Plural Nouns and Their Formation

Plural Nouns

• Plural nouns represent more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
• Most plural nouns end in "s" or "es".
• Irregular plural nouns have unique plural forms (e.g., child – children).

Forming Plural Nouns

• Regular Plurals: Add "s" to the singular noun (book – books, method – methods).
• Plural Nouns Ending in Consonant + "y": Change "y" to "ies" (theory – theories, supply – supplies).
• Plural Nouns Ending in "s", "ss", "sh", "ch", "x", or "z": Add "es" (bus – buses, boss – bosses, lunch – lunches).
• Plural Nouns Ending in "z": Double the "z" and add "es" (quiz – quizzes).
• Plural Nouns Ending in "f" or "fe": Often change "f" or "fe" to "ves" (knife – knives, thief – thieves). Exceptions exist (roof – roofs, belief - beliefs, chef – chefs, chief – chiefs).
• Plural Nouns Ending in "o": Add "es" (potato – potatoes, tomato – tomatoes). Exceptions exist (photo – photos, piano – pianos, halo – halos).
• Unchanged Plurals: Some nouns remain the same in the plural form (sheep – sheep, series – series, deer – deer, aircraft – aircraft, algebra – algebra, speech – speech, research – research).
• Irregular Plurals: Certain nouns have irregular plural forms (man – men, woman – women, child – children, tooth – teeth, foot – feet, mouse – mice).

Articles

• Use "a" or "an" before meals, days, and months (e.g., "I had lunch with my friend").
• Use "a" or "an" before "next" or "last" + days, weeks, months, etc (e.g., "See you next Friday").
• Use "a" or "an" before continents, cities, or countries (e.g., "He went to Africa and visited Botswana, Swaziland and Zambia").