refers to more than one person, place, or thing is called a plural noun.

Examples: Boys, Girls, Tables, etc,

Rules for Changing Singular to Plural

There are a number of rules for changing singular to plural. Let’s see all one by one with examples.

Rule 1

Adding ‘s’ at the end of some nouns makes a plural noun.

Examples:

Boy – Boys

Girl – Girls

Kite – Kites

Telephone – Telephones

Rule 2

For a noun having s, ss, ch, sh, z, or x at the end, ‘es’ is added to make its plural.

Examples:

Bus – Buses

Class- Classes

Coach – Coaches

Fox – Foxes

Exceptions:

Stomach – Stomachs

Locus – Loci

Ox – Oxen

Radius – Radii

Rule 3

Some nouns have ‘o’ at their end, and there is a consonant before it. For making a plural of such nouns, we have to add ‘es’ at the end.

Examples:

Hero – Heroes

Mango – Mangoes

Mosquito – Mosquitoes

Cargo – Cargoes

Exceptions:

Ratios – Ratios

Photo – Photos

Canto – Cantos

Dynamo – Dynamos

Memento – Mementos

Solo – Solos

Quarto – Quartos

Rule 4

If there are two vowels at the end of any noun, ‘s’ is added to make its plural.

Examples:

Tree – Trees

Portfolio – Portfolios

Zoo – Zoos

Radio – Radios

Rule 5

If there is ‘y’ and a consonant before it at the end of any noun, ‘y’ is replaced with ‘ies’ to make plural.

Examples:

Cry – Cries

City – Cities

Reply – Replies

Country – Countries

Rule 6

If there is ‘y’ and a vowel before it at the end of any noun, ‘s’ is added to make its plural.

Examples:

Key – Keys

Monkey – Monkeys

Toy – Toys

Ray – Rays

Way – Ways

Rule 7

If a noun has ‘f’ or ‘fe’ at its end, we replace ‘f’ and ‘fe’ with ‘ves’ to make its plural.

Examples:

Calf – Calves

Thief – Thieves

Leaf – Leaves

Life – Lives

Exceptions:

Belief – Beliefs | Proof – proofs

Chief – Chiefs | Roof – Roofs

Cliff – Cliffs | Safe – Safes

Swarf – Dwarfs | Scarf – Scarfs

Grief – Griefs | Strife – Strifes

Gulf – Gulfs | Turf – Turfs

Rule 8

‘S’ is added in the main word of a compound noun to make its plural.

Examples:

Brother-in-law – Brothers-in-law

Bed-room -Bed-rooms

Maid-servant – Maid-servants

Step-daughter – Step-daughters

Rule 9

Inside vowels are changed to make the plural of the following 8 nouns:

Man Woman Tooth Foot

Mouse Louse Goose Dormouse

Examples:

Man – Men

Woman – Women

Tooth – Teeth

Foot – Feet

Mouse – Mice

Louse – Lice

Goose – Geese

Dormouse – Dormice

Rule 10

Following are the 4 nouns whose plurals are made by adding ‘en’ or ‘ne.’

Examples:

Child – Children

Ox – Oxen

Cow – Kine (Cows)

Brother – Brethren

Rule 11

Some nouns have two plurals, and each of

them has a different meaning.

Examples:

1. Brother

Brothers – sons of the same parent.

Brethren – members of a society or community

2. Cloth

Cloths – unstitched cloth.

Clothes – Stitched clothes (Garments)

3. Die

Dies – stamps used for printing and coining.

Dice – small cubes used in games.

4. Index

Indexes – Tables of contents in a book.

Indices – signs used in algebra.