essays plural spelling

• 1.1.1 Pronunciation
• 1.1.2.1 Derived terms
• 1.1.2.2 Related terms
• 1.1.2.3 Translations
• 1.2.1 Pronunciation
• 1.2.2.1 Translations
• 1.3 Anagrams
• 2.1 Etymology
• 2.2 Pronunciation
• 2.3.1 Hypernyms
• 2.3.2 Derived terms
• 2.3.3 Descendants
• 3.1 Etymology
• 3.2.1 Derived terms
• 3.3 References
• 4.1 Etymology
• 4.2.1 Derived terms
• 4.3 References

Etymology 1

Since late 16th century, borrowed from Middle French essay , essai ( “ essay ” ) , meaning coined by Montaigne in the same time, from the same words in earlier meanings 'experiment; assay; attempt', from Old French essay , essai , assay , assai , from Latin exagium ( “ weight; weighing, testing on the balance ” ) , from exigere + -ium .

Pronunciation

• ( Received Pronunciation , General American ) IPA ( key ) : /ˈɛs.eɪ/ (1), IPA ( key ) : /ɛˈseɪ/ (2-4)

• Rhymes: -ɛseɪ
• Homophone : ese

essay ( plural essays )

• 2013 January, Katie L. Burke, “Ecological Dependency”, in American Scientist ‎ [1] , volume 101 , number 1, archived from the original on 9 February 2017 , page 64 : In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature , David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.”
• ( obsolete ) A test , experiment ; an assay .
• 1861 , E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley , page 16 : My first essay at getting employment was fruitless; but after no small number of mortifying rebuffs from various parties to whom I applied for assistance, I was at last rewarded by a comparative success.
• 1988 , James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom , Oxford, published 2003 , page 455 : This was Lee's first essay in the kind of offensive-defensive strategy that was to become his hallmark.
• ( philately , finance ) A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote .

Derived terms

• argumentative essay
• automated essay scoring
• eight-legged essay
• essay question
• in this essay I will
• photo-essay
• photo essay
• video essay

Related terms

Translations.

Etymology 2

From Middle French essayer , essaier , from Old French essaiier , essayer , essaier , assaiier , assayer , assaier , from essay , essai , assay , assai ( “ attempt; assay; experiment ” ) as above.

• ( UK , US ) IPA ( key ) : /ɛˈseɪ/

essay ( third-person singular simple present essays , present participle essaying , simple past and past participle essayed )

• 1900 , Charles W. Chesnutt , chapter II, in The House Behind the Cedars : He retraced his steps to the front gate, which he essayed to open.
• 1950 April, R. A. H. Weight, “They Passed by My Window”, in Railway Magazine , page 260 : The train took the slow to branch spur at the north end at a not much slower speed, then essayed the short sharply curved climb with a terrific roar, smoke rising straight from the chimney to a height of some 60 ft., the long train twisting and curling behind.
• 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation ‎ [2] , archived from the original on 22 May 2024 : There was the counter, there was the bulletin board, above her the dull sound of music being played over headphones. Something jaunty. She liked the beat. Then the sound of a chair being pushed back, and someone humming as they walked away from her, and she darted up to plunge the bayonet into their kidneys from behind. A followup stroke through the back of the neck, and the second soldier was down. She didn't even stop to see if it was a man or a woman, young or old. There were further hurdles to essay before she reached her destination.
• ( intransitive ) To move forth, as into battle.
• Sayes , Seays , Sesay , eyass

Borrowed from English essay ( “ essay ” ) , from Middle French essai ( “ essay; attempt, assay ” ) , from Old French essai , from Latin exagium (whence the neuter gender).

• IPA ( key ) : /ɛˈseː/ , /ˈɛ.seː/
• Hyphenation: es‧say
• Rhymes: -eː

essay   n ( plural essays , diminutive essaytje   n )

Descendants

Norwegian bokmål.

Borrowed from English essay , from Middle French essai .

essay   n ( definite singular essayet , indefinite plural essay or essayer , definite plural essaya or essayene )

• an essay , a written composition of moderate length exploring a particular subject
• essaysamling
• “essay” in The Bokmål Dictionary .

Norwegian Nynorsk

essay   n ( definite singular essayet , indefinite plural essay , definite plural essaya )

• “essay” in The Nynorsk Dictionary .

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English Plural Nouns

Table of contents, introduction, what are plural nouns, plural rules: how to change singular nouns to plural ones, 1. regular plural nouns in english:, a. how to form regular plurals (adding ‘s’):.

B. Spelling of Regular Plurals:

A. nouns that end in  -ch,   x,   s, z,  or  s-like  sounds;, b. nouns that end in a vowel +  y :, c. nouns that end in a consonant +  y, d. nouns that end in  o :.

4. Nouns that end in  f’ ‘ or ‘ fe’ :

2. irregular plural nouns in english:, a. irregular nouns.

b. Plurals that change ‘a’ to ‘ae’

c. Plurals that change ‘us’ to ‘i’ or ‘s’

d. Plurals that change ‘um’ to ‘i’

e. Plurals that change ‘ex’ to ices or ‘s’

f. Plurals that change ‘is’ to ‘es’

g. Plurals that change ‘on’ to ‘a’

3. Nouns That Are Always Singular:

Plural Nouns – Rules, List of Examples

| Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond studied Advanced Writing & Editing Essentials at MHC. She’s been an International and USA TODAY Bestselling Author for over a decade. And she’s worked as an Editor for several mid-sized publications. Candace has a keen eye for content editing and a high degree of expertise in Fiction.

The English language groups grammatical nouns as either singular or plural. That means there are either one or multiple persons, places, objects, events, or animals.

Did you know that there’s more than one rule on how to make a word plural? In my little guide, I’ll show you the two types of plural nouns, their rules, and a list of examples. I also provided a worksheet that will test your understanding of plural nouns.

What Is a Plural Noun?

While singular-form nouns refer to one person, place, object, or event, plural nouns refer to a type of noun whose quantity is more than one.

