Singular and plural forms of nouns

Regular singular forms of nouns

Most English nouns have a different ending for ‘one’ of something (called the singular form) than they do for ‘more than one’ (called the plural form). In the case of the majority of nouns the plural is formed regularly simply by adding s or es to the singular, as in bat/bats, monkey/monkeys, church/churches. In cases where the singular noun ends in a consonant followed by y then the plural form regularly becomes ies, as in fairy/fairies.

Regular plural forms of nouns

The following is a list of common nouns with their regular plural forms:

banana bananas

berry berries

bush bushes

dog dogs

elephant elephants

friend friends

house houses

kiss kisses

lady ladies

march marches

porch porches

road roads

story stories

table tables

taxi taxis

umbrella umbrellas

variety varieties.

Irregular plural forms of nouns

Some nouns do not form their plural in the above regular ways. Instead their
plural forms are said to be irregular.
Some irregular plurals are formed, not by adding an ending to the singular
form, but by changing the vowel in the singular forms, as in man/men, or by
having a completely different form from the singular, as in mouse/mice.
The following are examples of nouns with their irregular plural forms:

foot feet
goose geese
tooth teeth
woman women.

A few irregular plural forms are formed by adding ‘en’ to the singular form, as in ox/oxen. In the case of the word child the letter r is added before the en. Some nouns ending in f form irregular plurals ending in ves, as in loaf/loaves. The following is a list of such nouns with their plural forms:

half halves

leaf leaves

scarf scarves

wife wives

wolf wolves.

Irregular and regular forms

The word hoof can either have the irregular plural form hooves or the regular plural form hoofs. The word roof usually has the regular plural form
roofs.

Foreign plural forms of nouns

Some nouns in English have a plural form that follows the spelling rules of the foreign language from which they are derived, as in stimulus (stimuli). The following are examples of such words with the plural form in their original foreign language:

bacterium bacteria
bacillus bacilli
criterion criteria
larva larvae
phenomenon phenomena.

Unchanging plural form

Some irregular plural forms are the same as the singular form of the noun.
These include sheep, salmon and grouse (the game bird).

Nouns used only in the plural form

There are some words, such as jeans, scissors and trousers, which are only used in the plural form and have no singular equivalent form. To refer to any of these in the singular the construction a pair of jeans, scissors or trousers is used.

Foreign plurals

In modern English there is a tendency to anglicize the plural forms of foreign words. Many of these co-exist with the original foreign plural form, as thesaurus (thesauri/thesauruses). Other examples include formula (formulae/formulas), appendix (appendices/appendixes), index (indices/indexes) and gateau (gateaux/gateaus).

In the case of the words appendix and index the two plural forms are used in different contexts. The plural appendices is used in a literary context, as in the appendices added as additional information to a book, whereas the plural appendixes is used in a medical context, as in the surgical removal of appendixes. The plural indices is usually used in a mathematical context, whereas the plural indexes is usually used in a literary context to refer to a guide to a book.

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Singular and plural forms of nouns explanation