Plural Noun

Definition

Plural noun can be defined as “A plural noun is a word that indicates that there is more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea. When you talk about more than one of anything, you’re using plural nouns. When you write about more than one of anything, you usually use the same word, simply adding an s, es, or ies to the end.”

OR,

“A type of noun; a word that can be used to refer to multiple persons, places, things, qualities, or ideas.”

Explanation

Plural noun is a noun which is used to indicate more than one place, person, thing, animal, or idea.

We can use plural nouns in the sentence whenever we need to indicate more than one thing, person, place, animal or idea.

Plural nouns can be made by adding suffix (like s, es, or ies) to the end of any singular noun. There are some exceptions as well however not many.

Use of It in the Sentence

Here are following sentences showing the use of plural nouns:

• Three boys and two girls were playing football in the playground.
• Various horses were ready to run in the race in the big field.
• Dogs were chasing a cat on the road.
• He has stolen my ideas to implement in his own company.
• My family members are very upset as I misbehaved them in the party.
• It is very easy to cut trees however very difficult to plant them.
• Dogs have ruined all the chairs kept in the ground.

Rules to be Followed

Here are some rules we need to follow while making plural nouns from the singular noun:

We can get some plural forms of most nouns by just adding the letter ‘s’ at the end of word:

• Snake: snakes
• Ski: skis
• Goat: goats
• Barrymore: Barrymores
• Cat: cats
• Dog: dogs
• Bottle: bottles
• Cup: cups
• Desk: desks
• Sticker: stickers
• Window: windows
• Car: cars
• House: houses
• Boat: boats
• River: rivers
• Book: books
• Bird: birds
• Pencil: pencils

Some plural nouns can be obtained by adding ‘es’ at the end of words ending with ‘-ch’, ‘x’, ‘s’ or ‘sh’: (exceptions of this rule are axis: axes and ox: oxen)

• Witch: witches
• Box: boxes
• Bench: benches
• Bus: buses
• Atlas: atlases
• Kiss: kisses
• Match: matches
• Fox: foxes
• Bus: buses
• Wish: wishes
• Wish: wishes
• Box: boxes
• Box: boxes
• Box: boxes
• Moss: mosses
• Bus: buses
• Kiss: kisses
• Gas: gases
• Bash: bashes
• Bias: biases
• Pitch: pitches
• Box: boxes
• Ax: axes
• Bunch: bunches
• Bus: buses
• Arch: arches
• Canvas: canvases
• Brush: brushes
• Church: churches
• Watch: watches
• Compass: compasses
• Crash: crashes
• Cross: crosses
• Dais: daises
• Bush: bushes
• Dress: dresses
• Equinox: equinoxes
• Class: classes
• Fetch: fetches
• Fix: fixes
• Botch: botches
• Gas: gases
• Grass: grasses
• Itch: itches
• Marsh: marshes
• Kiss: kisses
• Larch: larches
• Lash: lashes
• Catch: catches
• Match: matches
• March: marches
• Fox: foxes
• Mash: mashes
• Mass: masses
• Stitch: stitches
• Moss: mosses
• Mix: mixes
• Etch: etches
• Pass: passes
• Patch: patches
• Pox: poxes
• Dish: dishes
• Sash: sashes
• Sketch: sketches
• Latch: latches
• Mantis: mantises
• Tax: taxes
• Touch: touches
• Radish: radishes
• Trash: trashes
• Twitch: twitches
• Witch: witches
• Wish: wishes
• Starch: starches
• Wrench: wrenches
• Vehicle: vehicles

Some of the irregular plural forms are like:

• Woman: women
• Man: men
• Deer: deer
• Goose: geese
• Mouse: mice
• Person: people
• Barracks: barracks
• Child: children
• Die: dice
• Foot: feet
• Louse: lice
• Person: people
• That: those
• This: these
• Tooth: teeth
• Sheep: sheep
• Fish: fish
• Series: series
• Species: species
• Aircraft: aircraft

Some of the Latin or Greek plural forms are:

