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    Irregular Plural Nouns-Word Patterns and Tips - Grammarly

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    The document discusses common patterns for irregular plural nouns in English. Nouns ending in -f, -fe, or -o typically add -es or -ves to become plural, while those ending in vowels may change the vowel. Some nouns become plural by changing substantially or not at all. Latin and Greek-derived words also have specific patterns like changing -us to -i.

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    Irregular Plural Nouns-Word Patterns and Tips - Grammarly

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    aimarylorenzoizquierdo
    10 views14 pages
    The document discusses common patterns for irregular plural nouns in English. Nouns ending in -f, -fe, or -o typically add -es or -ves to become plural, while those ending in vowels may change the vowel. Some nouns become plural by changing substantially or not at all. Latin and Greek-derived words also have specific patterns like changing -us to -i.

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    Irregular Plural Nouns—Word Patterns and Tips | Grammarly

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    The document discusses common patterns for irregular plural nouns in English. Nouns ending in -f, -fe, or -o typically add -es or -ves to become plural, while those ending in vowels may change the vowel. Some nouns become plural by changing substantially or not at all. Latin and Greek-derived words also have specific patterns like changing -us to -i.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    10 views14 pages

    Irregular Plural Nouns-Word Patterns and Tips - Grammarly

    Uploaded by

    aimarylorenzoizquierdo
    The document discusses common patterns for irregular plural nouns in English. Nouns ending in -f, -fe, or -o typically add -es or -ves to become plural, while those ending in vowels may change the vowel. Some nouns become plural by changing substantially or not at all. Latin and Greek-derived words also have specific patterns like changing -us to -i.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 14

    Irregular Plural Nouns—Learn Patterns

    to Remember the Tricky Ones

    Grammarly
    Updated on May 17, 2023 · Grammar

    Irregular plural nouns are nouns that do not become plural by


    adding -s or -es, as most nouns in the English language do.
    You’re probably familiar with many of these already. For
    example, the plural form of man is men, not mans. The plural
    form of woman is women, not womans. There are hundreds of
    irregular plural nouns, and in truth, you must memorize them
    through reading and speaking. There are, however, some
    :
    common patterns to look out for.

    Here’s a tip: Want to make sure your writing always looks


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    The most common irregular plurals

    Nouns ending in –f and –fe


    To make a plural of a word ending in -f, change the f to a v and
    add es. Similarly, if a word ends in -fe, change the f to a v and
    add an s. The result for both types is a plural that ends in -
    ves. This spelling arose because of the difficulty of
    pronouncing f and s together in English (an attempt to do this
    will produce a v sound).
    :
    Singular (-f, -fe) Plural (-ves)

    knife knives
    life lives
    wife wives

    calf calves
    leaf leaves
    Exceptions: roofs and proofs (among others).

    Nouns ending in -o
    Plurals of words ending in -o are usually made by adding -es.

    Singular (-o) Plural (-oes)

    potato potatoes

    tomato tomatoes

    hero heroes

    torpedo torpedoes

    veto vetoes

    But of course, there are exceptions. (Aren’t there always?)


    Some words ending in -o that are borrowed from other
    languages take only an s to make a plural, such as pianos,
    cantos, photos, and zeros. Cello, which is an abbreviation of
    the Italian word violoncello, can be pluralized in the
    traditional way, as celli, or the commonly accepted anglicized
    :
    way, as cellos.

    Nouns that change vowels


    Many English words become plural by changing their vowels,
    such as oo to ee or an to en.

    Singular Plural (vowel change)

    foot feet

    tooth teeth

    goose geese

    man men

    woman women

    Fun fact: The eighteenth-century American dictionary


    reformer Noah Webster preferred spellings that were closer
    to their most common pronunciations. Thus, he advocated for
    the return of the Old English plural wimmen. Wouldn’t that
    have been convenient?

    Irregular nouns that change substantially


    For a variety of historical reasons, some words change in
    spelling substantially when made plural.

    Singular Plural
    :
    mouse mice

    louse lice

    die dice

    ox oxen

    child children

    person people

    penny pence (in British usage)

    Irregular nouns that do not change at all


    Some English nouns are identical in their singular and plural
    forms. Many of these are the names of animals.

    Singular/Plural (no change)

    sheep

    fish

    moose

    swine
    :
    buffalo

    shrimp

    deer

    trout

    Example

    I have seen several deer when walking in the woods near here.

    Example
    How many shrimp did you catch?

    Aircraft, watercraft, hovercraft, and spacecraft are all the


    same whether singular or plural.

    Example
    NASA has made several different types of spacecraft in its fifty-nine-
    year history.

    Plurals of Latin and Greek words

    There are certain words we use on a regular basis, especially


    in mathematical and scientific contexts, that are borrowed
    from Latin or Greek. Many of these words retain their Latin or
    :
    Greek plurals in math and science settings. Some of them
    also have anglicized plural forms that have come into
    common use.

    Nouns ending in -us


    To make a word ending in -us plural, change -us to -i. Many
    plurals of words ending in -us have anglicized versions,
    formed by simply adding -es. The latter method sounds more
    natural in informal settings. If there is an anglicized version
    that is well accepted, this will be noted in the dictionary
    entry for the word you are using.

    Singular (-us) Plural (-i)

    focus foci (also focuses)

    radius radii (also radiuses)

    fungus fungi

    nucleus nuclei

    cactus cacti

    alumnus alumni

    octopus octopuses (or octopi)


    :
    hippopotamus hippopotami (or hippopotamuses)

    With the double i, radii (pronounced RAY-dee-i) sounds


    unwieldy, but if you are a mathematician, you probably use it
    every day. If you are a zoologist, you might say, “Hey, did you
    see those hippopotami?” but it would sound silly on a casual
    visit to the zoo. Many people resist the spelling octopuses,
    but it is perfectly acceptable. In fact, if you put a fine point on
    it, since octopus is of Greek origin rather than Latin,
    theoretically the plural should be octopodes, not octopi.

    Irregular formation of nouns ending in -is


    Nouns with an -is ending can be made plural by changing -is
    to -es. Some people have a hard time remembering that the
    plural of crisis is crises and the plural of axis is axes, but
    crisises and axises are incorrect.

    Singular (-is) Plural (-es)

    axis axes (this is also the plural of ax and axe)

    analysis analyses

    crisis crises

    thesis theses
    :
    Irregular formation of nouns ending in -on
    These Greek words change their -on ending to -a.

    Singular (-on) Plural (-a)

    phenomenon phenomena

    criterion criteria

    Irregular formation of nouns ending in -um


    Words ending in -um shed their -um and replace it with -a to
    form a plural. The plurals of some of these words are far
    better known than their singular counterparts.

    Singular (-um) Plural (-a)

    datum data

    memorandum memoranda

    bacterium bacteria

    stratum strata

    curriculum curricula (also curriculums)


    :
    Irregular formation of nouns ending in -ix
    Nouns ending in -ix are changed to -ices in formal settings,
    but sometimes -xes is perfectly acceptable.

    Singular (-ex, -ix) Plural (-ces, -xes)

    index indices (or indexes)

    appendix appendices (or appendixes, in a medical context)

    vortex vortices (or vortexes)

    These rules for irregular plural nouns must simply be


    memorized, although it is helpful to understand the patterns
    first in order to master them. We also have information on the
    Grammarly blog about patterns for regular nouns.
    :
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