How to make plurals?
Pluralisation in English can be a bit of a tricky game,
and as with any language the key to mastering this aspect lies in practicing through reading and conversing until the variations that appear unpredictable in the beginning become second nature, a matter of habit.
Having said that, there are certain principles that are generally applicable that make the task easier by giving us a broad idea of how common words are pluralised. Let us take a look at these.
For most nouns, add an 's' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
....
Car
Cars
.....
Desk
Desks
......
Tree
Trees
.......
Ball
Balls
....
Hand
Hands
.....
For nouns that end with 's', 'x', 'z', 'ch', or 'sh', add 'es' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
............
Boss
Bosses
......
Box
Boxes
.......
Topaz
Topazes
.....
Leech
Leeches
......
Dish
Dishes
.....
For some words that end with 'o', add 'es' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
.......
Potato
Potatoes
......
Echo
Echoes
.......
Hero
Heroes
......
For some words that end with 'o', add 's' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
....
Photo
Photos
...
Piano
Pianos
...
Logo
Logos
...
Radio
Radios
....
For some words ending with 'f', replace the 'f' with a 'v' and add 'es' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
..
Thief
Thieves
....
Loaf
Loaves
.
Half
Halves
Calf
Calves
...
Leaf
Leaves
...
For some words ending with 'f', add an 's' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
...
Reefs
Reefs
...
Roof
Roofs
...
Chef
Chefs
...
For some words ending with 'ife', replace the 'f' with a 'v' and add an 's' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
...
Wife
Wives
...
Knife
Knives
....
Life
Lives
....
For common nouns ending with a consonant followed by 'y', replace the 'y' with an 'i' and add 'es' at the end of the word.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
...
Nappy
Nappies
...
Poppy
Poppies
...
Fly
Flies
...
Penny
Pennies
...
Sty
Sties
...
Some nouns are the same in both forms.
SINGULAR
PLURAL
...
Fish
Fish
..
Sheep
Sheep
....
Deer
Deer
..
Tuna
Tuna
...
Trout
Trout....
For some nouns, other letters must be replaced or added, sometimes changing the words completely.
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