For instance, the noun apples is the plural form of the singular noun apple . It means there can be two or more apples. The same is true with the noun buses, which is the plural form of the singular noun bus. The plural form of the singular noun bug is the noun bugs.

I live in Eastern Canada, and one of our well-known animals is a moose. I am always puzzled over what the plural of it is. Mooses? Meese? The answer is actually just moose. There are some exceptions to plural nouns like this.

But here are more plural noun examples that make sense.

• Film – films
• Baby – babies
• Ox – oxen

Remember: mass nouns , non-count nouns, or uncountable nouns do not have plural forms. For example:

Plural Nouns vs. Singular Nouns

Singular nouns represent a single quantity of any noun. It can be a person, place, event, object, or animal. For example:

• A strand of hair

Plural nouns refer to something whose quantity is more than one. For example:

• Five dresses
• Two strands of hair
• Those daisies

Plural Nouns vs. Possessive Nouns

Possessive nouns are one of the types of nouns that show ownership. Like plural nouns, they end in s. However, possessive nouns always have an apostrophe ( ‘ ) before the s. Consider this example:

• The lamp’s bulb.

Here, lamp’s refer to the possession of lamp instead of multiple lamps. The lamp has a bulb.

Here are more examples of possessive nouns.

• Rose’s artwork
• Mira’s phone
• The lion’s tail

Plural nouns do not have possessive forms unless they are possessive plural nouns. For example:

• Jackets’ pockets (possessive plural noun)
• Students’ books (possessive plural noun)

Plural Nouns vs. Collective Nouns

Unlike plural nouns, collective nouns represent groups of people, things, or animals. For instance, a school of fish represents a group of fish as a united whole. Here are more examples of collective nouns.

• A pair (of shoes)
• A pack (of cards)
• A pride (of lions)
• A class (of students)

Notice how these collective nouns are treated as singular nouns. If we say pairs of shoes, we refer to more than a pair.

What Is a Regular Plural Noun?

Regular nouns are nouns that follow the typical pattern of making them plural.

There are simple rules for making regular nouns plural. We either add -s or -es to the end of the word, depending on its ending. Sometimes, we also change the last letter of the word before adding -s.

Add -s to the end of a word when making it plural. For example:

• Cat – cats
• Dog – dogs
• Idea – ideas

Add -es to the end of a word if its singular form ends in -s, -ss, -ch, -x, -sh, -o, or -z. For example:

• Bus – buses
• Lass – lasses
• Bush – bushes
• Crutch – crutches
• Box – boxes
• Blitz – blitzes
• Mango – mangoes

A few words, such as photos , pianos , and halos , are exceptions .

The plural noun form may require you to double the -s or -z before adding -es. For example:

• Fez – fezzes

If the regular noun ends in -f, fe, change it to ve, then add -s. For example:

• Wife – wives
• Knife – knives

Another regular plural noun rule is to change -y into -ies. For example:

• City – cities
• Puppy – puppies

But if the letter before -y is a vowel, just add an -s. For example:

• Ray – rays
• Toy – toys

Singular nouns that end in -us will change into -i for their plural forms. For example:

• Cactus – cacti

Change the word into -es if the singular noun ends in -is. For example:

• Analysis – analyses
• Parenthesis – parentheses

If the singular noun ends in -on, change it into -a. For example:

• Phenomenon – phenomena

Check out this list of regular plural nouns.

• Boss – bosses
• Candy – candies
• Gift – gifts
• Curry – curries
• Day – days
• Collection – collections
• Movie – movies
• Tray – trays
• Shoe – shoes

What Is an Irregular Plural Noun?

Irregular noun rules are inconsistent because they follow no specific guidelines. For example, the irregular plural noun form of child is children, and goose’s plural form is geese. Here are more examples.

• Man – men
• Foot – feet
• Mouse – mice
• Person – people

Another tip when using irregular nouns is recognizing that some are identical to their singular noun counterparts. They can be troublesome nouns because it takes memorization to identify these words. Here are some examples:

• Fish – fish
• Moose – moose
• Species – species
• Sheep – sheep
• Deer – deer

Below is a list of irregular plural nouns.

• Woman – women
• Aircraft – aircraft
• Means – means
• Trout – trout
• Swine – swine
• Salmon – salmon
• Spacecraft – spacecraft
• Series – series
• Louse – lice
• Penny – pence
• Caveman – cavemen
• Policeman – policemen
• Alumna – alumnae
• Formula – formulae
• Index – indices
• Appendix – appendices
• Vertex – vertices
• Axis – axes
• Addendum – addenda
• Datum – data
• Forum – fora
• Genus – genera
• Stylus – styli

Summarizing English Plural Nouns

This article has taught you the plural nouns’ definition. This type of noun refers to more than one person, animal, place, idea, animal, or thing.

Remember that the plural form of nouns depends on their singular noun versions. For example, toy becomes toys, but knife becomes knives. Louse becomes lice, and sheep stays the same.

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Plural Nouns: What Are They and How Do You Form Them?

Most nouns become plural by adding “–s” to them—but not all. Whether you simply need a refresher or are new to pluralizing nouns in English, this blog post goes over all the rules to help you become a pro at plurals.

Plural Nouns: Quick Summary

A plural noun refers to more than one person, place, thing, or idea. For example, flower is singular, but flowers is plural.

Regular nouns become plural by adding “–s” or “–es” to the singular noun, while irregular plural nouns have unique spellings and do not follow the standard pattern.

What’s a Plural Noun?

A noun is a part of speech that indicates a person, place, thing, or idea. While singular nouns refer to a single entity, plural nouns refer to multiples.

• Singular: dog, umbrella, car, table, pen, tree, color
• Plural: dogs, umbrellas, cars, tables, pens, trees, colors

You’ll notice that the nouns above become plural simply by adding “–s” to them. Certain nouns do not follow this standard, but instead have their own guidelines.

Below, we’ll review all the rules regarding forming plural nouns in English.

