Brighter Grammar 1 - Margaret Macaulay 1987

Lesson Three. Nouns: irregular plurals

For the plural of most nouns we add s to the singular. But there are some that make their plural differently.

1 Nouns that end in a ’hissing’ sound (-sh, -ch, -x, -z) make their plurals by adding -es.

2 Some nouns that end in -o form their plurals by adding -es.

3 Nouns that end in -f or -fe generally change the ending to -ves for the plural.

4 Some nouns that end in -y change the -y into -ies for the plural. (Not nouns that end -ay, -ey, -oy. They add -s: trays, donkeys, boys.)

5 A few nouns don’t follow any of these rules. Here are the commonest of them.

Exercises

A Write the plural forms of these nouns.

1 box, hero, potato, church, brush, fox, inch.

2 half, knife, leaf, baby, loaf, lady, donkey, fly, wolf, day, thief, army.

3 woman, child, tooth, man, deer, goose, sheep, foot.

В Write the singular forms of these nouns.

1 brushes, heroes, boxes, potatoes, churches, foxes, inches.

2 halves, wolves, leaves, armies, babies, flies, loaves, wives, ladies, thieves, knives, days.

3 sheep, feet, mice, men, deer, geese, children, women.

C What do we add for the plural to nouns that end in a ’hissing’ sound? Give an example.

D How do some nouns that end in -o make the plural? Give an example.

E If nouns end in -f or -fe, how do they generally make the plural?

F Change the nouns in the following sentences from singular to plural. Notice that plural nouns do not have a or an.

Example: The farmer had a dog.

Answer: The farmers had dogs.

1 The boy had a knife.

2 The child came into the room.

3 The man looked on the shelf.

4 The lady gave a key to the girl.

5 The cat caught the mouse.

6 The leaf fell from the tree.

7 The man and woman went to the cinema.

8 The child saw a sheep in the field.

9 The nurse carried a baby.

10 The boss had a new car.

11 The soldier got into a bus.

12 The donkey ran down the street.

13 A bird sang on the branch of a tree.

14 The foot of the deer crushed the flower.

15 The thief didn’t see the policeman.

G Change the nouns in the following sentences from plural to singular. Notice a or an with a singular noun when the plural does not have the.

Example: Soldiers stood outside the houses.

Answer: A soldier stood outside the house.

1 The nurses worked in hospitals.

2 The cats caught the mice.

3 The boys had knives.

4 The countries did not have armies.

5 The leaves fell from the trees.

6 The children rode on donkeys.

7 The men filled the glasses.

8 The boys had watches.

9 The policemen found the thieves.

10 We saw geese and foxes.

11 The oxen ate the grass.

12 The women told the children stories.

13 The thieves stole watches and radios.

14 The babies laughed at the children.

15 Wolves killed the sheep.

H Look again at the short story on page 9 and put all the singular nouns in one column and all the plural nouns in another column.