Pannasastra University Of Cambodia
Plural Nouns
Some Plural Nouns Like Cats, Boxes, Jeans, Family.
Use a Plural Nouns when you are talking about two or more people,
animals, places, or things.
Look at these examples:
Singular Noun
Plural Noun
book
books
toy
toys
church
churches
bus
buses
glass
glasses
brush
brushes
star
stars
How To Make Plural Nouns
1.
To make a noun plural we add –s at the end of the word.
book, books
bag, bags
girl, girls
For nouns that end in –s, -x, -ss, -sh, -ch
and –o we add –es
2.
glass, glasses
bus, buses
watch, watches
brush, brushes
potato, potatoes
box, boxes
For nouns that end in –y and have a consonant before the y, we have leave out
the y and add –ies at the end of the word.
baby, babies
cherry, cherries
country, countries
fly, flies
family, families
lady, ladies
Exceptions: If there is a vowel before the y, in that case, we just add –s to
form the plural.
key, keys
toy, toys
monkey, monkeys
Day, days
valley, valleys
cowboy, cowboys
Instructor: Noun Chan Sopanha
Page 1 of 5
Pannasastra University Of Cambodia
3.
For nouns that end in –f or –fe we leave out the f or fe and add –ves at the
end of the word.
Leaf, leaves
wife, wives
wolf, wolves
thief, thieves
Life, lives
elf, elves
Exceptions: Often nouns that end in –f just need -s to form the plural.
Chef, chefs
chief, chiefs
cliff, cliffs
Roof, roofs
sheriff, sheriffs
handkerchief, handkerchiefs
For some words that end in –f, the plural can be spelled in two different ways.
Dwarf, dwarfs or dwarves
4.
hoof, hoofs or hooves
When a word ends in -0 and comes after a consonant, add –es to make the
plural.
Potato, potatoes
hero, heroes
tomato, tomatoes
Exceptions: Some nouns ends in –o, you just add –s to form the plural.
zoo, zoos
video, videos
kangaroo, kangaroos
piano, pianos
radio, radios
hippo, hippos
With some nouns that end in –o, you can add either –s or –es to form the
plural.
Mango, mangos or mangoes
zero, zeros or zeroes
Buffalo, buffalos or buffaloes
5.
Some plural nouns don’t follow the –s rule. They don’t end in –s, -es, -ies,
or –ves. Instead, a word may completely change its form when a plural is
made. These plural nouns are called Irregular nouns.
person, people
man, men
child, children
Woman, women
tooth, teeth
mouse, mice
Exception: The plural of the mouse that you use with your computer is
either
mice or mouses.
Instructor: Noun Chan Sopanha
Page 2 of 5
Pannasastra University Of Cambodia
6.
Sometimes, a word may stay the same in both its singular and plural form.
These plural nouns are also called Irregular nouns
fish, fish
deer, deer
aircraft, aircraft
sheep, sheep
trout, trout
bream, bream
Exception: You can use fishes as the plural of fish when you are talking about
different kinds of fish. For example: All the fishes of the Pacific Ocean.
7.
Some nouns are always plural: pants, scissors, pajamas, sneakers, shorts,
slippers, trousers, stockings, scandals, jeans, goggles, pliers.
Note: If you want to make these plural nouns to singular nouns by using a pair
of:
a pair of binoculars
a par of jeans
a pair of shorts
a par of pliers
Grammar Practice
exercise
1
1.1 Look at the words below. Do you know which ones are singular and
which are plural? Put a checkmark () in the correct box.
Singular
Plural
Singular
Plural
.word
.people
.pencils
.wishes
.books
.cities
.fan
.feet
.hat
.glass
.children
.watches
.kites
.geese
Instructor: Noun Chan Sopanha
Page 3 of 5
Pannasastra University Of Cambodia
1.2 Do you add –s or –es to these singular nouns to make them plural?
Write your answers on the lines.
Singular
Plural
Singular
Plural
1. desk
……………………….
6. basket
……………………….
2. class
……………………….
7. peach
……………………….
3. comb
……………………….
8. belt
……………………….
4. mug
……………………….
9. taxi
……………………….
5. bus
……………………….
10. box
……………………….
1.3 Do you change –y to –ies or just add –s to make these singular nouns
plural? Write your answers on the lines.
Singular
Plural
Singular
Plural
1. key
……………………….
6. toy
……………………….
2. city
……………………….
7. baby
……………………….
3. butterfly
……………………….
8. party
……………………….
4. monkey
……………………….
9. chimney
……………………….
5. fly
……………………….
10. lady
……………………….
1.4 All these singular nouns end with –o. add either –s or –es as you
write the plurals on the line.
Singular
Plural
Singular
Plural
1. video
……………………….
6. radio
……………………….
2. piano
……………………….
7. hippo
……………………….
3. mango
……………………….
8. zoo
……………………….
4. kangaroo
……………………….
9. zero
……………………….
5. rhino
……………………….
10. photo
……………………….
Instructor: Noun Chan Sopanha
Page 4 of 5
Pannasastra University Of Cambodia
exercise
2
2.1 Read the following passage. Notice that the plural nouns are missing.
Write the correct plural form of the singular nouns in parentheses. The
first one has been done for you.
Three ………………….. (lady) in pink ………………….. (dress) took their
………………….. took their ………………….. (baby) ………………….. for a walk in the
zoo. They saw four ………………….. (giraffe), three ………………….. (hippo), two
………………….. (kangaroo) and an elephant. They walked for so long that their
………………….. (foot) became sore, so they sat down on a bench for a rest near
some ………………….. (monkey). The ………………….. (monkey) were playing with
cardboard ………………….. (box0 and throwing ………………….. (stick) at each
other. After a while, the ………………….. (lady) looked at their …………………..
(watch) and decide it was time to go home.
2.2 Complete with the plural of the words in brackets.
KOALAS
Koalas are from Australia.
They live in (1) ………………….. (forest) and they sleep in (2) ………………….. (tree).
They’re very lazy! They sleep sixteen (3) ………………….. (hour) a day. They aren’t
very big or very heavy.
They’ve got big (4) ………………….. (nose), yellow (5) ………………….. (eye) and
very strong (6) ………………….. (foot). Their (7) ……………….. (tail) are very small.
They eat (8) ………………….. (leaf) from a tree called eucalyptus. They eat two (9)
………………….. (kilo) every day! They love food!
They aren’t dangerous, but they are afraid of (10) ………………….. (person).
Instructor: Noun Chan Sopanha
Page 5 of 5