The Number-Important Points

a. Singular noun + s. ( cat- cats, book-books etc)

b. Singular ending ---s / ss/ sh / ch /x / z / + es. ( fox- foxes, bench- benches, bus- buses). Exception: monarchs, stomachs, oxen.

c. Singular ending ---f / fe, changes into—ves. ( half- halves, knife- knives, leaf- leaves, grief- grieves,)    Exception: chief- chiefs, dwarf- dwarfs, roof- roofs.

d. Consonant + y changes into consonant + ies ( army- armies, baby- babies, city- cities) but vowel + y takes only –s ( boy- boys, ray- rays, way- ways).

e. Consonant + o takes ‘es’ in plural. ( buffalo- buffaloes, mango- mangoes, hero-heroes ) but vowel + o takes ‘s’ in plural (bamboo-bamboos, studio-studios) Exception: canto- cantos, photo- photos, halo- halos)

f. Irregular plural: man- men, foot- feet, mouse- mice, louse- lice, tooth- teeth, goose- geese, ox- oxen.

g. Compound nouns: Brother-in-law--- brothers-in-law, Englishman – Englishmen, Fisherman- fishermen, German- Germen, Handful- handfuls, Bookcase- bookcases.

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

agendum

agenda

crisis

crises

analysis

analyses

formula

formulae

alumnus

alumni

medium

media

basis

bases

memorandum

memoranda

oasis

oases

radius

radii

thesis

theses

appendix

appendices

parenthesis

parentheses

hypothesis

hypotheses