Enhancing English Proficiency: Plural Nouns Practice Exercises for University Students
Several areas of the English language are very different from other languages, especially Asian languages such as Thai and Chinese. In this series of lessons some of these areas are addresses, starting with nouns that are different in English when there is one (single), or more than one (plural), of the noun.
Plural Nouns
Nouns change when there are more than one
Wrong: I have two dog
Correct: I have two dogs
Singular = 1 (one) Plural = 2 + (two or more)
- A flower flowers
- A week weeks
- A nice place nice places
- This hat these hats
Often we just add an s at the end (-s)
- dog – I have two dogs
- cat – you have two cats
- book – please read the many books available
- student – there are about 20 students
- table – there were few tables in the room
- apple – I bought bananas and four apples
but not always
we don’t add –s to every noun
Wrong: “The informations are incorrect“
Correct: “The information is incorrect.”
Regular and Irregular Nouns
- Regular Nouns – most nouns add –s, e.g. one elephant, two elephants, but not all,
- Irregular nouns – there are also irregular nouns
We have 4 main options when we have more than one noun
- Add –s chair -> chairs
- Add –es bus -> buses
- Add –ies (remove –y) baby -> babies
- irregular nouns
irregular nouns
- man -> men
- woman -> women
Plural Regular Nouns - es
Add -es if a noun ends in one of the following sounds:
- /s/, –ss classes, glasses, guesses
- /z/, –z roses, lenses, quizzes
- /ʃ/, –sh dishes, brushes, wishes
- /ʒ/, -z garages, massages, judges
- /tʃ/, –ch churches, watches, benches
- /dʒ/ j sound bridges, hedges, judges
Add -es if a noun ends in a consonant followed by “o”
- heroes,
- potatoes,
- tomatoes
Plural Regular Nouns - ies
If a singular noun ends in a consonant followed by “y,” change the “y” to “i” and add “es.” Examples:
- babies
- cities
- flies
Irregular Nouns
Irregular nouns have a different plural form than the single form
- Single leaf, child, fungus, mouse, sheep
- Plural leaves, children, fungi, mice, sheep
Irregular plural forms
#1 –f to-ves
- leaf, loaf, calf -> leaves, loaves, calves
#2 –en
- Child -> children, ox -> oxen
#3 base plurals
- sheep -> sheep, fish, bison (Species of fish are called fishes)
#4 mutant plurals (like Germanic)
– vowel changes
- foot, woman, man, tooth, goose, mouse, louse
- feet, women, men, teeth, geese, mice, lice
#5 foreign plurals
- Latin – fungus, cactus -> fungi, cacti
- Latin a->ae, larva-> larvae (larvas)
- Latin us–> I, fungus-> fungi (funguses)
- Latin um->a, datum-> data
- Latin ex->ices, index-> indices (indexes)
- Greek is->es, thesis – > theses
- Greek on->a, criterion, criteria
Plural Noun Exercises
Exercise 1
Put the plural form of the verb in the correct column
Noun | -s | –es | –ies | irregular |
book | ||||
party | ||||
family | ||||
class | ||||
quiz | ||||
watch | ||||
student | ||||
country | ||||
business | ||||
sheep | ||||
fly | ||||
fish | ||||
leaf |
Exercise 2
Tick the correct plural forms and cross out the wrong ones
- knives
- tooths
- women
- matchs
- citys
- cities
- countries
- potatoes
- teeth
- wishes
- tomatos
- wishs
- familys
- matches
- wifes
- wives
- mens
- mice
- knifes
- families
