Singular and Plural Nouns
A noun is the name of a person, place or thing. A singular noun refers to 1 only. A plural noun refers to 2 or more.
A singular noun takes a singular verb and a plural noun takes a plural verb (see below).
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Regular Nouns
Most nouns in English are regular. To make them plural we add -s to the end:
| singular | plural |
| 1 book | 2 books |
| 1 car | 4 cars |
| 1 house | 8 houses |
Spellings
In some cases, however, we need to do more when and we change the spelling.
- If a noun ends in ch, sh, s, or x we usually add -ES to the end to make it plural:
| singular | plural |
| 1 church | 2 churches |
| 1 crash | 2 crashes |
| 1 bus | 2 buses |
| 1 box | 2 boxes |
The reason is pretty simple, trying to say these words without the E and you'll see what happens!
- If a noun ends in a consonant and Y then we take off the Y and add -IES to the end:
| singular | plural |
| 1 baby | 2 babies |
| 1 curry | 2 curries |
| 1 spy | 2 spies |
- Most nouns which end in F or FE change the ending to VES
| singular | plural |
| 1 elf | 2 elves |
| 1 loaf | 2 loaves |
| 1 roof | 2 rooves |
Note that with this last one, most people say ROOFS with an /f/ sound, but write ROOVES with a /v/ sound.
- If the noun ends in -O then we simply add an S to the end as normal:
| singular | plural |
| 1 piano | 2 pianos |
| 1 video | 2 videos |
But a few nouns which end in -O add an -ES to the end:
| singular | plural |
| 1 hero | 2 heroes |
| 1 potato | 2 potatoes |
Irregular Nouns
Different Words
Some nouns have two very different words for the singular and the plural:
| singular | plural |
| 1 tooth | 2 teeth |
| 1 goose | 4 geese |
| 1 foot | 2 feet |
| 1 child | 6 children |
| 1 ox | 2 oxen |
| 1 oasis | 3 oases |
| 1 axis | 2 axes |
| 1 man | 2 men |
| 1 woman | 2 women |
| 1 mouse | 2 mice |
| 1 medium | 2 media |
Same Words
Alternatively, some nouns are the same whether they are singular or plural:
| singular | plural |
| 1 sheep | 2 sheep |
| 1 salmon | 4 salmon |
| 1 aircraft | 8 aircraft |
Alternative Plurals
Finally, some nouns have alternative plurals. Sometimes these have different meanings and are used in different contexts:
| singular | plural |
| 1 penny | 2 pence/pennies |
| 1 person | 4 persons/people |
| 1 fish | 8 fish/fishes |
Miscellaneous
Some nouns have a plural but no singular, for example:
These nouns take a plural verb:
Some nouns look plural but are, in fact, singular, for example:
The verb is singular here:
Some words are either plural or singular, for example:
The verb can be either singular or plural; there is no real difference:
A collective noun describes a group of nouns describing the same thing, for example:
We use singular verb if we think of the group as a whole:
Or plural if we are thinking of the individuals:
Some groups, however, are always plural:
When we have a noun phrase of measurement, we use a singular verb:
When we talk about a pair of things, we always use the plural, for example:
We use a plural verb:
