MPC English & Study Skills Center

Plurals

Rule 1:

Only nouns have a plural form in English.  Most nouns make the plural by simply adding s to the word.

Rule 2:

Nouns that end in s, x, z, ch, and sh add es to make the plural.  This plural always adds another syllable to the word.

Rule 3:

Nouns that end in o have three possibilities:

A.  The plural is formed by adding only s:

Art-related or music-related words

Other

B.  The plural is formed by adding es:

Food-related words: (remember the e for "eat."

Other:

C.  The plural may be formed with either s or es (authorities sometimes disagree about this):

Rule 4:

Nouns that end  in  y have two possibilities:

A.  If the noun ends in a consonant + y, change the y to i  and add es:

B.  If the noun ends with a vowel + y,  just add s:

 Rule 5:

Nouns that end in f or fe have three possibilities:

A.  If the f sound is pronounced, simply add s:

B.  If the f sound changes to v, change to f to v and add es:

C.  If there are two possible pronunciations, there are two spellings (authorities sometimes disagree about this):

Rule 6:

Some nouns have the same singular and plural form.

Rule 7:

Some nouns have irregular plurals.

Rule 8:

Hyphenated nouns make the plural with the first part of the word because that's the noun part.

Rule 9:

Proper nouns make plurals the same as other nouns.

Rule 10:

Nouns that are derived from Latin or Greek and end in is change to es.

Rule 11:

Nouns that are derived from Greek, Latin, or other foreign language may have irregular plurals.

Rule 12:

Nouns that are derived from Greek, Latin, or other foreign language may have two forms for the plural, the original plural and the plural that follows the rules of English.  Authorities do not always agree on which form is correct.

Rule 13:

Odd nouns, such as figures, letters, lower-case abbreviations, and abbreviations with periods, make the plural with an apostrophe + s.

Rule 14:

Nouns that are discussed as words rather than the things they refer to make the plural with an apostrophe + s.