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Noun Plurals

© Copyright 2002, Jim Loy

It would seem that there are nouns which form their plurals in irregular ways. On further study, it seems that it is difficult to tell which are irregular, and which are regular. This is all very important, if you want to spell these plurals correctly. Here are some rules:

• Most nouns form their plurals by adding s: dogs, nouns, plurals, skates.
• Nouns ending in s, x, z, sh, or ch add es: classes, sixes, buzzes, wishes, witches.
• Nouns ending in a consonant followed by y, change the y to ies: stories.
• Nouns ending in a vowel followed by y, just add s: guys, (exception: soliloquies)
• Nouns ending in a consonant followed by o, add es (with many exceptions): heroes, potatoes (exceptions: pianos, solos).
• Nouns ending in a vowel followed by o, just add s: cuckoos.
• Nouns ending in f (or fe), change the f to v and add es (with many exceptions): calves, knives, leaves, lives, selves, thieves, wives, wolves (exceptions: cliffs, roofs, safes).
• Some foreign nouns (especially the rare ones) retain their foreign plurals:
  • Latin: addendum-addenda, alumna-alumnae, alumnus-alumni, cranium-crania, datum-data.
  • Greek: analysis-analyses, basis-bases, crisis-crises, thesis-theses.
• Relatively common foreign nouns may have two plurals (sometimes different meanings of the singular have different plurals):
  • Latin: cactus-cactuses-cacti, curriculum-curriculums-curricula, formula-formulas-formulae, medium-mediums-media, memorandum-memorandums-memoranda.
  • Greek: criterion-criterions-criteria, index-indexes-indices, phenomenon-phenomenons-phenomena.
  • French: beau-beaus-beaux, madam-madams-mesdames.
  • Italian: concerto-concertos-concerti, libretto-librettos-libretti.
• Some plural nouns have no singular: athletics, bellows, the blues, billiards, clothes, economics.
• Letters, numbers, and other signs (+, *, and others) add 's: t's, +'s, 3's.
• When a sentence is about specific words, add 's: "Change all of the he's to her's."
• Compound nouns with hyphens pluralize the most important word: courts-martial, good-bys, hand-me-downs, mothers-in-law.
• Compound nouns written as one word normally pluralize the last word: pickpockets, salesmen, spoonfuls, stepmothers.
• Some irregular nouns form their plurals by changing the vowel of the last syllable: foot-feet, goose-geese, man-men, mouse-mice, tooth-teeth, woman-women.
• A few irregular nouns add en: children, oxen.
• A few irregular nouns are identical with their plurals: deer, fish (or fishes), moose, series, sheep, species.
• Some irregular nouns are hard to predict: person-people.
• A few abbreviations: Dr.-Drs., ft.-ft., mm-mm, p.-pp. (pages).

It is all fairly complicated. There are still plenty of plurals that you may have to look up.

Windows 98's backup routine gives this instruction: "Please insert another media to continue." Of course "media" is a Latin plural; singular is "medium." "Please insert another medium to continue," isn't right either, as you don't want a different kind of medium (diskette or whatever), but another of the same kind of medium. Anyway, Microsoft chose a relatively simple, but incorrect solution.

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