The Plural of nouns

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 466.

Nouns

Grammar

Nouns are made plural by adding:

· -sto the noun.(book - books etc)

· -esto nouns ending in-s, -ss, -x, -ch, -sh.(bus - buses, class - classes, fox - foxes, church - churches, rash - rashes etc)

· -iesto nouns ending inconsonant + y.(body - bodies, party - parties etc)

· -sto nouns ending invowel + y.(boy - boys, play - plays etc)

· • -esto nouns ending in-o(potato - potatoes)

· -sto nouns ending in:vowel + о(video - videos), double о(taboo - taboos), abbreviations(photograph/ photo - photos), musical instruments(cello - cellos) andproper nouns (Navajo - Navajos). Somenouns ending in-ocan take either-esor-s.Theseare:buffaloes/buffalos,mosquitoes/ mosquitos, volcanoes, volcanos, zeroes/zeros, tornadoes/tornadosetc.

· -vesto some nouns ending in-f/-fe.(scarf -scarves) (but:chiefs, roofs, cliffs, safes etc)

· Some nouns of Greek or Latin origin form their plural by adding Greek or Latin suffixes.(basis - bases, crisis - crises, terminus - termini, criterion - criteria, medium - media etc)

Compound nouns form their plural byadding-s -es:

· tothe second nounifthe compound consists oftwo nouns.(corkscrew - corkscrews)

· tothe nounif the compoundconsistsofan adjective and a noun.(steering wheel - steering wheels)

· tothe first nounif the compound consists oftwo nouns connected with a prepositionortothe nounif the compound has onlyone noun.(doctor of philosophy - doctors of philosophy, hanger-on - hangers-on)

· at theend of the compoundif thisisnot made up of any nouns,(runaway - runaways)

Irregular Plurals:

man - men,woman - women,foot - feet,tooth - teeth,louse - lice,mouse - mice,child -children,goose - geese,sheep - sheep,deer - deer,fish - fish,trout - trout,ox - oxen,salmon - salmon,spacecraft - spacecraft,aircraft - aircraft,means - means,species - species,hovercraft – hovercraft