Plural Rules

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Nouns - plural

• By
• Michline Fanous

2
Nouns are
thing animal place person
ball dog park boy
flower cat house baby
kite frog zoo man
tree cow school woman
3
Plural Rule 1

• Most words add s to make the plural.
• one apple two apples
• one tree two trees
• one book two books
• one pen two pens
• one chair two chairs

4
Try these

• pencil ?
• road ?
• flower ?
• girl ?
• plant ?

• window ?
• door ?
• cake ?
• banana ?
• shoe ?

5
Plural Rule 2

• Add es to words ending in ch, sh, s, x
  or o to make the plural.
• one box many boxes
• one brush many brushes
• one bus many buses
• one watch many watches
• one tomato many tomatoes

6
Try these

• glass ?
• dress ?
• bush ?
• fox ?
• potato?

• sandwich ?
• bench?
• wax ?
• class ?
• gas ?

7
Plural Rule 3

• When the letter before a y is a consonant,
  change the y to an i before adding an es.
• one baby two babies
• one pony two ponies
• one family two families
• Note When the letter before a y is a vowel
  (a-e-i-o-u) we add just s.

8
Try these

• cherry?
• ferry ?
• army ?
• party ?
• fly ?

• boy?
• key?
• toy?
• monkey?
• day?

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Plural Rule 4

• When words end in f or fe change the f or
  fe to a v before adding es.
• one knife two knives
• leaf leaves
• wolf wolves
• shelf shelves

10
Try these

• wolf ?
• elf ?
• loaf ?
• self ?
• calf ?
• shelf ?
• Exceptions ? cliffs, chiefs, roofs, dwarfs

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Plural Rules 5

• Sometimes a word may completely change its form
  when a plural is made.
• one child two children
• person ?people goose ? geese
• man ? men woman ? women
• cactus ?cacti fungus ? fungi

12
Try these

• tooth ?
• dice ?
• foot ?

• mouse ?
• nucleus ?
• criterion ?

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Plural Rule 6

• Sometimes a word may stay the same in both its
  singular and plural form.
• one fish many fish
• tuna ? tuna trout ? trout
• deer ? deer sheep ? sheep
• moose moose series ? series

14
Try these

• aircraft ?
• species ?
• offspring ?

• salmon ?
• bream ?
• perch ?

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Recap and Consolidation

• The easiest way to learn how to spell a word is
  to practise! Practise! Practise!
• Spelling rules are helpful but practice makes
  perfect.
• Once you learn how to spell a word you will not
  forget how to spell it as long as you practise!
  Practise! Practice!

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So what did you think of that?