Plural form of nouns

Exercise 1
The following sentences contain one or more incorrect irregular plurals. Draw a line through each
incorrect plural and write the correct form above it.

1. My niece has a farm where she raises disease-resistant varieties of sheeps.

2. Like all farmers, she has a constant problem with mouses and rats.

3. She and her husband run the farm by themselfes, so it is a lot of work for them.

4. There are coyotes and wolfs in the area, but their dogs help keep them away.

5. The coyote in particular are like thiefs, always waiting and watching.

6. If a coyote gets just a few feets inside the fence, the horses will drive it away.

7. Once they lost some sheeps when some childs left a gate open.

8. Their valley is full of deers, which also support a large population of coyotes.

9. The river in the valley is full of salmons in the fall.

10. Farming is terribly hard work, but we all choose the lifes we want to live.

Exercise 2
All of the underlined nouns in the following sentences are in the plural. Some plurals are correctly
used with countable nouns. However, many plurals are incorrectly used with non-countable
nouns.
Draw a line through each incorrectly used non-countable noun and write the corrected form above
it. If the plural is used correctly with a countable noun, write OK above the noun.

1. The roads were closed because of the dense fogs.

2. We had to go shopping because we were out of milks again.

3. The team’s disappointments at their losses was obvious.

4. During the operation, the patient needed six pints of bloods.

5. The recent storms have caused us to lose powers for day on end.

6. Many household products are recycled, especially papers and glasses.

7. You need to allow a lot of time so that the paints will dry between coats.

8. Most Americans eat pancakes and waffles with syrups.

9. Most people seem to have an inborn fears of snakes.

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10. Many breads in the Middle East are made without yeasts.

Exercise 3
Give the plural forms of the words between brackets

1. When I go on holiday, my ______________ (worry) begin.

2. There are 24 _______________ (hour) in a day.
3. The accused _____________ (man) had carefully prepared _______________ (alibi).
4. A lot of people think _________________________ (mother-in-law) are a nuisance.
5. _____________________ (milk tooth) aren’t permanent, but they’re important.
6. Nicotine is a poison. It can cause life-threatening ___________________ (disease) such as
cancer.
7. Has he emailed you that list of ___________________ (address) yet ?
8. Peter always throws really wild __________________ (party).
9. The ships were unloading their ________________ (cargo) on to the ________________
(wharf).
10. The ____________________ (piano solo) will be played by John Smith.
11. ______________ (mouse) can sometimes take the cheese in a mousetrap without being
caught.
12. All stationery __________________ (supply) are kept in this room.
13. Here’s a list of all the firm’s _________________ (secretary) with their
_____________________ (department) and _________________________ (extension
number).
14. What sort of social _____________________ (facility) do large ________________ (firm)
provide ?
15. I always keep _____________ (copy) of important _______________ (document) that I send
off.
16. The __________________ (burglar) broke into the ________________ (villa) without
attracting the attention of ____________________ (passer-by).
17. A lot of _________________ (house) in Barcelona have __________________ (balcony).
18. The _________________ (hostage) were re-united with their ________________ (family) at
last.
19. ___________________ (seismograph) register the strength of _________________
(earthquake).
20. The news __________________ (agency) launched contradictory _______________ (report)
on the number of ____________________ (casualty).

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Exercise 4
Same exercise

1. In our ____________________ (cafeteria), you can find ________________ (box) with

compostable ________________ (fork) an ________________ (knife).
2. In self-service ______________________ (restaurant), people collect food and drink from a
serving area and take it to a table ______________________ (himself/herself) after paying for
it.
3. My ________________ (brother) went to Spain last summer. They told me that all the
_____________ (girl) were wearing colourful ____________ (bikini). But they were too tired to
enjoy the summery scenes: the clatter of _______________ (dish) in the hotel kitchen kept
them awake all night.
4. Before they had a microwave, Carol and her husband only had _________________
(sandwich) for lunch.
5. These winter ________________ (tomato) are no good. They have been raises in
____________________ (greenhouse).
6. This plant centre sells all ________________ (kind) of ornamental _________________
(grass), which can be seen very often in modern ___________________ (garden).
7. Nowadays, about 35 % of all __________________ (photo) is taken with digital
____________________ (camera).
8. _____________ (red) and ________________ (orange) are considered warm
________________ (colour), whereas ______________ (blue) and _______________
(purple) are considered cool ________________ (colour)
9. Ten per cent of all _____________ (man) are colour blind, compared with on per cent of
_______________ (woman). ________________ (baby) of three _______________ (month)
like grey, but ________________ (toddler) prefer yellow. Red is favoured by the
_______________________________ (two-to-five year old).
10. The hall of the broadcasting company houses a collection of antique _______________
(radio).
11. There’s a car park for ________________ (lorry) and _________________ (coach) next to the
station.
12. Kevin prefers sending _________________ (memo) to his colleagues rather than to talk to
them.
13. From their earliest training _______________ (day), airline stewards an
___________________ (hostess) are told about the food requirements of particular
______________________ (passenger).

