English Grammar .com
Lesson 2
Grammar lesson 2
Singular and plural nouns
1 The basics
A singular noun refers to just one person, place,
thing, or idea.
E.g. Pen, paper, shoe.
A plural noun refers to more than one person,
place, thing, or idea.
E.g. Pens, papers, shoes.
2 The rules
Ends in: Add: Example:
‘s’, ‘ss’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘x’
‘es‘ viruses, squashes, churches, boxes, waltzes
or ‘z‘
‘f’ or ‘fe’ ‘ves‘ leaves, shelves, halves, loaves, ourselves, calves, lives
Exceptions to the rule: chefs, chiefs, roofs, beliefs, gulfs, safes, proofs, cliffs
End with a vowel
“s” days, plays, valleys, toys, boys
and then a ‘y’
End with
fairies, hobbies, jellies, batteries, cities, puppies, stories,
consonant and ‘ies‘.
ladies, daisies
then a ‘y’
Ending with an ‘o’
with the rule applied: potatoes, tomatoes, echoes, heroes,
preceded by a ‘es‘
zeroes
consonant
Other words ending with an ‘o’ can just be made plural by adding an ‘s’.
exceptions to the rule: photos, infernos, discos, casinos, halos
, Ends in: Add: Example:
‘us’ ‘i‘ fungi, cacti, nuclei
‘is’ ‘es‘ crises, axes, ellipses, oases, diagnoses
Some words that
‘ices‘ indices, matrices, vertices
end in ‘ix’ or ‘ex‘
Many words can be made plural by putting an ‘s‘ at the end of the word.
e.g. cats, tables, pencils, windows, gardens, chairs
Some words do not change their spellings for plurals and the same spelling is used for
singular and plural nouns. These are known as ‘uncountable nouns‘.
e.g. deer, moose, sheep, series, species
Irregular nouns:
The biggest thing with irregular nouns is that there are no rules, this means you learn
these by memorizing. It takes time, do not expect to know all of them right away.
Some common irregular nouns:
Child - Children
Man - Men
Woman - Women
Tooth - Teeth
Foot - Feet
Person - People
Mouse - Mice
Goose - Geese
Phenomenon - Phenomena
On the topic of many, in English we also have collective nouns. These are the names
of groups of something.
Again, there are so many, we will look at the most commonly used ones:
Lesson 2
Grammar lesson 2
Singular and plural nouns
1 The basics
A singular noun refers to just one person, place,
thing, or idea.
E.g. Pen, paper, shoe.
A plural noun refers to more than one person,
place, thing, or idea.
E.g. Pens, papers, shoes.
2 The rules
Ends in: Add: Example:
‘s’, ‘ss’, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘x’
‘es‘ viruses, squashes, churches, boxes, waltzes
or ‘z‘
‘f’ or ‘fe’ ‘ves‘ leaves, shelves, halves, loaves, ourselves, calves, lives
Exceptions to the rule: chefs, chiefs, roofs, beliefs, gulfs, safes, proofs, cliffs
End with a vowel
“s” days, plays, valleys, toys, boys
and then a ‘y’
End with
fairies, hobbies, jellies, batteries, cities, puppies, stories,
consonant and ‘ies‘.
ladies, daisies
then a ‘y’
Ending with an ‘o’
with the rule applied: potatoes, tomatoes, echoes, heroes,
preceded by a ‘es‘
zeroes
consonant
Other words ending with an ‘o’ can just be made plural by adding an ‘s’.
exceptions to the rule: photos, infernos, discos, casinos, halos
, Ends in: Add: Example:
‘us’ ‘i‘ fungi, cacti, nuclei
‘is’ ‘es‘ crises, axes, ellipses, oases, diagnoses
Some words that
‘ices‘ indices, matrices, vertices
end in ‘ix’ or ‘ex‘
Many words can be made plural by putting an ‘s‘ at the end of the word.
e.g. cats, tables, pencils, windows, gardens, chairs
Some words do not change their spellings for plurals and the same spelling is used for
singular and plural nouns. These are known as ‘uncountable nouns‘.
e.g. deer, moose, sheep, series, species
Irregular nouns:
The biggest thing with irregular nouns is that there are no rules, this means you learn
these by memorizing. It takes time, do not expect to know all of them right away.
Some common irregular nouns:
Child - Children
Man - Men
Woman - Women
Tooth - Teeth
Foot - Feet
Person - People
Mouse - Mice
Goose - Geese
Phenomenon - Phenomena
On the topic of many, in English we also have collective nouns. These are the names
of groups of something.
Again, there are so many, we will look at the most commonly used ones:
