TOEFL Lessons 3

Irregular Plurals

The vast majority of nouns in the English language are made plural by adding an “s” or “es” to the end of the word. For example, book, apple, house, table, door, cat, bush, boss are just some of the millions of words that become plural with the simple addition of an “s” (books, apples, houses, tables, doors, cats, bushes, bosses). However, certain nouns have “irregular” plurals which do not behave in this standard way.

EXAMPLES

• There are 4 mouses in my room.

• There are 4 mice in my room.

Non-count nouns

• have no plural form because they are assumed to be plural.

• Example:

• Hair à There are many different styles of hair.

• Grass à There are several kinds of grass.

• Mud à There are three different kinds of mud.

Plurals That Change its Form

• Mouse à mice

• Tooth à teeth

• Goose à geese

• Foot à feet

• Louse à lice

• Man à men

• Fungus à fungi

• Child à Children

• Person à People

• Curriculum à curricula

• Datum à data

• Analysis à analyses

Other Irregular Plurals

• For words that end in “fe,” you change the letter “f” to the letter “v” and then add “s” Knife = knives —–Wife = wives

• For words that end in “f” you change the “f” to a “v” and add “es” Half = halves —Loaf = loaves

• For words that end in “us,” change the “us” to an “i” —–Syllabus = syllabi

• For words that end in “o” add “es”—-Tomato = tomatoes

Un-changing nouns

• Fish à fish

• Deer à deer

• Sheep à sheep

• Series à series

• Bison à bison