Rajarata University of Sri Lanka Faculty of Technology/Faculty of Applied Sciences English-Grammar D.N. Aloysius

SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUNS

REGULAR NOUNS

Plural nouns are words used to indicate that there is more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea. 

Most singular nouns form the plural by adding -s.

EXAMPLES

Singular	Plural
boat	boats
house	houses
cat	cats
river	rivers

A singular noun ending in s, x, z, ch, sh makes the plural by adding-es.

EXAMPLES

Singular	Plural
bus	buses
wish	wishes
pitch	pitches
box	boxes

A singular noun ending in a consonant and then y makes the plural by dropping the y and adding-ies.

EXAMPLES

Singular	Plural
penny	pennies
spy	spies
baby	babies
city	cities
daisy	daisies

IRREGULAR NOUNS

There are some irregular noun plurals. The most common ones are listed below.

EXAMPLES

Singular	Plural
woman	women
man	men
child	children
tooth	teeth
foot	feet
person	people
leaf	leaves
mouse	mice
goose	geese
half	halves
knife	knives
wife	wives
life	lives
elf	elves
loaf	loaves
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes
cactus	cacti
focus	foci
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
syllabus	syllabi/syllabuses
analysis	analyses
diagnosis	diagnoses
oasis	oases
thesis	theses
crisis	crises
phenomenon	phenomena
criterion	criteria
datum	data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

EXAMPLES

Singular	Plural
sheep	sheep
fish	fish
deer	deer
species	species
aircraft	aircraft

IRREGULAR VERB/NOUN AGREEMENT

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Plural nouns used with a singular verb	Sentence
news	The news is at 6.30 p.m.
athletics	Athletics is good for young people.
linguistics	Linguistics is the study of language.
darts	Darts is a popular game in England.
billiards	Billiards is played all over the world.

Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. They are not used in the singular, or they have a different meaning in the singular. Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits

Plural noun with plural verb	Sentence
trousers	My trousers are too tight.
jeans	Her jeans are black.
glasses	Those glasses are his.