• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

English Grammar & Vocabulary

Lessons & Practice Tests

  • Home
  • Parts of Speech
    • Nouns
    • Pronouns
    • Verbs
    • Adjectives
    • Prepositions
    • Conjunction
    • Interjections
  • Tenses
    • Tenses – Introduction
    • Tenses – Example Sentences
    • Tenses – Rules
  • Voice
  • Speech
  • Articles

Plural Nouns

Singular and Plural Nouns – 13 Rules

29th July 2020 By Edify English 3 Comments

Nouns are one of the parts of speech in the English language. One thing that is important while mentioning nouns in any sentence is the difference between singularity and plurality of the noun. There are some important yet simple rules to follow while writing Singular and Plural Nouns, and we shall discuss all those rules in this article.

Singular and Plural Nouns Rules

Singular and Plural Nouns

Singular nouns are the nouns that indicate one person, one thing, one place, or any noun. Plural nouns are the nouns that denote more than one person, place, thing, or any other noun. it is easy to differentiate between singular and plural nouns, and if we remember some basic rules, it is easy to convert a singular noun to plural.

Rules for Changing Singular Nouns into Plural Nouns

Rule 1

If the singular name of the noun ends with s, ss, sh, ch, x, or z, then an ‘es‘ has to be put at the end of the noun to make it plural. Let us see some nouns that fall under this rule.

  • Class —-> Classes
  • Kiss —-> Kisses
  • Bench —-> Benches
  • Mass —-> Masses
  • Tax —-> Taxes
  • Watch —-> Watches
  • Match —-> Matches
  • Bush —-> Bushes
  • Topaz —-> Topazes
  • Box —-> Boxes

An exception for this rule is Monarch and Stomach, whose plural nouns are Monarchs and Stomachs.

Rule 2

If the noun ends with ‘O’, the plural of the noun has ‘es‘ at the end of it. 

  • Hero —-> Heroes
  • Zero —-> Zeroes
  • Potato —-> Potatoes
  • Mango  —-> Mangoes
  • Echo —-> Echoes
  • Buffalo —-> Buffaloes
  • Tornado —-> Tornadoes
  • Mosquito —-> Mosquitoes

Some exceptions of this rule are as follows:

  • Photo —-> Photos
  • Dynamo —-> Dynamos
  • Stereo —-> Stereos
  • Solo —-> Solos
  • Piano —-> Pianos
  • Macho —-> Machos

Rule 3

If there are two vowels (a, e, i, o, u) at the end of the noun, the plural form has ‘s’ in it at the end.

  • Radio —-> Radios
  • Ratio —-> Ratios 
  • Studio —-> Studios
  • Canoe —-> Canoes
  • bamboo —-> Bamboos
  • Portfolio —-> Portfolios

Rule 4

If the noun ends with ‘y’ and is preceded by a consonant, then ‘ies‘ is added to the noun in plural form. If the noun ends with ‘y’ and is preceded by a vowel, then ‘s‘ is added to the noun in plural form. Let’s see the examples for easy understanding.

Nouns ending with ‘y’ and a consonant before it.
  • Spy —-> Spies
  • History —-> Histories
  • Fly —-> Flies
  • Army —-> Armies
  • City —-> Cities
Nouns ending with ‘y’ and a vowel before it.
  • Lay —-> Lays
  • Ray —-> Rays
  • Tray —-> Trays
  • Storey —-> Storeys
  • Day —-> Days
  • Play —-> Plays

Rule 5

If a noun ends with ‘f’ or ‘fe’, then the plural form of the noun ends with ‘ves’ instead of ‘f’ or ‘fe’. For example, 

  • Knife —-> Knives
  • Wife —-> Wives
  • Shelf —-> Shelves
  • Loaf —-> Loaves
  • Self —-> Selves
  • Life —-> Lives

Some exceptions to this rule are:

  • Proof —-> Proofs
  • Belief —-> Beliefs
  • Strife —-> Strifes
  • Dwarf —-> Dwarfs
  • Roof —-> Roofs

Rule 6: 

Some nouns convert into a plural by changing the vowels inside the singular form. Some examples are as follows:

  • Man —-> Men
  • Woman —-> Women
  • Tooth —-> Teeth
  • Foot —-> Feet
  • Louse —-> Lice
  • Mouse —-> Mice

Rule 7

We can change Some nouns into plural by adding ‘en’ to the plural form. For example, 

  • Ox —-> Oxen
  • Child —-> Children

Rule 8:

Nouns with same Singular and Plural Forms

Some nouns have the same singular and plural forms. Then how do we distinguish between singular and plural? Singular nouns have ‘is/ was/ has’ as the helping verb, and the plural nouns have ‘are/ have/ were/ are’ as the helping verb. Let us see some examples.

  • Deer —-> Deer
  • Gross —-> Gross
  • Sheep —-> Sheep
  • Pair —-> Pair
  • Salmon —-> Salmon
  • Score —-> Score

Rule 9:

Nouns that are always in the Plural form

Some nouns can be written only in the plural form and should use a plural verb after the noun. Some of the examples are:

  • Spectacles
  • Scissors
  • Trousers
  • Tongs
  • Pincers
  • Thanks
  • Proceeds
  • Nuptials
  • Odds
  • Vegetables
  • Drawers
  • Troops, etc.

Rule 10:

Singular Nouns with Plural Forms

Some singular nouns have plural forms but we should write them with singular verb after them. For example, 

  • Innings
  • Mathematics
  • News
  • Civics
  • Rickets
  • Measles
  • Mumps
  • Tuberculosis
  • Economics
  • Politics
  • Physics
  • Ethics
  • Singles
  • Billiards, etc.

Rule 11:

Compound Nouns and their Plural forms

For compound nouns, we can change them into plural forms by adding ‘s’ to the main noun. Here are some examples:

  • Father- in- law —-> Fathers- in- law
  • Brother- in- law —-> Brothers- in- law
  • Stepdaughter —-> Stepdaughters
  • Looker- on —-> Lookers- on
  • Man- of- war —-> Men- of- war
  • Commander- in- chief —-> Commanders- in- chief

Rule 12:

Nouns Borrowed from other Languages and their Plural Forms

Some nouns borrowed from other languages have some special rules to change into plural forms. Here are some examples.

  • Datum —-> Data
  • Referendum —-> Referenda
  • Agendum —-> Agenda
  • Memorandum —-> Memoranda
  • Oasis —-> Oases
  • Thesis —-> Theses
  • Analysis —-> Analyses
  • Index —-> Indices
  • Criterion —-> Criteria
  • Medium —-> Media
  • Phenomenon —-> Phenomena
  • Bacterium —-> Bacteria

Rule 13

Abstract nouns have no plural form. For example, 

  • Kindness
  • Happiness
  • Hope
  • Love
  • Hatred
  • Charity
  • Lust
  • Compassion, etc.

If some abstract nouns are used in the plural form such as provocations, coppers, irons, etc… they will be classified into common nouns and material nouns. 

These are the important rules for singular and plural nouns. 

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for daily doses of vocabulary.

Filed Under: Grammar, Nouns, Parts of Speech Tagged With: Nouns Examples, Plural Nouns, Plural Nouns Examples, Singular and Plural, Singular and Plural nouns, Singular Nouns, Singular Nouns Examples

Primary Sidebar

What are Common Nouns? Definition and Examples

Collective Nouns – Definition and Examples

What are Proper Nouns? Definition and Examples

Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

Personal Pronouns: Meaning, Types and Examples

Above vs Over – Know the Correct Usage

Copyright © 2020 Edify English. View Sitemap. Read our Privacy Policy