English Grammar 101: Plural Form of Nouns

Daily Writing Tips has posted a nice “English Grammar 101″ on plural forms of different types of nouns. You can call it a cheat-sheet for plural forms of nounz (oops, i really have to master this ;)

The English language has both regular and irregular plural forms of nouns. The most common case is when you need to add -s to the noun. For example one car and two cars.

The other two cases of the regular plural form are:

• nouns that end with s, x, ch or sh, where you add -es (e.g., one box, two boxes)
• nouns that end with consonant + y, where you change the y with i and add -es (e.g., one enemy, two enemies)

On the irregular plural form of nouns there are basically eight cases:

• nouns that end with -o, where you add -es (e.g., one potato, two potatoes)
• nouns ending with -is, where you change -is to -es (e.g., one crisis, two crises)
• nouns ending with -f, where you change -f to -v and add -ves (e.g., one wolf, two wolves)
• nouns ending with -fe, where you change -f to -v and add -s (e.g., one life, two lives)
• nouns ending with -us, where you change -us to -i (e.g., one fungus, two fungi)
• nouns that contain -oo, change -oo to -ee (e.g., one foot, two feet)
• nouns that end with -on, where you change -on with -a (e.g., phenomenon, phenomena)
• nouns that don’t change (e.g., sheep, offspring, series)

It might appear overwhelming, but after using these nouns a couple of times you will be able to memorize their plural form easily.

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