Irregular plural nouns

1. Irregular Plural Nouns Presented by: Sarah Crowell

2. Regular Nouns We make regular nouns plural by adding –s to the end of the word Examples: cat cats chair chairs shoe shoes However, there are many nouns that do not follow this pattern and they are called irregular nouns

3. Irregular Nouns There are some rules to follow for making irregular nouns plural Other irregular nouns will not follow a definite pattern and will just need to be memorized

4. Rule # 1 Nouns ending in [s, x, z, c h , and sh ] Form the plural by adding – es to the end of the word Examples: class class es box box es buzz buzz es watch watch es dish dish es

5. Your turn Singular beach match sandwich bush eyelash ax fox tax kiss matches beaches Plural sandwiches bushes eyelashes foxes axes kisses taxes

6. Rule # 2 Nouns ending in consonant + [y] Form plural by changing [y] to [i] and add – es Examples: lady lad ies city cit ies party part ies baby bab ies

7. Your turn Singular puppy family story library country butterfly discovery Plural puppies families discoveries stories libraries countries butterflies

8. Rule # 3 Nouns ending in [f] or [ fe ] Form plural by changing [f] or [ fe ] to – ves Examples: half hal ves leaf lea ves wife wi ves knife kni ves But NOT always! belief beliefs chef chefs roof roofs

9. Your turn Singular calf loaf scarf thief wolf shelf life Plural calves loaves scarves thieves wolves shelves lives

10. Rule # 4 Some Nouns that end in [o] Form plural by adding – es Examples: tomato tomato es potato potato es hero hero es echo echo es But NOT Always! kangaroo kangaroos piano pianos photo photos auto autos

11. Your Turn Singular potato kangaroo echo tomato photo auto hero piano Plural potatoes kangaroos echoes tomatoes photos autos heroes pianos

12. Irregular forms without –s Examples: man men woman women child children mouse mice goose geese foot feet ox oxen tooth teeth These nouns just need to be memorized because they do not follow a rule

13. Your Turn Singular woman goose man mouse ox tooth child foot Plural women geese mice men feet children oxen teeth

14. Some nouns have the same singular and plural form Examples: a shrimp two shrimp a series two series a fish two fish a deer two deer a sheep two sheep a moose two moose These nouns are determined plural or singular by the context of the sentence

15. YOUR TURN Singular a series a fish a deer a shrimp a moose a sheep two two two two two two Plural series fish deer shrimp moose sheep

16. Nouns borrowed from other languages may have foreign plural forms Examples: datum data medium media cactus cacti stimulus stimuli These nouns just need to be memorized because they do not follow a rule

17. More practice Read each sentence. Figure out the plural of the word in parenthesis and write it on the line. 1 . Mrs. Jones has two ________________________. (child ) 2. A flock of ________________________ just flew overhead. (goose ) 3. Three ________________________ scurried through the kitchen. (mouse ) 4. Mother cut the sandwich into two ________________________. (half ) 5. Humans have 32 _____________ in their mouths by the time they are adults. (tooth ) 6. The ________________________ at the bus stop had umbrellas. (woman ) 7. There are forks, _____________________, and spoons on the table. (knife ) 8. Those ________________________ were making a lot of noise. (person ) 9. Mama bought two ________________________ of bread. (loaf ) 10. The ________________________ were fixing the hole in the street. (man ) 11. I heard a pack of ________________________ in the forest. (wolf ) 12. The farmer had a dozen ________________________. (sheep ) 13. People have two arms, two hands, two legs, and two __________________. (foot ) 14. The _____________________ on the trees change color in autumn. (leaf ) 15. My family has several pets. We have a dog, two cats, and five ___________. (fish)