3. 1. Variable nouns Regular plurals

1. Most nouns form their plurals by adding -s to the singular: daughter – daughters, son – sons, mouth – mouths.

2. Nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z add -es to the singular: a dish – dishes, a match -- matches.

3. Nouns ending in -y preceded by a consonant change the -y to -i and add -es: a lily – lilies, baby -- babies.

4. Nouns ending in -y preceded by a vowel keep the -y and add -s: a day – days

5. The majority of nouns ending in -o add -es when forming their plurals: a hero – heroes.

6. Compound nouns written as one word make their plurals by adding -s/-es: sunrise – sunrises or by vowel shift if the second part of the compound needs it: postman – postmen.

7. Compound nouns consisting of a noun plus a modifier pluralize the modified word, NOT the modifier: passer-by – passers-by. If the first part of the compound noun is the word man or woman, then both the parts of the

compound become plural: a man-servant – men-servants, a woman-doctor – women-doctors.

8. Letters, signs, and words as countable items add an apostrophe plus -s: one l – two l's, one no – three no's, in 1990 – in the 1990's.

E x e r c i s e s

3.1. Put the nouns into the plural and explain the use of the form.

a) A star, a cloud, a bird, a bottle, a person, a train, a desk, a student, a teacher, a dog, an M.A. degree, a speaker, a lecture, a thing, a machine, a lawyer, an economist;

b) boss, horse, house, gas, class, church, dish, judge, place, prize, tax, waltz;

c) a bottle, a cottage, an egg, an orange, a car, a book, a house, a box, an elephant, a rose, a waltz, a tax, a doll, a desk, a boss, a glass, a dish, a bee, a match, an answer;

d) army, factory, penny, laboratory, city, country, spy, lily;

e) day, boy, key, journey, toy, valley, chimney;

f) buffalo, cargo, domino, embargo, echo, hero, mosquito, potato, tomato;

g) cupful, leftover, schoolboy, housewife, postman, sportsman;

h) notary public, brother-in-law, man-of-war, attorney general, editor-in-chief; hotel-keeper, watch-maker;

i) one c, one but, in 1980.

3.2. Supply the plural form for the singular nouns listed below.

A book, a lecture, a computer, gas, dish, tax, country, army, key, day, hero, piano, cargo, leftover, notary public, a brother-in-law, editor-in-chief, watch-maker, drive-in, in 1960.

Irregular plurals

1. Nouns ending in -f or -fe change the -f to -v and add -es: shelf – shelves; wife – wives but some nouns keep the -f and add -s as in roof – roofs, belief – beliefs, chief – chiefs.

2. There are a few irregular plurals that involve a change of vowel. They reflect older English forms as in: man – men, mouse – mice, woman – women, louse – lice, foot – feet, goose – geese.

Some native English words have the –en plural: child – children, ox – oxen (also oxes), brother – brethren (in special senses).

S ome nouns (mainly names of animals) have the same spoken and written form in both singular and plural: deer – deer, swine – swine, sheep – sheep, fish – fish (or fishes in special senses).

3. There are many nouns borrowed into English from Latin and Greek that retain foreign plurals as: stimulus – stimuli, curriculum – curricula, crisis – crises.