The plural of nouns

I. General Rule

English countable nouns have two numbers – the Singular and the Plural. The plural of English
nouns is formed by adding the ending –s/ – es to the Singular.

N+ – s /– es

II. Ways of Pronunciation

The ending – s/ – es may be pronounced as

[s] after voiceless consonants (other than sibilants).

E.g. lamp – lamps [s]
book – books [s]
[z] after voiced consonants (other than sibilants) and vowels.
E.g. bed – beds [z]
bee – bees [z]
[ız] after sibilants (s, z, S, Z, C,G)
E.g. rose – roses [ız]
bridge – bridges [ız]

III. Particular Cases of Spelling

The ending – es is added to nouns ending in:

1. sibilants
E.g. bush – bushes box – boxes horse – horses
class – classes watch – watches bridge – bridges

2. – “y” preceded by a consonant

+ “y” changes into “i”

E.g. city – cities Cf.: boy – boys

family – families day – days
monkey – monkeys

3. – “o” preceded by a consonant

E.g. hero – heroes Cf.: cuckoo – cokoos

potato – potatoes zoo – zoos
tomato – tomatoes studio – studios
video – videos
radio – radios
portfolio – portfolios

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 But ! photo – photos
piano – pianos
solo – solos
metro – metros
zero – zeros
auto – autos
kilo – kilos
tobacco – tobaccos

Note: There are a few nouns which have both forms:

cargoes volcanoes
E.g. cargo < volcano <
cargos volcanos

4. – “f”/ – “fe” in the following nouns:

+ “f” changes into “v”

knife – knives leaf – leaves calf – calves thief – thieves

wife – wives wolf – wolves shelf – shelves half – halves
life – lives self – selves loaf – loaves elf – elves

But ! Other nouns ending in – “f”/ – “fe” add “s”

E.g. roof – roofs gulf – gulfs

proof – proofs cliff – cliffs
belief – beliefs reef – reefs
relief – reliefs safe – safes
chief – chiefs handkerchief – handkerchiefs

Note: There are a few nouns which have both forms

hoofs scarfs wharfs

E.g. hoof< scarf< wharf<
hooves scarves wharves

IV. Plural of Compound Nouns

1. As a rule, they change the singular of the head-word

E.g. stepmother – stepmothers
passer–by – passers–by
hotel-keeper – hotel-keepers
son-in-law – sons-in-law
editor-in-chief – editors-in-chief
field-mouse – field-mice

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а) If there is no head-word, the final element takes the plural:
E.g. lady-bird – lady-birds

b) If there is no noun in the compound, –s/ – es is added to the last element:

E.g. forget-me-not – forget-me-nots
merry-go-round – merry-go-rounds
break-down – breakdowns
pick-up – pick-ups
go-between – go-betweens
drop-out – drop-outs
sit-in – sit-ins

2. If the first word of the compound is “man”/”woman”, both the words in the compound are
used in the plural:
E.g. man-servant – men-servants
woman-doctor – women-doctors

V. Irregular Ways of Forming Plural

1.
man – men child – children foot – feet mouse – mice
woman – women ox – oxen tooth – teeth louse – lice
goose – geese

2. Some nouns of foreign origin (mostly borrowed from Latin and Greek) keep their native
plural forms (they are given in a dictionary).
E.g. phenomenon – phenomena (Greek)
crisis – crises (Greek)
formula – formulae (Latin)

Note: Some of them have 2 plural forms

formulae indices
E.g. formula< index<
formulas indexes

3. In some nouns the plural form does not differ from the singular:

а) always unchanged:
deer – deer swine – swine cod – cod
sheep – sheep grouse – grouse salmon – salmon

b) usually unchanged:
trout – trout carp – carp
pike – pike moose – moose

c) have both regular and unchanged plural:

Antelope – antelope(s) flounder – flounder(s)
reindeer – reindeer(s) herring – herring(s)
fish – fish(es)
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 4. In some nouns the singular form does not differ from the plural:
means – a means species – a species headquarters – a headquarters
series – a series works – a works

5. Some nouns ending in –s(-ics) are usually singular ( and uncountable).

а) – “s”
news measles
billiards mumps
draughts rickets
+ some other games + some other diseases

b) – “ics”
mathematics (or maths) athletics
physics gymnastics
electronics + some other
economics activities
optics
politics
phonetics
+ some other sciences

c) some geographical names:

countries: Wales towns: Athens

the Bahamas Brussels
the Philippines Naples
the Netherlands
the United States

VI. Nouns With No Singular (=Always Plural)

1. One thing has two parts:

trousers glasses pyjamas scissors Cf.: a glove - gloves

jeans spectacles shears a sock - socks
tights goggles (top and bottom) tongs a stocking – stockings
shorts binoculars
pants
breeches (two eyes) scales
leggings

(two legs)

Note: To make them singular we use “a pair of”

E.g. Those are nice jeans . → That’s a nice pair of jeans.
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2. Some other nouns:

goods
clothes
wages
sweets
contents
people
(Note: a people = “народ, нация”– peoples )

VII. Nouns With No Plural (=Always Singular)

1. uncountable nouns:
money (much money, little money, a little money)
advice (a piece of advice)
furniture (an item of furniture, a piece of furniture)
knowledge
information
progress
work (a piece of work, a job, jobs)
experience ( “an experience”, “experiences” when countable in the meaning of “приключение”)
hair (a hair, 2 hairs when countable)
weather

2. nouns of material:
gold
silver
bread (a loaf of bread, a slice of bread)
sugar (but different kinds (sorts) are
wine called ”sugars”, “wines”)
tea ( but thinking about helpings
coffee we say: “2 teas”, “4 coffees
ice-cream and 6 ice-creams”)
paper (“a paper, papers” when countable)

2. abstract nouns:
strength friendship noise ( but “a noise”, “noises”; “a light”,
will music light “lights” when countable)
love

VIII. More Things to Remember

1. a) house – houses
[hаus] – [hаuzız]

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 b) Nouns ending in –“th” = [θ] change it into [ð] in pronunciation after long vowels and
diphthongs:
E.g. [bа:θ] bath – baths [bа:ðz] [ouθ] oath – oaths [ouðz]

Note: Nothing happens to [θ] after consonants (including “r”) and short vowels:

[mAnθ] month – months [mAnθs] [mıθ] myth – myths [mıθs]

[bə:θ ] birth – births [bə:θs] [helθ] health – healths [helθs]

2. The Smiths live next to us. The Smirnovs are nice people.

3. а) Some nouns singular in form are often (but not always) plural in their meaning:
cattle
youth
army
government these nouns ( the so-called “collective nouns”)
staff are all groups of people ( but cattle ). We often
team think of them as a number of people ( = they)
family not as one thing ( = it). So we often use a plural
audience verb.
commettee
company
firm

E.g. The government ( = they) want to increase taxes.

The staff ( = they) look after the children.
Scotland (a sports team = they) are playing France next week.
Shell (a company = they) have increased the price of petrol.

b) “police” always requires a plural verb.

E.g. The police have arrested a friend of mine.
Do you think the police are well-paid?
Note: a person in the police is “a policeman”, “a policewoman”, “a police-officer”,
not “a police”.

4. We often think of
– a sum of money
– a period of time
– a distance
– etc.
as one thing. So we use a singular verb.

E.g. Twenty thousand pounds ( = it) was stolen in the robbery.

Three years ( = it) is a long time to be without a job.
Six miles ( = it) is a long way to walk every day.
Thirty degrees ( = it) is too hot for me.