Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- distinguish between regular and irregular nouns
- say and write the plural forms of given regular nouns
- say and write the plural forms of given irregular nouns
- use regular and irregular nouns in sentences of your own
What are regular nouns?
Regular nouns are those nouns that form their plural by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’ to the singular form. I guess one thought that will be running through your mind is: when do we add ‘s’ to the singular to form the plural? And when do we add ‘es’
The thing is that even for regular nouns, some rules will have to be followed in forming their plurals.
1. The plural of most regular nouns are formed by adding ‘s’ to the singular form.
For example:
Singular Plural
bird – birds
ball – balls
dog – dogs
house – houses.
2. The plural of nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh is formed by adding ‘es’ to the singular form. For example:
Singular Plural
class – classes
box – boxes
church – churches
ash – ashes
buzz – buzzes.
3. The plural of a noun ending in ‘o’ preceded by a vowel sound is formed by adding ‘s’ to the singular form. For example:
Singular Plural
radio – radios
patio – patios
igloo – igloos.
4. The plural of a noun ending in ‘y‘ preceded by a vowel sound is formed regularly by adding ‘s’ to the singular form. For example:
Singular Plural
tray – trays
bay – bays
donkey – donkeys
monkey – monkeys
boy – boys
guy – guys.
5. The plural of a noun ending in y preceded by a consonant sound is formed by changing the y to ‘-ie’ before adding the plural marker „-s‟. For example:
Singular Y-Change Add ‘-s’ Plural Form
baby | babie | +s | = | babies |
berry courtesy | berrie courtesie | +s +s | = = | berries courtesies |
energy | energie | +s | = | energies |
fly | flie | +s | = | flies |
6. Most nouns ending in “f” or “fe” form their plurals by adding „-s‟ to the singular form. For example:
Singular Plural
waif waifs
fife – fifes
proof – proofs
roof – roofs
dwarf – dwarfs
wharf – wharfs (or wharves)
7. The plurals of proper nouns are formed by adding ‘-s’ to the singular form. For example:
Singular Plural
Mensah – the Mensahs (members of the Mensah family)
John – the Johns (a number of people called John)
Mr Sarpong – the Sarpongs
Ben Tawiah – the Tawiahs
Try to form sentences with the plural forms.
- The Mensahs live in Koforidua.
- There are five Johns in our class.
- This mansion belongs to the Sarpongs.
- Here comes the Tawiahs.
What are irregular nouns?
These are nouns that form their plurals in an irregular way; they do not add „-s‟ or „-es‟ to the singular form. There are several categories of such irregular plurals.
- Nouns that end in ‘o’ preceded by a consonant sound form their plurals by adding ‘-s’ to the singular form whilst others add ‘-es’ to the singular form. First, look at those that add ‘–s‟:
Singular Plural
albino – albinos
alto – altos
banjo – banjos
piano – pianos
photo – photos
tango – tangos
Here are those that form their plural by adding ‘-es’ to the singular form.
Singular Plural
echo – echoes
hero – heroes
mosquito – mosquitoes
potato – potatoes
tomato – tomatoes
torpedo – torpedoes
veto – vetoes
We refer to these as irregular because, as you can see, some form the plural by adding ‘-s’; others form their plural by adding ‘-es’.
2. There is a group of nouns ending in ‘o’ and preceded by a consonant sound that form the plural in two ways by adding ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ to the singular. For example, the plural of the noun zero is formed in two ways. You may choose to add only ‘-s’ to the singular form or may choose to add ‘-es’ to the singular form. Look at the example below:
- My telephone number contains three zeros.
- How many zeroes are in your telephone number?
Observe that both forms are correct. Here are other nouns whose plurals are formed in two ways by adding ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ to the singular..
mango – mangos or mangoes
motto – mottos or mottoes.
halo – halos or haloes
lasso – lassos or lassoes
3. Some nouns form their plurals by changing a vowel sound. For example:
man – men
foot – feet
tooth – teeth
mouse – mice
louse – lice
goose – geese
4. Other nouns form their plurals by adding „–en’ to the singular form. For example:
child – children
ox – oxen
Summary
You have learnt that:
- for both regular and irregular nouns, some rules will have to be followed in forming their plurals.
- the plural of most regular nouns are formed by adding „-s’ to the singular form but for nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh their plurals are formed by adding „-es’ to the singular form.
- there are three ways by which nouns ending in ‘o’ and preceded by a consonant sound form their plurals. Some add „-s‟, some add „-es‟, whilst others form their plural in two different ways by adding ‘-s’ or „-es’ to the singular.
- Some irregular nouns form their plurals by changing a vowel sound while others form their plurals by adding ‘-en’ to the singular form.
CONTENT CONSULTANTS
Author
John Tetteh Agor, Ph.D.
Peer Reviewers
Modestus Fosu, Ph.D.
Prosper Kwesi Agordjor, M.Phil.
William Foli Garr, (Rev.) M.Phil.