• Nucleus: nuclei
• Crisis: crises
• Focus: foci
• Fungus: fungi
• Cactus: cacti (cactuses is also acceptable)
• Index: indices (indexes is acceptable)
• Syllabus: syllabi
• Appendix: appendices (appendixes is also acceptable)
• Criterion: criteria
• Phenomenon: phenomena
• Thesis: theses

Some plural words can be obtained by adding ‘zes’ to the end of words ending with ‘z’:

• Quiz: quizzes
• Waltz: waltzes
• Fizz: fizzes
• Klutz: klutzes
• Buzz: buzzes
• Topaz: topazes

Some plural nouns can be obtained by adding ‘es’ in place of ‘is’:

• Analysis: analyses
• Synopsis: synopses
• Basis: bases
• Crisis: crises
• Thesis: theses
• Hypotheses: hypothesis
• Neurosis: neuroses
• Axis: axes
• Oasis: oases
• Paralysis: paralyses
• Parenthesis: parentheses
• Ellipsis: ellipses
• Synthesis: syntheses

Some plural words can be obtained by adding ‘s’ at the end of words ending with ‘y’ (preceded by a vowel):

• Alley: alleys
• Delay: delays
• Play: plays
• Attorney: attorneys
• Essay: essays
• Boy: boys
• Jay: jays
• Guy: guys
• Toy: toys
• Key: keys
• Osprey: ospreys
• Holiday: holidays
• Valley: valleys
• Ray: rays
• Stray: strays
• Tray: trays
• Turkey: turkeys
• Way: ways

Some plural words can be obtained by adding ‘ies’ (by removing last letter) at the end of words ending with ‘y’ (preceded by a consonant):

• Ally: allies
• Army: armies
• Jelly: jellies
• Beauty: beauties
• Navy: navies
• Cherry: cherries
• City: cities
• Colony: colonies
• Baby: babies
• Enemy: enemies
• Country: countries
• Pony: ponies
• Story: stories
• Dictionary: dictionaries
• Duty: duties
• Berry: berries
• Fairy: fairies
• Sky: skies
• Ferry: ferries
• Fly: flies
• Symphony: symphonies
• Injury: injuries
• Gallery: galleries
• History: histories
• Lily: lilies
• Family: families
• Kitty: kitties
• Lady: ladies
• Study: studies
• Trophy: trophies
• Variety: varieties
• Party: parties
• City: cities
• Reply: replies
• Secretary: secretaries
• History: histories
• Spy: spies
• Theory: theories
• Lady: ladies
• Try: tries
• University: universities
• Spy: spies
• Victory: victories
• Party: parties
• Penny: pennies
• Baby: babies
• Daisy: daisies
• Story: stories
• Nanny: nannies
• City: cities

In some cases, we can get plural nouns by adding ‘i’ in place of ‘us’:

• Alumnus: alumni
• Nucleus: nuclei
• Terminus: termini
• Focus: foci
• Fungus: fungi
• Locus: loci
• Cactus: cacti
• Torus: tori
• Radius: radii
• Stimulus: stimuli
• Syllabus: syllabi
• Bacillus: bacilli

Some plural nouns can be obtained by replacing ‘um’ with ‘a’, ‘a’ with ‘ae’, and ‘on’ with ‘a’:

• Bacterium: bacteria
• Erratum: errata
• Datum: data
• Memorandum: memoranda
• Gymnasium: gymnasia
• Medium: media
• Curriculum: curricula
• Ovum: ova
• Stratum: strata
• Alga: algae
• Pupa: pupae
• Antenna: antennae
• Larva: larvae
• Vita: vitae
• Nebula: nebulae
• Alumna: alumnae
• Vertebra: vertebrae
• Criterion: criteria
• Automaton: automata
• Polyhedron: polyhedra
• Phenomenon: phenomena

Some plural nouns can be obtained by adding ‘es’ in place of ‘o’:

• Buffalo: buffaloes
• Volcano: volcanoes
• Echo: echoes
• Tomato; tomatoes
• Grotto: grottoes
• Hero: heroes
• Mosquito: mosquitoes
• Cargo: cargoes
• Potato: potatoes
• Torpedo: torpedoes
• Veto: vetoes
• Motto: mottoes
• Zero: zeroes
• Embargo: embargoes

Some plural nouns can be obtained by adding ‘ves’ in place of ‘f’ or ‘fe’ (not ‘ff’ or ‘ffe’):

