The plural.
The plural in English is different about plural in other languages such as Arabic or even French language so, nouns only come in two forms, singular and plural, and there is no dual, while adjectives in English only come in one form, which is singular, and there is no dual or plural so when we talk about the lesson of plural, we are talking here about plural of nouns only, which is according to special rules that we will explain below //
The basic rule for pluralizing nouns in English
is to add the letter s to the end of the singular word to make it plural,
example //
Book // book .
Cat // cats .
Girl // girls .
Train / / trains.
But there are some differences and exceptions, which are //
1// If the singular noun ends with (s/ss/ch/sh/x/z), when we change it to plural we will add es instead of s .
Examples //
Box // boxes .
Bus // buses .
Brush // brushes .
Class // classes .
Hex /hexes.
Witch // witches .
Match /matches .
Watch /watches.
2 // If the noun ends with the letter y preceded by a vowel, when we change it to plural we add s .
Examples //
Boy/ boys .
Key/ keys .
Day/ days .
Way/ ways .
Valley/ valleys .
3 // If the noun ends with y preceded by a consonant, when we change it to plural , we will delete the letter y and replace it by the letters ies .
Examples //
Baby/babies.
City/cities.
Country/countries.
Factory/factories.
Family/families.
Fly/flies .
Lady/ladies
4// If the noun ends with fe or f, when we change it to plural , we will delete either of them and replace it by the letters ves .
Examples/
Calf/calves.
Elf/elves.
Knife/knives.
Half/halves.
Leaf/leaves.
Life/lives.
Loaf/loaves.
Shelf/shelves.
Thief/thieves .
Wife/wives .
Wolf/wolves .
Sheaf/sheaves.
There are some exceptions to this rule, which are //
Belief/beliefs .
Chief/chiefs.
Gulf/gulfs.
Proof/proofs.
Roof/roofs.
Safe//safes.
5// If the noun ends with the letter o preceded by a consonant, when we change it to plural we will add es to the end of the noun.
Examples //
Echo / echoes.
Hero / heroes.
Potato / potatoes.
Tomato / tomatoes.
Veto / vetoes.
Zero / zeroes.
But there are exceptions to this rule, when change it to plural we add the letter s as usual .
Examples //
Casino / casinos.
Jumbo / jumbos.
Kilo / kilos.
Photo/photos.
Piano /pianos.
Silo /silo.
There are some nouns that can be in either case, when change it to plural them we will add s or es .
Examples/
Buffalo /buffalos or buffaloes
Cargo /cargos or cargoes
Flamingo ///flamingos or flamingoes
Fresco /frescos or frescoes
Ghetto /ghettos or ghettoes
Mango /mangoes or mangoes
Manifesto/manifestos or manifestoes
Memento/mementos or mementoes
Mosquito/mosquitos or mosquitoes.
Motto/mottos or mottoes
Salvo/salvo or salvoes.
Stiletto/stilettos or stilettoes.
Tornado/tornados or tornadoes.
6// Some nouns that end with u s when we change them to plural , we will drop u s and add the letter i instead of them .
Examples //
Focus // foci
Nucleus // nuclei
Radius // radii
Stimulus // stimuli
7// Some nouns that end with u m, when we change them to plural , we will drop the letters u m and add the letter a instead of them .
Examples //
Aquarium/aquaria
Memorandum/memoranda Memorandum/memoranda
Referendum/referenda
Spectrum/spectra
8// Some nouns that end with i s, when we change them to plural , we will change the letter i to the letter e, so it will become es .
Examples//
Analysis/analyses
Axis/axes
Basis/bases
Crisis/crises
Diagnosis/diagnoses
Hypothesis/hypotheses
Neurosis/neuroses
Parenthesis/parentheses
9 // words that end with the letter a, we will add the letter e to them when we change them to the plural .
Example //
Larva /larvae
Vertebra /vertebrae
But there are exceptions to this rule, so those nouns that end with a will be like the basic way, so the letter s is added to the end of the singular noun to make it plural .
Examples //
Antenna/antennas
Formula/formulas //
Amoeba /amoebas
Nebula /nebulas
10 //Nouns that consist of two nouns (noun-noun), when we change them to plural , only the second noun will be changed according to the plural rules .
Examples //
Baby sitter/baby sitters
Fire man/fire men
Grand daughter/grand daughters Granddaughter/granddaughters .
11 //Nouns that consist of (noun-preposition-noun), when we change them to plural , only the first noun will be changed .
Example //
Sister –in- law /sisters –in- law
.
12 //There are nouns that are exceptions to the previous rules, they will be in a different way based on hearing .
Examples //
Child /children
Foot/feet
Goose/geese
Louse /lice
Man/men
Mouse /mice
Ox/oxen
Penny/pence
Tooth/teeth
Woman/women
13 //There are nouns that are always treated as singular and take singular verbs .
Examples //
Advice
Dirt
Brains
Income
Business
Character
Furniture
Homework
Information
Knowledge
Luggage
Money
News
Progress
Also, nouns that end with ics are always singular, they take a singular verb .
Examples //
Athletics
Mathematics
Politics
Physics
Statistics
Economics
14 // There are nouns that are always plural, they take a verb in the plural .
Examples //
Ashes
Cattle
Customs
Glasses
Outskirts
Premises
Stairs
Trousers
Diamonds
Goods
People
Pajamas
Scissors
Socks
Tongs
15 // Some words have two ways when we change it to the plural , the first is by adding s or es to them as in the normal way and the second is in a different way .
Examples // /
Appendix / appendices or appendixes .
Automaton / automata/ automatons
Index/ indices or indexes //
16 //Ways of the plural in the monetary denominations will not be change them to plural when we talk about them as a monetary denomination but we will change them to plural when we talk about them as a numerical value .
Examples //
This is twenty pound note
Give me twenty pounds
Two ten dollar bills
Give me ten dollars
The same method is used with the word year .
Examples //
A ten year old girl // She’s teen years old girl .