Test your knowledge of English noun plurals and possessives with this quiz. Lear...

English Noun Plurals and Possessives

• Some words ending in 'us' have Latin roots and change to 'i' in the plural form, like octopus to octopi and alumnus to alumni.
• Nouns ending in 's' or 'z' usually add 'es' in the plural form, e.g., quiz to quizzes and gas to gasses.
• Nouns ending in 'f' or 'fe' change to 'ves' in the plural form, such as knife to knives and life to lives.
• Words ending in 'on' or 'um' from other languages can be tricky, like medium to media and phenomenon to phenomena.
• Many nouns ending in 'o' need 'es' to become plural, but some just add 's' or are acceptable with either 's' or 'es'.
• Nouns ending in 'y' preceded by a consonant change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es' to form the plural, e.g., cherry to cherries and ferry to ferries.
• Irregular plural nouns include those that stay the same in singular and plural form, such as deer and moose, and those with completely changed spellings, like child to children and ox to oxen.
• Possessive nouns indicate ownership, formed by adding an apostrophe and 's' in singular form, and after the 's' in plural form, except for irregular plurals or those not ending in 's'.
• Examples of possessives include cat's and cats', class's and classes', and medium's and media's.
• Exceptions to the possessive rule include placing the apostrophe after the 's' or omitting the additional 's' for singular forms already ending in 's', and no apostrophe or additional 's' for nouns denoting buildings or objects.
• Tricky circumstances in English language rules include exceptions and variations, such as varying plural forms and possessives for certain nouns.
• Understanding the rules and exceptions for forming plural nouns and possessives in English can be complex, requiring attention to specific patterns and irregularities in the language.