The vast majority of nouns in the English language are made plural by adding an "s" or "es" to the end of the word. For example, book, apple, house, table, door, cat, bush, boss are just some of the millions of words that become plural with the simple addition of an "s" or "es" (books, apples, houses, tables, doors, cats, bushes, bosses). However, certain nouns have irregular plurals which do not behave in this standard way and, even though most irregular plurals follow a pattern, there are always exceptions to watch out for.
The general rule for making a noun plural is:
Bless = blesses
Box = boxes
catch = catches
Dish = dishes
Buzz = buzzes
stomach = stomachs
Baby = babiesCandy = candies
Cat = cats
Dog = dogs
Certain words do not follow the above rules for regular plurals. There are some common types of irregular plurals that occur, and some words simply have no plural form at all.
While it is useful to memorize the common irregular plurals, for many words you simply have to know and understand that it is an irregular plural as a result of speaking and hearing English.
Non-count nouns, also called collective nouns, have no plural form because they are assumed to be plural. Most abstract nouns are non-count nouns. Some examples are:
If you are talking about multiple varieties or types of these irregular plurals, you cannot make them plural by adding an "s" or "es" to the end. Instead, you need to make them plural by adding a descriptive phrase. For example:
Certain other nouns have the same plural form as singular form. A large number of animals happen to follow this rule. For example:
In addition to non-count nouns and unchanging nouns, there are several different types of irregular plurals which follow a pattern in the English language.
Knife = knives
Wife = wives
Half = halves
Loaf = loaves
Cactus = cacti
fungus = fungi
syllabus = syllabi
Zoo = zoos
Studio = studios
Tomato = tomatoes
Potato = potatoes
Some words ending in "o" can be spelled either way
Banjo = banjos or banjoes
Flamingo = flmaingos or flmaingoes
hypothesis = hypotheses
oasis = oases
crisis = crises
bacterium = bacteria
medium = media
curriculum = curicula
Certain words do not add a letter to the end, but instead change the word itself. These words simply need to be memorized. Some examples include:
The best way to learn and understand irregular plurals is to practice speaking the English language, to read a great deal, to pay attention to words and phrases that you see and hear and to assemble a list of words with irregular plurals so you can begin to understand how to make each noun plural correctly.