Making nouns plural

Making nouns plural

Troublemakers • house – houses box - boxes • mouse – mice ox - oxen • hero – heroes safe - safes • banjo – banjos knife - knives • cupful – cupfuls foot - feet • passerby – passersby tooth - teeth

Nouns that stay the same • moose • deer • species • sheep • series • swine

Weirdos • basis – bases • crisis – crises • criterion – criteria • nucleus – nuclei • stimulus – stimuli • datum - data

Rule 1 • Usually add s: • wave – waves • hat - hats

Rule 2 • If the word ends in o, usually add es: • hero – heroes • potato - potatoes

Rule 3 • If the word ends in s, x, z, ch, or sh, add es: • glass – glasses • church – churches • box – boxes • bush - bushes

Rule 4 • If the word ends in y and there’s a vowel before the y, add s: • play – plays • monkey - monkeys

Rule 5 • If the word ends in y and there’s a consonant before the y, change the y to I and add es: • party – parties • candy - candies

Rule 6 • If a proper noun ends in y, just add s: • the Kennedy family – the Kennedys • the Finley family – the Finleys

Rule 7 • If a compound noun has a main noun in it, add the s to the main noun: • one father-in-law – two fathers-in-law • one chief of police – two chiefs of police

Rule 8 • If a compound noun has no main noun in it, add the s at the end: • one follow-up – two follow-ups • one trade-in – two trade-ins

Practice Another game uses marshmallowes and toothpicks. He spends hours watching the gorillas and monkies. Little daisys grow beside the stream. Eating our lunchs outdoors, we could hear the bees. My grandfather plays dominoes on his friends’ patios.

Making nouns plural