REGULAR PLURALS
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| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
PRON. OF |
REMARKS |
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| hat | hats | [s] | final sound voiceless consonant, except [s] or [S]. |
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| sea hand |
seas hands |
[z] | final sound vowel or voiced consonant, except [z] or [Z] |
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| bus | buses | [iz] | final sound [s] or [S] |
| nose | noses | ||
| flash | flashes | ||
| match | matches | ||
| bridge | bridges | ||
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| In compounds like sister-in-law, passer-by, looker-on etc., the
plural ending
is added to the main word: sisters-in-law,
lookers-on,
passers-by
Exceptions: gown-ups, touch-downs, forget-me-nots In words ending in "y" and preceeded by a consonant, the "y" is changed into "ie" before the plural ending. baby-babies, story-stories. If the "y" is preceeded by a vowel, no change takes place; boy-boys. Words ending in "o" often get an extra "e" before the plural ending; potato-potatoes, echo-echoes. In abbreviated forms like photo (from photograph), radio kilo (from kilogram) etc., normally only "s" is added; photos, kilos etc. |
IRREGULAR PLURALS
1. f - ves
| SING | PLUR | PRON PLUR |
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| calf | calves | [ka:vz] |
| elf | elves | [elvz] |
| half | halves | ha:vz] |
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| bath | baths | [ba:Dz] |
| mouth | mouths | [mauDz] |
| oath | oaths | [«UDz] |
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| Most words ending in [f] or [T] form the plural in the regular way; roofs cliffs, months, deaths. For some words there are two varieties; hoof-hoofs/hooves, scarf-scarfs/scarves, wharf-wharfs/wharves. |
2. plural suffix: -en
ox-oxen
child-children
3. One vowel in the singular and another vowel in the plural
| man | men |
| woman | women |
| foot | feet |
| goose | geese |
| tooth | teeth |
| louse | lice |
| mouse | mice |
| Note that the Swedish or German corresponding words also form their plurals in a similar way. |
4. Loanwords
| SINGULAR | PHONETICS | PLURAL | PHONETICS | sing/plur suffix |
| stimulus | ['stimjUl«s] | stimuli | [-ai] | us-i |
| analysis | [«'nQl«sis] | analyses | [-i:z] | is-es |
| series | ['si«ri:z] | series | [-i:z] | es-es |
| medium | ['mi:dj--«m] | media | [-dj«] | um-a |
| nebula | ['nebjul«] | nebulae | [-li:] | a-ae |
| appendix | [«'pendiks] | appendices | [-si:z] | ix-ices |
| phenomenon | [fi'n¨min¨n] | phenomena | [-min«] | on-a |
5. The plural form the same as the singular
| deer sheep |
remarks |
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| fish cod plaice salmon trout mackerel |
especially catching fish, cod etc. |
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| grouse | see fish |
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| Portuguese Chinese Japanese Swiss |
nouns formed from adjectives |
Examples:
| Two deer crossed the road
right in front of us.
They got plenty of fish in that catch. They caught five trout. But: Fishes have gills, not lungs. I have bought three new fishes for my aquarium. |