Learn How To Form Plural Nouns

As with anything in English, keep in mind that there can be several exceptions to these rules.

1. Most nouns become plural simply by adding “–s” to the end of the word.

lamp → lamp s

cat → cat s

hand → hand s

2. Nouns ending in “–s,” “–ss,” “–x,” “–z,” “–ch” or “–sh” usually become plural by adding an “–es” to the singular form.

bus → bus es

cross → cross es

fox → fox es

waltz → waltz es

church → church es

brush → brush es

3. Some words that end in “–s” or “–z” require that you double those letters before adding the “–es” to form the plural.

quiz – quiz zes

4. For nouns that end in a consonant plus “–y,” change the “–y” to “–ies.”

baby → bab ies

city → cit ies

fairy → fair ies

5. Nouns that end in a vowel plus “–y” become plural by adding “–s” to it.

toy → toy s

boy → boy s

ray → ray s

6. Some nouns that end in “–fe” become plural by changing the “–fe” to “–ves.”

life → li ves

wife → wi ves

knife → kni ves

7. Nouns that end in “–o” typically get “–es” added to them to form the plural.

potato → potato es

tomato → tomato es

8. For singular nouns that end in “–us,” the plural ending is usually changed to “–i.”

cactus → cact i

fungus → fung i

octopus → octop i

9.  If the singular form of the noun ends in “–sis”, the plural gets changed to “–ses.”

analysis → analys es

basis → bas es

crisis → cris es

10. Some singular nouns that end in “–on,” get these letters replaced by “–a” to become plural.

criterion → criteri a

phenomenon → phenomen a

11. Nouns that end in “–um” become plural by replacing “–um” with “–a.”

bacterium → bacteri a

datum → dat a

12. Compound nouns usually form the plural by adding “–s” to the main word.

attorney-at-law → attorney s -at-law

brother-in-law → brother s -in-law

editor-in-chief → editor s -in-chief

13. Some nouns remain the same whether they’re singular or plural.

aircraft → aircraft

moose → moose

sheep → sheep

14. Irregular nouns do not follow any specific rules.

child → child ren

foot → f ee t

goose → g ee se

man → m e n

mouse → m ice

person → pe ople

tooth → t ee th

woman → wom en

Using Plural Nouns Correctly

As you can tell, there are plenty of rules you have to remember to correctly use plural nouns. There are even nouns that don’t follow any rules. For these, if you’re unsure about what is the plural form, you can check a dictionary or, better yet, use LanguageTool.

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The Plural Forms of Words

What are the plural forms of words.

Forming the Plurals of Nouns

• 1 dog > 2 dogs
• 1 house > 2 houses
• 1 video > 2 videos
• How to form the plurals of nouns (spelling rules)
• How to form the plurals of compound nouns (e.g., mothers-in-law, Knights Templar)
• How to form the plurals of abbreviations (e.g., MOTs, L.R.S.s)

What Are the Plural Pronouns?

What Is the Plural Form of a Verb?

What Are Plural Demonstrative Determiners?

Forming the Plurals of Foreign Words

• stadium > stadia or stadiums
• datum > data
• radius > radii or radiuses
• agendum > agenda

"Plural" Also Applies to Zero

• 0 dogs (plural)
• 1 dog (singular)
• 2 dogs (plural)
• 3 dogs (plural)
• There are no alligators in the lake.

This page was written by Craig Shrives .

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How to Make English Plurals

Plurals in sentences like “I like peas” and “I have many friends” are easy to understand and make, but there are complications when it comes to making more complex regular plural nouns, the many irregular plural nouns, and plurals of more complex nouns. This article describes the rules and patterns that can make the whole range of English plural nouns both more manageable and more learnable.

How to make regular plurals

How to make regular plurals with -s and -es.

Most English words simply take -s to make the plural form, as in “cats” and “dogs”. This changes to -es after words which end with sounds which are similar to /s/ such as /z/, as in “buzzes”. This -es represents an “iz” sound, so it adds an extra vowel sound and therefore one extra syllable between the final consonant of the singular and the plural suffix. For example, the one-syllable word “witch” becomes the two-syllable plural “witches”, sounding like “wichiz”. In contrast, the one syllable word “hat” adds -s to become the one-syllable plural “hats”, without an extra syllable.

Examples of -es/ “iz” after different sounds which are similar to /s/ include:

• a patch/ some patches
• a judge/ some judges
• a brush/ some brushes
• a pass/ some passes
• a whizz/ some whizzes

As can be seen from the examples above, this is the same rule as adding -s to Present Simple verbs with the third person, as in “I brush” changing to “She brushes”. The reason for both kinds of spelling and pronunciation change can most clearly be seen with singular nouns ending in -s. For example, as “a miss” obviously can’t be spelt or pronounced as “a misss” X.

The slight exception to adding “-es” after sounds similar to /s/ is with words which are spelt with a final E, where another E is obviously not needed (“a nurse” changing to “some nurses”, not “some nursees” X). 

How to make regular plurals with -ies and -ys

The other rule for making regular plurals is that most final -y words change the spelling to -ies, as in:

• a try/ some tries
• a fly/ some flies

The exception is when -y forms part of a combination with another vowel, as in -ay and -oy, in which case the -y stays, for example in:

• a play/ some plays
• an alley/ some alleys
• a boy/ some boys
• a guy/ some guys

In both cases, the number of syllables stays the same as the singular (the same as -s and in contrast to -es above) and the rules are the same as third person S verbs (“He tries”, “He plays”, etc).

How to make irregular plurals

We use the term “irregular plurals” to mean that nouns like “children” and “knives” don’t follow regular rules like those in the sections above. Though they don’t follow the rules, there are some common patterns to how irregular plurals are formed, including:

• some final -f and -fe words change to -ves (“lives”, “wives”, etc)
• words ending with -o often take final -oes (“potatoes”, “heroes”, etc, without the extra vowel sound and syllable of the regular -es endings above)
• many animals don’t change their form in the singular and plural (“two moose”, “two salmon”, etc)
• many words change their vowel sounds in the plural, including some very common ones (“men”, “women”, “feet”, “teeth”, “mice”, etc)
• some words take the Old English plural -en (“children”, “oxen”, etc)
• some words ending in -s don’t change in the plural (but the pronunciation sometimes changes, as in “a series/ some series”, with the latter having the long “ee” sound in the second syllable)

There are also some which don’t follow any common pattern like “people”.