• Calf: calves
• Elf: elves
• Half: halves
• Hoof: hooves
• Knife: knives
• Leaf: leaves
• Life: lives
• Loaf: loaves,
• Wolf: wolves
• Wife: wives
• Thief: thieves
• Knife: knives
• Loaf: loaves
• Scarf: scarves
• Self: selves
• Shelf: shelves

Some words are exist as plural only, such as:

Barracks, cattle, vespers, congratulations, news, deer, eyeglasses, gallows, mathematics, means, measles, mumps, tongs, bellows, oats, pants, pliers, pajamas, dregs, scissors, series, shears, shorts, headquarters, species, tweezers

Exercises

Plural Noun Exercises for You (1)

We have provided below some plural noun exercises in order to help you to improve your knowledge about plural noun. You need to get detail information about plural noun provided above and check your skill by doing following exercises. Select correct plural nouns from the following sentences and match from given answer:

1. I have two boys and three girls.
2. The man living in that house has many children.
3. There are seven men and two women live on footpath.
4. All the babies are crying very loudly as they have no any toys.
5. I eat two big boiled potatoes in the breakfast daily.
6. Only few men are interested in playing football.
7. Today, I got lots of memos in my class.
8. I saw dogs were running behind the cat.
9. Only few buses went to Lucknow from Varanasi.
10. I saw many snakes in my dream and I was scared.
11. My mom has bought many nice freeze bottles.
12. I have been gifted some nice cups on this birthday.
13. I have many stickers, so you can also use.
14. My sweet home has many windows.
15. She has taken my books but it seems that she will not return.
16. I like to have many pencils in my pencil box.
17. Flying birds in the sky are looking very attractive.
18. I saw a huge crowd of people on the road because of an accident.

Answers: 1 – boys, girls, 2 – children, 3 – men, women, 4 – babies, 5 – potatoes, 6 – men, 7 – memos, 8 – dogs, 9 – buses, 10 – snakes, 11 – bottles, 12 – cups, 13 – stickers, 14 – windows, 15 – books, 16 – pencils, 17 – birds, 18 – people

Plural Noun Exercises for You (2)

Write correct plural forms of following words and match with the given answer:

1. Desk: …..
2. Sticker: …..
3. Window: …..
4. Car: …..
5. Parenthesis: …..
6. Ellipsis: …..
7. House: …..
8. Boat: …..
9. Atlas: …..
10. Kiss: …..
11. Loaf: …..
12. Scarf: …..
13. Klutz: …..
14. Buzz: …..
15. Match: …..
16. Fox: …..
17. Bus: …..
18. Wish: …..
19. Pitch: …..
20. Box: …..
21. Deer: …..
22. Goose: …..
23. Alga: …..
24. Pupa: …..
25. Ax: …..
26. Bunch: …..
27. Dress: …..
28. Equinox: …..
29. Class: …..
30. Kiss: …..
31. Larch: …..
32. Criterion: …..
33. Phenomenon: …..
34. Lash: …..
35. Catch: …..
36. Series: …..
37. Species: …..
38. Match: …..
39. Starch: …..
40. Wrench: …..

Answers: 1 – desks, 2 – stickers, 3 – windows, 4 – cars, 5 – parentheses, 6 – ellipses, 7 – houses, 8 – boats, 9 – atlases, 10 – kisses, 11 – loaves, 12 – scarves, 13 – klutzes, 14 – buzzes, 15 – matches, 16 – foxes, 17 – buses, 18 – wishes, 19 – pitches, 20 – boxes, 21 – deer, 22 – geese, 23 – algae, 24 – pupae, 25 – axes, 26 – bunches, 27 – dresses, 28 – equinoxes, 29 – classes, 30 – kisses, 31 – larches, 32 – criteria, 33 – phenomena, 34 – lashes, 35 – catches, 36 – series, 37 – species, 38 – matches, 39 – starches, 40 – wrenches.

Related Topics:

Noun
Proper Noun
Common Noun
Compound Noun
Countable Noun
Uncountable Noun
Collective Noun
Possessive Noun
Concrete Noun
Abstract Noun
Singular Noun