English as an Additional Language/Plural forms of nouns
Generally, making plurals (more than 1 of something) is very easy in English.
Plural Formation
[edit | edit source]For almost all nouns we form the plural by adding s.
- I have an apple
- I have 5 apples.
For nouns which end with the letter y we form the plural by removing the y and adding ies.
- I have a fly
- I have 5 flies.
For nouns which end with the letter s (dress), ch (beach), x (box), sh (bush) or z (quiz), we form the plural by adding es.
- I have a bus.
- I have 5 buses.
Irregular Noun Plural Formation
[edit | edit source]There are also a small number of nouns which are irregular. The first word in the following list is the singular form and the second word is the plural form:
- child - children
- man - men
- woman - women
- foot - feet
- tooth - teeth
- goose - geese
- mouse - mice
- fish - fish
- sheep - sheep
- deer - deer
- advice - advice
- information - information
- data - data
As you can see, with some words there is no change to form the plural. The plural form and the singular form are exactly the same.