How to make plurals of Latin words

Some Latin words are used in English with both a traditional Latin plural (“syllabi”, “indices”, etc) and a regular English plural (“syllabuses”, “indexes”, etc). However, others always take the Latin plural (“some crises”, not “some crisises” X). Latin plurals that are often used in English include:

• Latin words ending with -um changing to -a (“a medium/ some media”)
• Latin words ending with -is changing to -es (“a crisis/ some crises”)
• Latin words ending with -us changing to -i (“a fungus/ some fungi”)
• Latin words ending with -on changing to -a (“a criterion/ some criteria”)
• Latin words ending with -ex changing to -ices (“a vortex/ some vortices”)
• Latin words ending with -a changing to -ae (“a vertebra/ some vertebrae”)

How to make plurals of foreign words in English

Foreign words which have become ways to talk about common things in English-speaking countries tend to take English plurals, as in “cappuccinos” and “pyjamas”. In contrast, words which are only used to talk about things in their country of origin tend to stay the same in the plural, like “some samurai”. Some are more variable, such as “some ninja” or “some ninjas”.

French words in English are similar to the Latin plurals above. There is some use of French plural spelling and/ or pronunciation, like “a gateau” and “some gateaux” (with “some gateaus” being very rare and considered wrong). However, “bureaux” is much rarer in English than “bureaus”.

Final -s in singular French words usually stays the same when changing to the plural, but English speakers sometimes pronounce the -s only in the plural (“a rendezvous” with a silent -s but “two rendezvous” with a pronounced -s).

In contrast to French and Latin, Italian plurals are rarely used in English. English speakers more often adding -s to the singular (“cellos”) or only using the form which is plural in Italian (often as an uncountable noun like “graffiti” and “spaghetti”).

How to make plurals of compound nouns

Most compound nouns simply take the plural ending above on the last word (“signposts”, “postmen”, etc). However, there are exceptions like:

• two passers-by
• three cupsful
• daughters-in-law

The general pattern is that the main, most important word takes -s.

You may also like:

• Key Grammar Points for English Learners
• Rituals Put You in the English Mood
• Writing Prompt ~ Bring/Take

Very interesting as lesson….this will surely help us stop making confusion…it is very clear now for everyone who has the chance to read this explanation. Thks a lot for this useful lesson.

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Nouns: singular and plural

Nouns used only in the singular.

Some nouns are used only in the singular, even though they end in -s . These include: the names of academic subjects such as classics, economics, mathematics/maths, physics ; the physical activities gymnastics and aerobics ; the diseases measles and mumps; and the word news :

Maths was never my best subject at school.

Aerobics is great fun – you should try it!

Nouns used only in the plural

Some nouns only have a plural form. They cannot be used with numbers. They include the names of certain tools, instruments and articles of clothing which have two parts.

Tools and instruments

I’ve got new sunglasses . Do you like them?

He always wears shorts , even in the winter.

We can use pair of to refer to one example of these nouns:

I bought a new pair of binoculars last week.

That old pair of trousers will be useful for doing jobs in the garden.

We use pairs of to refer to more than one example of this type of noun:

They’re advertising two pairs of glasses for the price of one.

I bought three pairs of shorts for the summer.

Other nouns which are always plural in form

Please ensure that you take all your belongings with you as you leave the aircraft.

They live on the outskirts of Frankfurt, almost in the countryside.

My clothes are wet. I’ll have to go upstairs and change.

She spent all her savings on a trip to South America.

Collective nouns (group words)

Some nouns refer to groups of people (e.g. audience, committee, government, team ). These are sometimes called collective nouns. Some collective nouns can take a singular or plural verb, depending on whether they are considered as a single unit or as a collection of individuals:

In general, a plural verb is more common with these nouns in informal situations.

Piece words and group words

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a criminal act that results in serious damage or injury, especially murder

Treasure troves and endless supplies (Words and phrases meaning ‘source’)

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The many forms of plurals.

Plurals take many (sometimes curious or counterintuitive) forms. Here is an outline of how to form various types of plurals according to the word form or ending:

For words ending in

• nonsibilant, or voiceless, consonants: add -s ( dogs )
• voiced, or sibilant, consonant blends: add -es ( riches )
• vowels: add -s ( knees )
• -f : delete -f and add -ves (loaves) or -s ( chiefs )
• -x : add -es ( foxes )
• -y : delete -y and add -ies ( bodies ).

For words of Latin or Greek origin ending in

• -a : add -s or -e , depending on context ( formulas/formulae )
• -ex : add -es or delete -x and add -ces , depending on context ( indexes/indices )
• -ies : leave as is ( species )
• -is : change to -es ( axes )
• -ma : add -s or -ata , depending on context ( stigmas/stigmata )
• -um : add -s ( aquariums ), delete -um and add -a ( curricula ), or either depending on context ( mediums/media )
• -us : delete -us and add -i ( alumni ), -ii ( radii ), -era ( genera ), or -ora ( corpora ), or leave -us and add -es ( octopuses ) or use another form, depending on context ( cactuses/cacti ).

Types of irregular forms include

• ablaut, or mutated, plurals, with changes in the midst of a word ( teeth , lice )
• identical singular and plural forms ( deer , spacecraft )
• -en and -ren endings ( oxen , children ).

Some words have more than one plural form, one of which may be archaic ( cows / kine ) or reserved for a distinct meaning ( dice / dies ).

One problematic category is in referring to fish in general and specific varieties of fish in particular: “Look at all the fish!” but “Gars are long, slender, predatory fishes.” Also, some types are given a distinct plural form ( sharks , barracudas ), though for others, the plural form is identical to the singular one ( salmon , sturgeon ).