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14. The fire in the industrial estate left two ________________ (factory) in _______________
(ash). The __________________ (employee) of several other _____________________
(company) had to be evacuated. The fire was started by __________________ (child) playing
with _________________ (match).
15. Male chauvinism lives ! The 10,500 New York _________________ (fireman) are fighting
plans to let ____________ (woman) join their ________________ (rank). R. Vizzini, president
of the _____________ ‘s (man) union, says he recognises woman’s equal _______________
(right) but “________________ (woman) will endanger the _____________ (life) of
______________________ (fire-fighter) and the public”, because the job is too tough for them.

Exercise 5
Give the plural forms of the words in the following list. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

1. fox 26. axis

2. chief 27. locus
3. attorney 28. sky
4. potato 29. echo
5. spoonful 30. preference
6. valley 31. wilderness
7. museum 32. sleigh
8. genius 33. matrix
9. curriculum 34. actuary
10 hoot 35. basis
.
11 laboratory 36. analysis
.
12 vocabulary 37. privilege
.
13 absence 38. freshman
.
14 virus 39. parenthesis
.
15 babysitter 40. acre
.
16 crisis 41. oasis
.
17 diagnosis 42. embargo
.
18 synopsis 43. thesis
.
19 athletics 44. chassis
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 .
20 library 45. quantum
.
21 Jones 46. Smith
.
22 quota 47. symphony
.
23 bacterium 48. axe
.
24 booth 49. loaf
.
25 buzz 50. levity
.

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ANSWER KEY
Exercise 1
1. sheeps, sheep, 2. mouses, mice, 3. themselfes, themselves, 4. wolfs, wolves, 5. thiefs, thieves, 6. feets,
feet, 7. sheeps, sheep ; childs, children, 8. deers, deer, 9. salmons, salmon, 10. lifes, lives

Exercise 2
1. OK ; fogs, fog, 2. milks, milk, 3. disappointments, disappointment ; OK, 4. OK ; bloods, blood, 5. OK ;
powers, power, 6. OK ; papers, paper ; glasses, glass, 7. paints, paint ; OK, 8. OK ; OK ; syrups, syrup, 9.
fears, fear ; OK, 10. OK ; yeasts, yeast

Exercise 3
1. worries
2. hours
3. men / alibis
4. mothers-in-law
5. Milk teeth
6. diseases
7. addresses
8. parties
9. cargos
10. wharves - wharfs
11. Mice
12. supplies
13. secretaries / departments / extension numbers
14. facilities / firms
15. copies / documents
16. burglars / villas / passers-by
17. houses / balconies
18. hostages / families
19. Seismographs / earthquakes
20. agencies / reports / casualties

Exercise 4
1. cafeterias / boxes / forks / knives
2. restaurants / themselves
3. brothers / girls / bikinis / dishes
4. sandwiches
5. tomatoes / greenhouses
6. kinds / grasses / gardens
7. photos / cameras
8. Reds / orange / colours / blue / purple / colours
9. men / women / Babies / months / toddlers / two-to-five year olds
10. radios
11. lorries / coaches
12. memos
13. days / hostesses / passengers
14. factories / ashes / employees / companies / children / matches
15. firemen / women / ranks / men / rights / women / lives / fire-fighters

Exercise 5
1. foxes, 2. chiefs, 3. attorneys, 4. potatoes, 5. spoonful, 6. valleys, 7. museums, 8. geniuses, 9. curricula,
10. hoots, 11. laboratories, 12. vocabularies, 13. absences, 14. viruses, 15. babysitters, 16. crises, 17.
diagnoses, 18. synopses, 19. athletics, 20. libraries, 21. Joneses, 22. quotas, 23. bacteria, 24. booths, 25.
buzzes, 26. axes, 27. loci, 28. skies, 29. echoes, 30. preferences, 31. wildernesses, 32, sleighs, 33.
matrices, 34. actuaries, 35. bases, 36. analyses, 37. privileges, 38. freshmen, 39. parentheses, 40. acres,
41. oases, 42, embargoes, 43. theses, 44. chassis, 45. quanta, 46. Smiths, 47. symphonies, 48. axes, 49.
loaves, 50. levities

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