Nouns – Singular and Plural Forms

Singular and Plural Forms of Nouns

A noun can refer to one thing or to more than one thing. Singular means one. Plural means more than one.

Example: I am wearing a hat.

The noun hat is singular. I am wearing just one hat.

Example: There must be over a hundred hats in the shop.                                                

The noun hats is plural. There are more than one hundred hats.

Regular Plurals

Most nouns change from singular to plural with -s or -es.

Most nouns are changed to the plural form by adding the letter -s at the end.

Singular examples:      Car, computer, ball, tree, apple

Plural examples:         Cars, computers, balls, trees, apples

There are some exceptions to this rule:

Some nouns end in -s or similar sounds. These nouns become plural with -es. Nouns that end in -s, -sh, -ch, -x or -z take the ending -es.

Singular examples: Box, fox, church, bush, gas

Plural examples: Boxes, foxes, churches, bushes, gases

Nouns that end in -f or -fe. The -f or -fe is changed to -v-. The ending -es makes the noun plural.

Singular examples: half, knife, shelf, wife, wolf

Plural examples: halves, knives, shelves, wives, wolves

Most nouns ending in -o take the ending -es.

Singular examples: potato, tomato, hero, volcano

Plural examples: potatoes, tomatoes, heroes, volcanoes

However, some nouns ending with an -o add an -s only.

Singular examples: Halo, piano, studios 

Plural examples: Halos, pianos, studios

Nouns ending in -y following a consonant. Change -y to -i-. Use the ending -es.

Singular examples: Baby, lady, berry

Plural examples: Babies, ladies, berries

When a noun ends with -y following a vowel, use the ending -s.

Singular examples: Boy, monkey, chimneys

Plural examples: Boys, monkeys, chimneys

Sometimes there are no easy explanations for the rules of English language plurals. When in doubt, check the dictionary for the correct spelling.

Irregular Plurals

Some nouns do not form the plural with -s or -es. They are irregular plurals. Some examples of irregular plurals are:

Singular examples: Child, foot, tooth, woman, alumnus 

Plural examples: Children, feet, teeth, women, alumni

Some nouns are the same in the singular and plural. For example:

Deer, sheep, species

Example: We saw a beautiful deer at the zoo.

There is one deer.

Example: The deer are running from the cheetahs.

There are several deer.

Some nouns may have two different kinds of plural, such as:

Singular example: Fish (in general)                                                             

Plural example: Fishes (counted individually)

Example: Paul named all the fishes in the tank after famous swimmers.             

The plural is fishes because Paul named each fish.

Example: Fish that live in the ocean cannot survive in the river.

The plural is fish because the sentence talks about fish in general.

Using Singular and Plural Nouns

You need to know if the noun is singular or plural when you write a sentence. In sentences, the verb changes for singular or plural nouns. It has to ‘agree’ with the noun. We will learn about this in the lesson Subject-Verb Agreement.

Example: A cow eats grass.

The noun cow is singular. The verb form eats is for the singular.

Example: Cows eat grass.

The noun cows is plural. The verb form eat is for the plural.

Special Cases

Certain plural nouns are used as singular. Some examples are:

news, politics, mathematics, luggage

Example: Mathematics is my favorite subject in school. 

The noun and verb agree. Mathematics is singular.

Example: The news this morning is not very encouraging. 

The noun news is singular and the verb is agrees with it.

Collective nouns are usually singular, even though they might sound plural. They refer to a group or collection as one item. For example:                                                                                               

crowd, flock, committee, a hundred dollars

The hundred dollars is treated as a collection. It is like a single unit. The verb is agrees.

Example: The crowd is getting very impatient.

The crowd refers to a group. It acts like a single item and the verb is agrees.

Non-countable nouns do not have plural forms. They act like singular nouns in sentences.

Example: The water is deep.

The water is non-countable. It is used as a singular noun.

Example: I would like some ketchup with my fries.

The noun ketchup is non-countable. It is singular and the determiner some can be used with singular nouns.