Plurals of letters, numbers, or abbreviations are generally formed simply by adding -s , although occasionally, the otherwise incorrect use of an interceding apostrophe is warranted (“Mind your p’s and q’s”). Usually, however, pluralizing names of letters requires no special treatment, especially when the letter is italicized, as here: “There are five e s in beekeeper .” Initialisms and acronyms also usually require only an -s : “Many NGOs are headquartered here,” “It’s like having two NASAs.” (An exception is made when the last letter is an s , as in CMSes .)

The singular forms of some words are, because they end in -s , sometimes mistaken as plurals, and the letter is then incorrectly deleted to create a false singular form. Examples include gyros , kudos , and biceps (as well as triceps and quadriceps ). The plural forms are the same, although the latter examples are alternatively (and rarely) pluralized by adding -es . For other words, the original singular has been supplanted by a plural form used in both cases ( alga by algae ; graffito by graffiti ).

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20 thoughts on “The Many Forms of Plurals”

Interesting stuff. You missed out the words of Greek origin ending in -on, which take a plural in -a: eg criterion/criteria, phenomenon/phenomena. I see these used wrongly quite often.

By the way, I don’t see what’s wrong with “Mind your Ps and Qs”, which avoids the need for those ugly apostrophes.

In the -us item, your example for adding -ii is in error. For radius, the -us is deleted and it retains one -i, so only one additional is added.

Also, for “… five es in …”, ought the e be italicized in “es”?

‘One problematic category is in referring to fish in general and specific varieties of fish in particular: “Look at all the fish!” but “Gars are long, slender, predatory fishes.” ‘

I think it’s the other way round — fishes for more than one species, fish for a single species. So:

‘One problematic category is in referring to fishes in general and specific varieties of fish in particular: “Look at all the fishes!” but “Gars are long, slender, predatory fish.”’

I agree with Michael re: using capital letters to denote the name of the letter – it just reads more clearly.

Re: dice. I always thought it was one die, many dice… or has that now been classified as archaic?

And all this time I thought a group of Elvis Presley impersonators would be “Elvi” or maybe “Elvises.” But apparently they are “Elves.” Hmmmm. Not sure I can convert!

I would write the “es” as “Es” or even use another construction, such as: The letter e appears five times in beekeeper.

I do agree with Michael about the Ps and Qs. I don’t like apostrophes that aren’t replacing letters (as in contractions) or indicating possession. It’s a plural and to me, plurals don’t get apostrophes!

Just wanted to second the comment about radius only having one i added for the plural form, as the other i is already in the word. Great post though.

Staff (the group of people who support an office, department, etc.): plural = “staffs”

Staff (a rod or post): plural = “staves”

English is fun!

for stigma you would either add as -s *stigmas*, or a -ta *stigmata*. Not an -ata. No stigmaata.

don’t forget that a few ‘f’s’ do not take the ‘ves’ form – roof – plural form is roofs.

Also proof. The plural form is proofs or it drops an ‘o’ and becomes a verb proves.

Actually, I disagree with your explanation for knowing whether plurals end in -s or -es based on whether they are behind a voiced or unvoiced consonant. First of all, in your example “dogs”, the /g/ is a voiced consonant. (It’s unvoiced equivalent is /k/.) I think whether it is -s or -es depends on which part of the mouth is making the final consonant and how it is articulated: since /s/ and /z/ are both alveolar fricatives, meaning the tongue is placed on the alveolar ridge between the front teeth and the hard palate and the sound is created by pushing the air through a narrow channel (in this case that between the tongue and teeth). /ch/, /sh/, and both “j” sounds are all either fricatives or affricates (consonants that begin with a sound like /d/ or /t/ and end in a fricative) AND they are post-alveolar, meaning they are produced by putting the tongue at the back of the alveolar ridge. Since it is difficult to produce two very similar sounds in quick succession and have them still be distinct, we add a short vowel sound (represented by an “e”) in between the two consonants. Thus, any word that ends in /ch/, /sh/, /s/, /z/, or either “j” sound (all alveolar or post-alveolar, and fricative or affricate) is made plural by adding an -es to the end. If you ever need to know which to do and can’t remember the list of affected sounds, just remember that if it’s difficult to say when you add just an /s/ or /z/ sound and it doesn’t sound very clear, you probably need to put an “e” in front of the “s”.

Also worth noting is the fact that in words ending in the unvoiced “th” sound (such as “moth”), the final sound is usually changed to a voiced “th” such as the one in “the”: “moths”. (This is another reason why Americans are uncomfortable with “maths” instead of “math” as the abbreviation for “mathematics”; it just doesn’t sound quite like an English word to us.)

These “rules” aren’t very useful; especially for Latin/Greek words, they’re more likely wrong than right (you need to know which declension the word follows, and sometimes the gender; what letters it ends with doesn’t give you that. FWIW, the proper plural of “octopus” is “octopodes”). Also need to add Semitic plurals in -im, etc.

Also worth noting is the fact that in words ending in the unvoiced “th” sound (such as “moth”), the final sound is usually changed to a voiced “th” such as the one in “the”: “moths”.

Sounds like some sort of speech impediment. I pronounce “moths” exactly like “moth” (except for the final /s/).

Can you distinguish between “thistle” and “this’ll”?

Of course you can distinguish between the sounds, but for some reason or another in at least some dialects of English the unvoiced “th” is often changed to a voiced “th” when immediately followed by an /s/ or /z/ without any vowel in between. I realized that it’s actually the same principle as changing an /f/ to a /v/ when making some words plural that have a final /f/, since /v/ is the voiced form of /f/. The /f/ and /v/ sounds, and both “th” sounds, are all fricatives (though this time they use the lips and teeth) and maybe it’s natural for us to change the unvoiced fricatives to a voiced one when followed by an /s/ or /z/ sound with no vowel in between. Obviously you speak a slightly different dialect of English than I do to not change the unvoiced “th” to a voiced one. And I don’t have any sort of speech impediment, so I don’t appreciate your comment suggesting that. Your accent is not the authoritative one, and my accent does not involve a speech impediment.

