Methods of forming plural nouns

There are 8 (Eight) methods of forming plural nouns of a singular nouns. 

We must remember these methods for the right and correct use of nouns in our conversations or writings.

Method # 1:

Plural noun is formed by adding‘s’ to the singular noun.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Girl	Girls
Leg	Legs
Poet	Poets
Bottle	Bottles
Medicine	Medicines
Book	Books
Chair	Chairs

 

Method # 2:

Singular nouns that ends in s, sh, ch and x will be added with ‘es’ to form Plural number.

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Bus	Buses
Truss	Trusses
Class	Classes
Bush	Bushes
Brush	Brushes
Bench	Benches
Ditch	Ditches
Box	Boxes
Tax	Taxes

 

Note: Fish remains fish as it is singular or plural alike. 

We discuss such nouns which are singular or plural alike in subsequent sections.

 

Method # 3

The singular nouns ending in ‘y’ are governed by two conditions for forming plural noun. 

What are those conditions?

 

Condition 1: Singular noun ending in ‘y’ preceded by consonant will be pluralized by dropping ‘y’ and adding ‘ies’.

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Army	Armies
Fly	Flies
City	Cities
Lady	Ladies
Duty	Duties
Story	Stories
Jury	Juries
Levy	Levies
Copy	Copies

 

 

Condition 2: Singular noun ending in ‘y’ preceded by vowel will be pluralized by adding only‘s’ without dropping ‘y’.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Boy	Boys
Day	Days
Key	Keys
Monkey	Monkeys
Toy	Toys

Method # 4

 

Singular nouns which end in ‘o’ may be added with ‘es’ in most of the cases for forming plural nouns.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Mango	Mangoes
Potato	Potatoes
Negro	Negroes
Hero	Heroes
Buffalo	Buffaloes

 

But in some specific cases such nouns ending with ‘o’ take only‘s’ for forming plural number.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Canto	Cantos
Dynamo	Dynamos
Piano	Pianos
Quarto	Quartos

 

Mosquito, Calico, Portico can be pluralized by either of above mentioned methods for forming plural number as both methods are applicable on them.

 

Method # 5

 

Singular Nouns ending in oo, io, eo are pluralized by adding‘s’ only.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Bamboo	Bamboos
Cuckoo	Cuckoos
Portfolio	Portfolios
Seraglio	Seraglios
Cameo	Cameos

 

 

Method # 6

 

Singular Nouns ending in f and fe may form plural in most cases by dropping f and fe and adding ‘ves’.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Wife	Wives
Knife	Knives
Life	Lives
Half	Halves
Thief	Thieves

 

But in some specific cases such singular nouns are pluralized by adding only‘s’.

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Dwarf	Dwarfs
Proof	Proofs
Roof	Roofs
Chief	Chiefs
Grief	Griefs
Gulf	Gulfs
Safe	Safes
Strifes	Strifes

 

 

Method # 7

 

Some singular nouns are pluralized by changing inside vowel or by adding en or ne.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Cow	Kine
Brother	Brethren
Tooth	Teeth
Goose	Geese
Foot	Feet
Man	Men
Child	Children
Mouse	Mice
Louse	Lice
Ox	Oxen

 

Method # 8

 

Singular nouns comprising more than one word i.e compound nouns are pluralized by adding‘s’ to the principal word.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Passer-by	Passers-by
Governor-General	Governors-General or Governors-Generals
Looker-on	Lookers-on
Coat-of-mail	Coats-of-mail
Commander-in-Chief	Commanders-in-Chief
Court-martial	Courts-martial
Step-son	Step-sons
Father-in-law	Fathers-in-law
Maid-servant	Maid-servants
Handful	Handfuls

 

Note: Man-servant, Woman-servant, Knight-errant, Lord-justice are exempted from above rule and they takes‘s’ with both words for forming plural.

 

Singular Noun	Plural Noun
Lord-justice	Lords-justices
Man-servant	Men-servants
Woman-servant	Women-servants
Knight-errant	Knight-errants

Now remember these 4 (four) points about following nouns.

Point # 1:

Following nouns are always considered in plural sense. Never are they singular.

Cattle

Cattle are grazing in the field.

(plural verb is used as cattle is plural noun)

Swine

These swine are healthy.

(plural verb is used as swine is always a plural noun)

 

People

People were free to vote anyone at their choice.

(plural verb and pronoun are used as people is always considered as plural noun).

 

Point # 2:

Following nouns are also used in plural sense

Alms, Annals, Assets, Bellows, Billiards, Breeches, Draughts, Drawers, Measles, Mumps, Nuptials, Pincers, Proceeds, Riches, Scissors, Spectacles, Thanks, Tidings, Tongs, Trousers.

Point # 3:

Following nouns are always considered in singular sense

Politics, Mathematics, Physics, Innings, Civics, Ethics, Mechanics, Metaphysics.

 

Point # 4:

Following nouns are singular as well as plural alike. They do not need any change in making plural of singular.

Brace, deer, dozen, fish, gross, hair, hundred, news, pair, paisa, yoke.

Example:

I bought three dozens eggs. (Incorrect)

I bought three dozen eggs. (Correct)

Or if you want to use dozens instead of dozen then it can be as mentioned below

I bought dozens of eggs. (Correct)

 

Similarly

Our team made two hundreds runs.

Our team made two hundred runs.

Or it can be

Our team made hundreds of runs.

I borrowed him ten-rupee note.

I bought five-kilo mangoes.

He weighed forty-pound.

A twenty-pound fish is caught.

Five-paisa

Remember the use of hyphen (-).

Some more details

I gave him five-paisa to buy candy.

paisa in this sentence denotes plural number. Remember using (-) in these situations

 

It has ten-pound weight

Pound in this sentence denotes plural number and (-) is used between adjective ‘ten’ and noun ‘pound’.

 

One rupee note is cancelled

Rupee in this sentence is singular in number.

Hope the methods of forming plural nouns is thoroughly explained and it may be useful.