Singular and Plural Nouns

Notes On Generalizations For Spelling/Forming

Plural Nouns.

Singular vs. Plural

A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea.

• One cat, one store, one item

A plural noun names two or morepersons, places, things, or ideas.

• Two cats, four stores, fifteen items

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

1. For most singular nouns, add s.

Singular Plural

teacher teachers

street streets

pencil pencils

book books

elephant elephants

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

2. For nouns ending with s, x, z, sh, or ch, add es.

Singular Plural

gas gases

wax waxes

waltz waltzes

dish dishes

church churches

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

3. For nouns ending with a consonant and y, change the y to i and add es. For nouns ending with a vowel and y, add s.

Singular Plural

sky skies

army armies

penny pennies

boy boys

alley alleys

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

4. For some nouns ending with f or fe, add s. For others, change the f to v and add s or es. (You will need to memorize the spellings for such words or look them up in a dictionary to check.

Singular Plural

belief beliefs

roof roofs

loaf loaves

life lives

knife knives

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

These are a little more tricky . . .

5. For nouns that end with o, add s or es. (Again, you would need to memorize the spellings of such words or look them up in a dictionary to double-check.)

—One trick to remember: if it has to do with sound (“music”), just add s.—Ex: cello. piano, radio

Singular Plural

cello cellos

piano pianos

radio radios

zoo zoos

potato / tomato potatoes / tomatoes

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

Singular Plural

child children

foot feet

tooth teeth

mouse mice

man / woman men / women

6. Some nouns have irregular plural forms. You will have to memorize the spelling for irregular plurals.

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

Singular Plural

sheep sheep

Chinese Chinese

moose moose

grapefruit grapefruit

deer deer

salmon salmon

7. A few nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

8. A few nouns have only plural forms.

Plural

scissors

jeans

savings

dues

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

9. A few nouns that end with s look pluralbut are considered singular.

Singular

measles

news

economics

dues

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

Compound Nouns

10. For most compound nouns, make the most important word plural.

• For a compound noun written as one word, make the last part plural.

• For a compound noun written with hyphensor as separate words, make the key wordplural.

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

Singular Plural

billboard billboards

cupful cupfuls

campground campgrounds

maid of honor maids of honor

attorney-at-law attorneys-at-law

step-brother step-brothers

Great-grandma Great-grandmas

One word

compound

nouns

Hyphenated

compound

nouns

Separate

words

Generalizations for forming plural nouns:

11. Letters, numbers, symbols, and words used as words are made plural by adding an apostrophe (‘)and s.

Singular Plural

# #’s

A A’s

25 25’s

and and’s

& &’s

ABC & 123 ABC’s & 123’s

Using a Dictionary:

Nouns that are made plural in other ways besides just adding -s or -es can be looked up in a dictionary to check the correct spelling.

Sample Dictionary entries:

dic-tion-ar-y (dik’ she ner’ e), n., pl. –aries, a book containing words of a language, usually arranged alphabetically, with their meanings, pronunciations, etymologies, etc.

en-try (en’ tre), n., pl. -tries. 1. entrance. 2. the act of recording something in a book, register, etc. 3. the item so recorded. 4. a person or thing entered in a contest. 5. a word, phrase, etc. listed alphabetically in a dictionary or reference book, usually with its definition or explanation.

Multiple Choice

Which 2 words correctly complete these sentences?

We bought a pair of _____ and some _____ at the yard sale.

A. ski . . . dishes

B. skis . . . dishs

C. skies . . . dish

D. skis . . . dishes

CORRECT!

We bought a pair of _skis_ and some _dishes_ at the yard sale.

Multiple Choice

One of her _______ is studying _______ in the wild.

A. hobbys . . . monkeyes

B. hobbyes . . . monkies

C. hobbies . . . monkeys

D. hobbys. . . monkees

One of her _hobbies_ is studying _monkeys_ in the wild.

CORRECT!

A team of ______ pulled a wagon with three _______ inside.

A. ox . . . woman

B. oxen . . . women

C. oxes . . . women

D. oxens . . . womans

Multiple Choice

CORRECT!

A team of _oxen_ pulled a wagon with three _women_ inside.

Multiple Choice

Near the campsite they saw two _______ and several ________.

A. deer . . . moose

B. deers . . . moose

C. deers . . . mooses

D. deer . . . meese

CORRECT!

Near the campsite they saw two _deer_ and several _moose_.

Newspaper Nouns

Use a newspaper or magazine article for this activity:

•In the article, find at least 25 singular nouns. Circle them with a colored pencil.

•On your own paper, make a T-chart. . . on the left side write “Singular” and write “Plural” on the right side of the T-chart.

•List the singular nouns you found in the article on the left side of the T-chart, then write the correct plural form of each on the right side.

Scoring Guide:You should find at least 25 singular nouns.

Each of the plural nouns formed correctly from these 25 singular nouns is worth 4 points, for a total of 100.

Opportunity for BONUS points:

For every 5 additional singular nouns you identify, list, and form the plural of correctly, you can earn one bonus point.—up to a maximum of 5 bonus points (i.e. it takes 25 additional singular nouns correctly made plural to earn all 5 bonus points—but you can do it!!!)

Scoring Guide:

100% = 25 singular nouns identified and listed with plural form spelled correctly.

96% = 24 singular nouns identified and listed with plural form spelled correctly.

92% = 23 singular nouns identified and listed with plural form spelled correctly.

Etc.Grading: A = 90-100%, B = 80-89%,

C = 70-79%, D = 60-69%,

F = Below 60%

4 points each = total points 100