I also thought it was pretty clear that my rule about changing some unvoiced sounds to voiced ones ONLY applied when they were immediately followed by an /s/ or /z/ sound; of course I pronounce “thistle” and “this’ll” differently. In fact, I admit that not every word that ends in the unvoiced “th” or /f/ will have the consonant change, but that SOME will, but that obviously in whatever Western American dialect I speak more words than not DO have the consonant change, and that that most other English dialects seems to have a similar, though not identical, pattern. (For example, someone else commented that the correct plural for “roof” is “roofs”, while I would say that to me the correct plural is “rooves”, at least in pronunciation.)

In regards to “medium/media”, I would say that media (at least in the context of visual art) is not a singular word, but that it is always “medium”, and that the plural can be either “media” or “mediums” (though “media” is more common). I couldn’t speak for other fields, though, or even all other artists, but this is the way I usually hear it used.

Am I the only one here who works out? There are singular forms for the muscles … bicep – … According to M-W ( and the dictionary on my computer … bicep is singular and biceps is plural.

And if you go to the gym, it’s bicep/biceps. Common usage usually wins out over neo-Latin hybrids. Even in English, we wouldn’t say “two-heads muscles”.

As for radius: radius |rādēəs|noun (pl. radii |ˈrādēˌī|or radiuses) …

Let me consult my medium about media? Hmmmm, she says when one brings in foreign words that we apply English rules to them … but that there are always a few latin-philes who keep on using the Latin plurals … and that media is a collective noun and it’s ok to use a singular verb with it (same for data).

And then there is Toyota with their completely screwed up plural for the Prius! They did it by vote and the ironic thing was that the proper Latin plural wasn’t even a choice. LMAO!

spacecraft |spāsˌkraft| noun (pl. same or -crafts)

gyro 1 |jīrō| noun (pl. -ros) short for gyroscope or gyrocompass . gyro 2 |yērō; zh irō| noun ( pl. -ros) a sandwich made with slices of spiced meat cooked on a spit, served with salad in pita bread.

Either way … it is gyro – gyros.

Kudos is the only one in that group that definitely has no singular form … as far as I know.

I agree with Keith … sounds to me like you have the fish-fishes byspel backwards.

Stick to your guns Emma and other Emmae. The rules you refer to are generally correct for American, anyway. Seems like some of the problems here just stem from a lack of understanding that national standards differ. You can say, “In American English it’s spelled color”, and invariabley someone will reply, “I don’t think that’s right. I’m from Worcestistashastashistashire (pronounced Wussa) and we spell it colour.”

Even bigger problems arise from those that just don’t believe there are any standards at all for these things. Or the standard is just whatever most people say. Most people don’t know data is plural? Oh, then it’s not plural. I guess just declaring wrong right is cheaper than educating people. I hope they arent adopting that standard for airplanes and bridges.

For example, from the online dictionary (not exactly pedantic): -ceps comb. form of caput “head” (see head). Despite the -s it is singular, and classicists insist there is no such word as bicep. I don’t know about classicists, but as a normally educated person, I knew this already. Is this really difficult?

These “rules” aren’t very useful; especially for Latin/Greek words, they’re more likely wrong than right

You have a point, but a limited one. Regardless of how plurals were actually formed in Greek or Latin (declensions? Are you serious? lol) conventions have formed in various arenas regarding how the “pseudo-Latin/Greek” plurals are formed for terms of art. In mathematics, e.g., the plural of formula is formulae, among zoologists 2 or more are octopi. Among normal people they are, of course, formulas and octopuses. No need to go wildly romanizing words that have been English for so many anni, annis…pardon while I declent…annos, annorum…

This is odd. First:

Also worth noting is the fact that in words ending in the unvoiced “th” sound (such as “moth”), the final sound is usually changed to a voiced “th”

Can you distinguish between “thistle” and “this’ll”?

Well, yeah. Can you distinguish between word endings and word beginnings? Weird.

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• What Is a Plural Noun? | Examples, Rules & Exceptions

What Is a Plural Noun? | Examples, Rules & Exceptions

Published on April 14, 2023 by Jack Caulfield .

A plural noun  is a noun that refers to more than one of something (as opposed to a singular noun, which refers to just one). Like singular nouns, they may refer to people, animals, things, concepts, or places.

Plural nouns are normally formed by adding -s to the singular noun (e.g., the singular “cat” becomes the plural “cats”). With certain nouns, you need to add or change some of the other letters. The rules are explained in the table below.

There are also some irregular plurals that don’t end in  -s at all. The following section explains them.

Table of contents

Irregular plurals, plurals of compound nouns, common mistake: adding an apostrophe, plural nouns with singular functions, nouns that are always plural, uncountable nouns, worksheet: plural nouns, other interesting language articles, frequently asked questions about plural nouns.

Some plural nouns don’t end in -s at all. These are generally called irregular plurals . They are typically either leftovers from older ways of forming plurals in English or foreign words that were imported into English.

Only a small proportion of nouns have irregular plurals, but some of them are very commonly used words, so it’s important to be aware of them. There are a few main groups of irregular plurals, which are explained in the table below.

If you’re unsure about how to pluralize a word that isn’t mentioned in the table, consult a dictionary.

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Compound nouns are nouns that are made up of multiple words. They may be open compounds (written with spaces; e.g., “head of state”); hyphenated compounds (written with hyphens ; e.g., “brother-in-law”); or closed compounds (no spaces or hyphens; e.g., “household”).

To create the plural of a compound noun, you often pluralize only the final word (e.g., “high schools “), but there are also cases where you pluralize an earlier word (e.g., “ heads of state”) or occasionally multiple words (e.g., “ men-children “).

To determine how to pluralize a compound noun, consider which word is the “head” of the noun—the thing being represented, which the other words modify. For example, “high schools” refers to multiple schools, not multiple “highs.”

