Singular to Plural with rules and examples

Noun:- Noun is referred as the name of place, animal, thing, thought, object etc. There are two types of noun according to number -Singular noun and Plural noun.  

 1) A noun that denotes one person or thing is said to be in the singular noun.

Ex.  Boy, girl, ox, friend, map, gun, branch, wife

2) A noun that denotes more than one person or thing, is said to be in the plural noun.

Ex.  boys, girls, oxen, friends, maps, guns, branches, wives

 

Various ways or rules of forming plurals are as follows.

  Rule 1) By adding‘s’ to the singular,

singular	plurals
boy	boys
pen	pens
girl	girls
book	books
cow	cows
car	cars
desk	desks
chair	chairs
cat	cats
rat	rats
hand	hands
eye	eyes
house	houses
cap	caps
cook	cooks
hat	hats
camel	camels
farmer	farmers
month	months
dog	dogs
elephant	elephants
frog	frogs
joker	jokers
zebra	zebras
yak	yaks
van	vans
umbrella	umbrellas
snake	snakes
tree	trees
king	kings

   Rule 2) Nouns ending in 's', 'sh', 'ch', 'x', 'z' or 'ss'- form the plural by adding 'es' to the singular form.

singular	plurals
dish	dishes
kiss	kisses
match	matches
branch	branches
gas	gasses
bench	benches
glass	glasses
fox	foxes
bush	bushes
tax	taxes
box	boxes
watch	watches
class	classes
bush	bushes
ass	asses
inch	inches
witch	witches
wish	wishes
bliss	blesses
itch	itches
switch	switches
leech	leeches
distich	distiches
tich	tiches
pinch	pinches
clinch	clinches
touch	touches
beach	beaches
sketch	sketches
peach	peaches
boss	bosses
pox	poxes
vox	voxes
grass	grasses
brass	brasses
bass	basses
trench	trenches
finch	finches
moss	mosses

   Rule 3)  Nouns ending in 'y' preceded by a consonant form the plural by changing 'y' into 'i' and adding 'es' to the singular form.

singular	plurals
library	libraries
lady	ladies
city	cities
study	studies
cry	cries
cherry	cherries
body	bodies
story	stories
duty	duties
strategy	strategies
fly	flies
baby	babies
city	cities
copy	copies
country	countries
boundary	boundaries
family	families
lady	ladies
story	stories
melody	melodies
trophy	trophies
penny	pennies
spy	spies
daisy	daisies

  Rule 4) When a noun ends in 'y' preceded by a vowel, only ’s’ is added to the singular form.

singular	plurals
way	ways
ray	rays
essay	essays
bay	bays
toy	toys
donkey	donkeys
day	days
key	keys
play	plays
monkey	monkeys
boy	boys
kidney	kidneys

  Rule 5) A noun ending in 'o' preceded by a consonant, forms the plural by adding 'es' to the singular form.

singular	plural
mango	mangoes
potato	potatoes
buffalo	buffaloes
volcano	volcanoes
hero	heroes
Negro	Negroes
motto	mottoes
echo	echoes

  Rule 6) The following nouns are exceptions to the rule the plural of each of the words is formed by adding only ‘s’ to the singular form.

singular	plural
cuckoo	cuckoos
radio	radios
polio	polios
studio	studios
zoo	zoos
photo	photos
solo	solos
halo	halos
dynamo	dynamos
memento	mementos
bamboo	bamboos
piano	pianos

  Rule 7)  If a singular noun ends in ‘f’ or 'fe', the plural is formed by changing ‘f' or 'fe' into 'v' and adding 'es’

singular	plural
wife	wives
knife	knives
Thief	thieves
loaf	loaves
leaf	leaves
life	lives
wolf	wolves
shelf	shelves
calf	calves

  Rule 8) The following nouns are exceptions to the rule. The plural of each of them is formed by adding only 's' to the singular form.

singular	plural
brief	briefs
safe	safes
cliff	cliffs
roof	roots
chief	chiefs
hoof	hoofs
proof	proofs

  Rule 9) Irregular form in these words there is no special rule to make plural forms.

singular	plural
ox	oxen
child	children
goose	geese
man	men
tooth	teeth
woman	women
foot	feet
person	people
mouse	mice
louse	lice

 

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