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THE NUMBER

Singular and Plural. –When you speak of one thing at a time, the noun that you use is in the Singularnumber; as “a cow”.

When you speak of more than onething at a time, the noun that you use is in the Pluralnumber; as “cows”.

How Plurals are formed. –The main rules are:

1) Add “s” to the Singular. This is the general rule.

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Cow cows Town towns

Boy boys Star stars

Bird birds Flea fleas

But there are some specific rules:

2) Add “es” to the Singular, if you find that you cannot pronounce the “s” without the help of “e”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Glass glass-es Brush brush-es

Box box-es Branch branch-es

Kiss kiss-es Porch porch-es

Note. – If the Singular ends with a silent “e”, the e is dropped before the “es” of the Plural:

Singular. Plural. Singular.Plural.

House hous-es Size siz-es

Page pag-es Bridge bridg-es

Face fac-es Nose nos-es

Cause caus-es Horse hors-es

3) Nouns ending in “-y”:

a) If the Singular ends in “-y”, and the “-у” is preceded by a consonant, change “у” into “ies”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Fly flies Army armies

Cry cries Penny pennies, pence

b) If the Singular ends in “ay”, “ey”, or “oy” (i.e. if the “у” is preceded by a vowel, and not by a consonant), simply add “s” and make no change in the “у”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Day days Ray rays

Boy boys Monkey monkey

c) Proper nouns in “-y” never change their form:

Singular. Plural

Mary Marys

4) Nouns ending in “-f / fe”:

a) If the Singular ends in “f / fe”, change the “f / fe” into “ves”:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Wife wives Loaf loaves

Wolf wolves Thief thieves

b)But there are at least fourteen Singular nouns ending in “f / fe”, which form the Plural by simply adding “s” to the Singular.

Singular. PluralSingular. Plural.

Chief chiefs Proof proofs

Roof roofs Strife strifes

Reef reefs Dwarf dwarfs

Gulf gulfs Grief griefs

c) Some of these, however, for example, hoof, staff, scarf, turf, and wharf, sometimes form the Plural in “ves”.

Singular. PluralSingular. Plural.

Chief chiefs Proof proofs

Roof roofs Strife strifes

Hoof hoofs, hooves Fife fifes

Turf turfs, turves Reef reefs

Dwarf dwarfs Scarf scarfs, scarves

Gulf gulfs Wharf wharfs, wharves

Grief griefs Staff staffs, staves

5) Nouns ending in “-o”:

a) If the Singular ends in “o”, and the “о” is preceded by a consonant, add “es”, not “s”, to the Singular:

Singular. Plural. Singular. Plural.

Cargo cargoes Volcano volcanoes

Hero heroes Potato potatoes

Buffalo buffaloes Echo echoes

Motto mottoes Negro negroes

b) The following are exceptions: grotto, grottos; halo, halos; memento, mementos; proviso, provisos; tiro, tiros; piano, pianos; canto, cantos; solo, solos. No reason can be given to justify this troublesome distinction.

c) If the “о” is preceded by a vowel, the Plural is formed by simply adding “s” to the singular, as: folio, folios; cameo, cameos.

6) Compound nouns:

a) “s / es” is added to the noun in Singular (to the last element):

Singular. Plural.

Girlfriend girlfriends

Step-son step-sons

Maid-servant maid-servants

Foot-man foot-men

b) Some nouns add “s” to the head element:

Singular. Plural.

Son-in-law sons-in-law

Man-of-war men-of-war

Court-martial courts-martial

Commander-in-chief commanders-in-chief

Hanger-on hangers-on

Maid-of- honour maids-of-honour

c) Nouns in which is difficult to define the stem, add “s” in the plural form at the end (to the final element)

Singular. Plural.

Forget-me-not forget-me-nots

Merry-go-round merry-go-rounds

d) The formation of nouns ending in “full / ful”:

Singular. Plural.

Handful handfuls

Spoonful spoonfuls

Columnful columnfuls

But also:

column-full columns-full

e) Adjectivized nouns are always singular, even though their meaning is plural: a three-storey building, a four-act play, a ten-year-old boy. But also: 20-years difference in age.

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