When it’s still not obvious, consult a dictionary to find the correct plural.

A common mistake when forming plural nouns is to add an apostrophe before the “s.” In English, apostrophes are used to form possessive nouns and contractions , not plurals. You also don’t need an apostrophe to pluralize a number, acronym , or proper noun .

• Maya loves pop music from the 1980’s .
• Maya loves pop music from the 1980s .
• SUV’s are bad for the environment and for road safety.
• SUVs are bad for the environment and for road safety.
• The Jones’s have gone on vacation.
• The Joneses have gone on vacation.

There’s one context in which it’s standard to use an apostrophe to form the plural. This is when you’re pluralizing a single letter. The apostrophe is generally added in such cases to avoid confusion with other words (e.g., “a’s” vs. “as”).

Some nouns are said to be plural in form but singular in construction . These words originate as plural forms but are now primarily used in a singular sense.

This is most common in the names of fields of study: for example, “physics,” “mathematics,” “ethics,” and “aesthetics.” Other examples include “news,” “measles,” and “billiards.”

“Singular in construction” means that these words have singular subject-verb agreement . For example, you’d write “the news is …” rather than “the news are …”

Similarly, some nouns are always plural and have no singular form—typically because they refer to something that consists of a pair of something. For example, “scissors” consist of two blades, “pants” of two legs, and “glasses” of two lenses.

Even a single pair of scissors, for example, is referred to in the plural (e.g., “the scissors are over there”). These nouns are sometimes referred to by the Latin term plurale tantum (“plural only”).

Because it’s wrong to use an indefinite article with a plural noun (e.g., “a scissors”) and no singular form exists (e.g., there’s no such thing as “a scissor”), the phrase “a pair of” is used before the noun when an indefinite article is needed. “Pairs of” is also used to specify quantities of these nouns (e.g., “three pairs of pants,” not “three pants”).

Your new spectacles suit you very nicely.

How many pairs of shorts do you own?

Uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns or noncount nouns ) are nouns that don’t have a plural form and can’t be preceded by an indefinite article (“a” or “an”). They often refer to abstract ideas or processes (e.g., “research”), physical substances (e.g., “water”), or areas of study (e.g., “geography”).

Uncountable nouns are singular, not plural, in terms of subject-verb agreement, and the words themselves cannot be pluralized. An alternative phrasing or word choice must be used instead:

• Several researches have been performed on this subject.
• A substantial amount of research has been performed on this subject.
• Several studies have been performed on this subject.
• Several pieces of research have been performed on this subject.

If you need to refer to a specific quantity of an uncountable noun, you use a unit of measurement to do so, since the noun itself doesn’t represent a specific quantity:

• There are 70 waters in the glass.
• There are 70 ml of water in the glass.

Test your understanding of how plural nouns are formed with the worksheet below. In each sentence, add the correct plural form of the noun in brackets. Some of the plurals are regular, some irregular.

• Practice questions
• Answers and explanations
• I love visiting [church] _______ on my [travel] _______.
• The atmosphere is made up of several [gas] _______.
• I bought two [loaf] _______ of bread and some [tomato] _______ at the market.
• Many [species] _______ of [fish] _______ live in [river] _______.
• A lot of [game of chance] __________________ involve rolling [die] _______.
• The singular noun “church” ends in “-ch,” so “-es” is added to form the plural noun. “Travels” is pluralized in the normal way, by adding “-s.”
• “Gas” ends in “-s,” so “-es” is added to pluralize it.
• As with some other nouns ending in “-f,” the plural form of “loaf” ends in “-ves.” “Tomato” follows the rule for most nouns ending in “-o” by adding “-es.”
• Both “species” and “fish” have the same form in the singular and the plural, so nothing is added to them. “River” is pluralized normally.
• The open compound noun “game of chance” is pluralized by adding “-s” to the head of the phrase, “game.” “Chance” is not pluralized. The word “die” has the irregular plural “dice.”

If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations and examples.

Nouns & pronouns

• Common nouns
• Proper nouns
• Collective nouns
• Personal pronouns
• Uncountable and countable nouns
• Verb tenses
• Phrasal verbs
• Sentence structure
• Active vs passive voice
• Subject-verb agreement
• Interjections
• Determiners
• Prepositions

The plural of “moose” is the same as the singular: “moose.” It’s one of a group of plural nouns in English that are identical to the corresponding singular nouns. So it’s wrong to write “mooses.”

For example, you might write “There are several moose in the forest.”

The correct plural of “octopus” is “octopuses.”

People often write “octopi” instead because they assume that the plural noun is formed in the same way as Latin loanwords such as “fungus/fungi.” But “octopus” actually comes from Greek, where its original plural is “octopodes.” In English, it instead has the regular plural form “octopuses.”

For example, you might write “There are four octopuses in the aquarium.”

Normally, the plural of “fish” is the same as the singular: “fish.” It’s one of a group of irregular plural nouns in English that are identical to the corresponding singular nouns (e.g., “moose,” “sheep”). For example, you might write “The fish scatter as the shark approaches.”

If you’re referring to several species of fish, though, the regular plural “fishes” is often used instead. For example, “The aquarium contains many different fishes , including trout and carp.”

The plural of “crisis” is “crises.” It’s a loanword from Latin and retains its original Latin plural noun form (similar to “analyses” and “bases”). It’s wrong to write “crisises.”

For example, you might write “Several crises destabilized the regime.”

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

Caulfield, J. (2023, April 14). What Is a Plural Noun? | Examples, Rules & Exceptions. Scribbr. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/nouns-and-pronouns/plural-noun/

Aarts, B. (2011). Oxford modern English grammar . Oxford University Press.

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015). Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2022). Garner’s modern English usage (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

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• Writing Tips

Grammar Tips: Plural Nouns

7-minute read

• 10th March 2023

If someone asked you what a noun is , you’d probably say it’s a person, place, or thing. Pretty simple, right? But what about plural nouns? For example, what is the plural form for cat ? If you said cats , you’re right! What about the plural for foot ? If you said foots , you’re incorrect. The correct form is feet. Simply adding an s at the end works for some nouns – but not all.

