Making singular nouns plural

Singular and Plural
The word singular means just one of something, for

t

Most singular nouns form the plural by adding –s.

t

Singular nouns ending in ‘s’, ‘x’, ‘z’, ‘ch’ or ‘sh’ form

Singular nouns ending in a consonant and the letter ‘y’ form

Singular nouns ending in a vowel and the letter ‘y’ form

So, most of the time, we make a plural noun by

Some singular nouns ending in ‘o’ form the plural by adding

But some singular nouns ending in ‘o’ form the plural by

Nouns that end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ usually form the plural

However, some nouns that end in ‘f’ form the plural by

Top Tip
If you can hear the sound ‘f’ in the

Some tricky nouns are the same in the singular and the

Pairs of things usually only have a plural form.

Foreign Words
Many English nouns have been taken from other languages so

Singular Greek and Latin nouns ending in ‘a’ add an –e

Singular Greek and Latin nouns ending in ‘is’ change it to

Singular Greek nouns ending in ‘on’ change it to –a to

Singular Latin nouns ending in ‘ix’ or ‘ex’ use –ices to

Singular Latin nouns ending in ‘um’ use –a to form the

Most singular Latin nouns ending in ‘us’ change to –i to

Singular French nouns ending in ‘eau’ or ‘eu’ add –x to

Singular Italian nouns ending in ‘o’ change to -i to form

Some nouns are completely irregular and do not follow any of

More Examples of Irregular (Mutated) Plural Nouns

Making Singular English Nouns Plural

Making Singular Foreign Nouns Plural

What is the plural form of ‘cuff’ ?

A) cuffes

B) cuff

C) cuves

D)

What is the plural form of ‘sheep’ ?

A) sheeps

B) sheepes

C) sheep

D)

What is the plural form of ‘octopus’ ?

A) octopi

B) octopusies

C) octopuses

D)

Can you find the singular and plural noun pairs?

die

dice

virtuoso

virtuosi

elf

elves

domino

dominoes

teeth

tooth

baby

babies

gateau

gateaux