English Grammar - Noun – Number

 

English Grammar

Noun – Number

 

Notice the change in the words of each pair:

Book – Books

Box – Boxes

Ox – Oxen

Man – Men

The first word of each pair denotes one thing or one person and the second word of each pair denotes more than one thing or more than one person.

 

A noun that denotes one person or thing is said to be in the ‘Singular Number’, as,

Apple, ball, cat, dog, fan, goat, hen, ice-cream, jug, kite, man, parrot, rat, woman.

 

A noun that denotes more than one person or thing is said to be in the ‘Plural Number’, as,

Apples, balls, cats, dogs, fans, goats, hens, ice-creams, jugs, kites, men, parrots, rats, women.

 

How plurals are formed

 

1.               Generally, “s” is used at the end of a singular noun to make it plural.

Example:

Pencil - Pencils

Cow    - Cows

House - Houses

Dog - Dogs

Mobile - Mobiles

 

2.               Nouns, ending in s, sh, ch and x get their plural forms by adding “es” to them.

Examples:

Bus - Buses

Dish - Dishes

Branch - Branches

Fox - Foxes

 

3.               If the pronunciation of ‘ch’ is “k”, just “s” is added at the end

Example:

Monarch - Monarchs

Patriarch - Patriarchs

Matriarch - Matriarchs

Stomach - Stomachs

Hierarch – Hierarchs

 

4.               When a noun ends in “y” with a Consonant before that “y”, “i” substitutes it and an “es” is added to that noun.

Example:

Story - Stories

Hobby - Hobbies

Army - Armies

Fly - Flies

Baby   - Babies

 

5.               When a noun ends in “y” with a Vowel before that “y”, “s” is added to that noun to make it plural.

Example

Donkey - Donkeys

Toy - Toys

Day - Days

Joy - Joys

Play - Plays

 

 

6.               When a noun ends in ‘f’ or ‘fe’, these ‘f’ or ‘fe’ are removed and ‘ves’ is added to make the noun plural.

Example:

Thief - Thieves

Wife - Wives

Knife   - Knives

Wolf - Wolves

Leaf – Leaves

 

7.               If a noun ends in ‘a consonant’ + ‘o’, “es” is added to the noun to make it plural.

Example:

Hero   - Heroes

Mango - Mangoes

Zero - Zeroes

Potato - Potatoes

Echo - Echoes

Exception -

Photo - Photos

Piano - Pianos

Radio - Radios

Canto - Cantos

Memo - Memos

 

8.               When there’s ‘a vowel’ + ‘o’ at the end of a singular noun, then only “s” is enough to make that noun plural.

Example:

Cuckoo - Cuckoos

Bamboo - Bamboos

Studio - Studios

Portfolio - Portfolios

Cameo - Cameos

Exception - for some nouns, “s” and “es” both are correct.

Mosquito – Mosquitos / mosquitoes

Commando – Commandos / commandoes

Portico - Porticos / porticoes

Calico – Calicos / calicoes

Memento – Mementos / mementoes

 

9.               By changing the middle-vowel(s) of a noun, its plural is formed.

Example:

Man - Men

Woman - Women

Foot - Feet

Mouse - Mice

Tooth - Teeth

 

10.        Some nouns form their plural by adding ‘en’ to their singulars.

Example:

Ox - Oxen

Child - Children

Brother - Brethren / brothers

Sister - Sistren / sisters

 

11.        In a compound noun “men” replaces “man”.

Example:

Fisherman - Fishermen

Workman - Workmen

Boatman - Boatmen

Man-of-war - Men-of-war

Salesman - salesmen

 

12.        When “man” is a part of a word, or it refers to any ethnic group, race or civilization, only “s” is added.

Mussalman - Mussalmans

Brahman - Brahmans

German - Germans

Norman - Normans

 

13.        When there’s a “ful” in the end of a singular noun, “s” is added to make it plural.

Example:

Handful - Handfuls

Mouthful - mouthfuls

Spoonful - Spoonfuls

armful - Armfuls

cupful - cupfuls

 

14.        “s” is added to the main part of the compound noun, having several words.

Example:

Brother-in-law - Brothers-in-law

Passer-by - Passers-by

Step-brother - Step-brothers

Commander-in-chief - Commanders-in-chief

Maid-servant - Maid-servants

 

15.        In some cases, every part is made plural.

Example:

Lord-justice - Lords-justices

Man-servant - Men-servants

Woman-servant - Women-servants

 

16.        Some nouns have no plural form.

Example:

Furniture

Scenery

Issue

Bread

expenditure

 

17.        Some nouns are always used in plural forms.

Example:

Mumps

Scissors

Trousers

Spectacles

Assets

 

18.        Some nouns seem like singular, but actually they are plural.

Example:

Government

Peasantry

People

Cattle

Mankind

 

19.        Some nouns seem like plural, but they are singular.

Example:

Physics

Politics

Ethics

News

Wages

 

20.        Some nouns have the same singular and plural form.

Example:

Deer

Sheep

Species

Corps

Canon

 

21.        An apostrophe (’) and ‘s’ is added to the letters, numbers and other symbols, to change them into plural.

Example:

g - g’s

y - y’s

5 - 5’s

8 - 8’s.