Plural of nouns (Spelling rules)

1) Most nouns ending in consonant and vowel (except “o”) form their plural by adding “s” to the singular.
Examples: book- books pencil- pencils son- sons idea- ideas

2) Nouns ending in “y”

A. Nouns ending in “y” preceded by a consonant change the “y” to “ies”.
Examples: Secretary - Secretaries Country - countries Penny - pennies
B. Nouns ending in “y” preceded by a vowel, just add “s”.
Examples: boy- boys monkey- monkeys key- keys

3) Nouns ending in: “s”, “sh”, “ch”, “x”, and “o”, add “es” to the plural.
Examples:
bus – buses match – matches dish – dishes mango – mangoes
class – classes box – boxes tomato – tomatoes zero – zeroes

4) Many nouns ending in “f” or “fe” change the “f” or “fe” to “ves” when forming their plurals.
Examples:
wife - wives thief - thieves half - halves life – lives shelf - shelves
knife - knives elf - elves leaf - leaves loaf – loaves calf – calves
yourself – yourselves
(but not in: chef →chefs / chief →chiefs / roof →roofs / cliff → cliffs / scarf → scarfs or scarves)

5) Some words have irregular plurals.

Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural

Child Children Foot Feet Person_________ people

Datum Data Goose Geese Sheep ________ sheep
Deer Deer Louse Lice Tooth ________ teeth
Die Dice Man ________ men Woman _______ women
Fish Fish Mouse _______ mice Ox _________ oxen
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Plural of nouns (Pronunciation rules)

A. When the noun ends in a voiceless consonant sound such as /k/, /p/, /t/ and /f/, the plural is pronounced / s /.
Examples:
Books / lakes / chefs / Boats / lollipops / chiefs

B. When the noun ends in a voiced consonant sound and a vowel sound, the plural is pronounced / z /.
Examples:
Boys windows eyes things schools
Bags islands umbrellas cameras cars
Names sons shoes ideas gloves
C. When the noun ends in a sibilant consonant ( s, sh, ch, x -sounds), the plural is pronounced: /IZ/ or /EZ/
Examples:
Actresses Taxes Radishes Exercises garages
Buses Offices Matches Churches