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Plural vs. Possessive "S"

Lessons:

Party Vocab with Municipal Waste

Siblings

9

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Flight of the Conchords

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es.

Singular Plural
boat boats
hat hats
house houses
river rivers

A noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant makes the plural with -ies.

Singular Plural
a cry cries
a fly flies
a nappy nappies
a poppy poppies
a city cities
a lady ladies
a baby babies

There are some irregular formations for noun plurals. Some of the most common ones are listed below.

Examples of irregular plurals:

Singular Plural
woman women
man men
child children
tooth teeth
foot feet
person people
leaf leaves
half halves
knife knives
wife wives
life lives
loaf loaves
potato potatoes
cactus cacti
focus foci
fungus fungi
nucleus nuclei
syllabus syllabi/syllabuses
analysis analyses
diagnosis diagnoses
oasis oases
thesis theses
crisis crises
phenomenon phenomena
criterion criteria
datum data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

Examples:

Singular Plural
sheep sheep
fish fish
species species
aircraft aircraft

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Examples:

news — The news is on at 6.30 p.m.
athleticsAthletics is good for young people.
linguisticsLinguistics is the study of language.
dartsDarts is a popular game in England.
billiardsBilliards is played all over the world.

Some nouns have a plural form and take a plural verb.

Examples:

trousers — My trousers are too tight.
jeans — Her jeans are black.
glasses — Those glasses are his.

others include:

savings, thanks, steps, stair, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits

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04:11 AM Oct 26 2009 | Reply

olenke

Ghana

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05:23 PM Oct 17 2009 | Reply

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Brazil

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04:43 AM Oct 12 2009 | Reply

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303Kevin

China

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claudson

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Karla Sohn

Brazil

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Saudi Arabia

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