Plural nouns can be confusing for many English learners. Most students struggle with regular versus irregular plurals as well as apostrophe usage with some plurals. Nevertheless, understanding plural nouns is important for effective communication. After all, you’ll encounter them in many contexts!

If you find plural nouns confusing, read on! This blog will provide essential grammar tips for using plural nouns correctly in written and spoken English. We’ll discuss pluralization rules as well as irregular and tricky plural noun forms. By the time you finish reading, you’ll feel confident using plural nouns effectively in any context. And understanding plural nouns can go a long way to improving your English grammar .

What Are Plural Nouns?

Plural nouns refer to more than one person, place, or thing. You can easily recognize most of them by their s or es ending:

There’s not much to pluralizing such nouns. However, things get tricky with irregular plurals, as they have their own unique forms. For example:

English language learners often struggle to distinguish regular plurals from irregular ones . Fortunately, to form irregular plurals, you just need to know which letters to change.

How to Make Nouns Plural

As we stated above, you can make most singular nouns plural by adding s or es to the end of the word, depending on the word’s ending. Likewise, collective nouns (nouns that represent groups) can be made plural by adding s or es . For example:

Regular Plural Nouns

Nouns such as bottle, toy, bike , and chair are the easiest to pluralize, as you simply add s to the end. However, some nouns require the es ending:

Irregular Plurals

The rules for forming these plurals are different from the rules for forming regular plurals, and interestingly enough, there are multiple ways to form irregular plurals. Examples of nouns that have irregular plurals include mouse , man , goose , wolf , and wife . Their pluralization looks like this:

Pluralizing these is usually a matter of knowing the rules regarding certain noun endings. If a noun ends in f or fe , you change the ending to ve before adding an s to form the plural:

The only exceptions to this rule are roof, belief, chef, chief , and café , which take the s ending. For nouns such as goose, foot, and tooth , you change the double o into a double e to make the plural. So the plural forms are geese, feet, and teeth , respectively.

Booth and book are exceptions: their plurals use the s ending. Therefore, changing the double o to a double e is incorrect. And for nouns such as man and woman , you only need to change the a to e to make the plural.

How to Pluralize the Word Mouse

The word mouse has a unique plural form. You simply change mouse to mice :

However, you wouldn’t apply this rule to other words ending in ouse , such as house . You would simply add the s ending for those.

More Rules for Plural Nouns

The final letter of a noun often dictates the correct spelling of the pluralized form. But just as we saw with irregular plurals, you must be aware of special rules.

Singular Nouns Ending in Y

If a singular noun ends in y and the letter before the y is a consonant, you change the ending to ies to make the plural:

If a singular noun ends in y and the letter before the y is a vowel, just add an s to make the plural:

Singular Nouns Ending in O

If a singular noun ends in o , add es to make the plural:

However, you would not apply this rule to nouns such as piano , halo , and photo , which take the s ending for the plural.

Which Nouns Take the es Ending?

We know you’ve probably been asking this question from the beginning. The simple answer is that the es ending applies to nouns that end in s , ss , sh , ch , x , and z . For example:

Plural Noun Exceptions

While we’ve already mentioned a few exceptions, more exist. If a singular noun ends in us , the plural ending is i . For example:

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If a singular noun ends in is , the plural ending is es :

If a singular noun ends in on , the plural ending is a :

Believe it or not, some nouns don’t change at all when you pluralize them. Such nouns include sheep, fish, deer, series , aircraft , and species . They can be singular or plural:

Plural Nouns Versus Possessive Nouns

Possessive nouns demonstrate ownership, generally with the ’ s ending. Let’s say your cousin Bill owns a boat (lucky Bill!). You would indicate it like this:

Most students confuse plural nouns with possessive nouns because of the s endings. Understanding how to use apostrophes with plurals and possessives can be tricky. Plural nouns don’t have apostrophes unless they’re also possessive. Let’s consider the following examples:

Common Mistakes When Using Plural Nouns

1. Adding s or es endings to irregular nouns (e.g., goose , man , child , foot )

2. Adding an apostrophe to a plural noun when it’s not possessive

3. Adding s endings with nouns that actually need the es ending

4. Adding pluralizing endings to nouns that don’t change at all (e.g., deer , fish , series )

5. Adding the wrong ending to nouns that end in us , is , and on

Tips for Avoiding Errors in Writing and Speaking

1. Remember that plural nouns don’t use apostrophes unless they’re also possessive.

2. You cannot pluralize all nouns simply by using s or es endings.

3. Remember which letters need to be changed to form irregular plurals (which all have unique forms).

4. Know which nouns use the s and es endings.

5. Know which nouns are singular and plural in sentences.

Tips for Identifying Singular and Plural Nouns in Sentences

Looking at how much of something a noun is referring to can tell you whether that noun is singular or plural. It’s singular if it refers to one person or thing. It’s plural if it refers to more than one person or thing.

When reading a sentence, look for any nouns with s or es endings. If so, they’re likely plural. Furthermore, by understanding how much of something the noun refers to, you can recognize the tricky irregular plural nouns we’ve covered.

Incorrect Plural Nouns Lead to Different Meanings

It’s important to use the correct forms of plural and possessive nouns, as incorrect plurals can change the meaning of a sentence. Take these examples:

We encourage you to practice using plural nouns correctly. One way to do this is by trying a worksheet on singular and plural nouns . The more practice you have, the more comfortable you’ll be. For our visual learners, we recommend this video on how to form plural nouns . Finally, we encourage you to proofread your written work for correct plural noun usage.

If you’re currently working on an essay or a paper, you might be interested in letting our proofreading experts review your writing. They can check for grammar and punctuation errors and make sure the spelling is perfect. They’ll also ensure the correct use of plural nouns! Consider submitting a 500-word document for free today.

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