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How to form Plurals
There are different ways to form plurals.
- 'S' is added to the singular nouns.
eg book - books.
- To singular nouns ending in s, sh, ch, o or x 'es' is added. eg
potato - potatoes.
- To a singular noun ending in 'y' 'es' is added if there is a consonant
before 'y' and the letter 'y' is replaced with the letter i. eg
fairy - faires. Here there is a consonant (r) before y. So 'y' is
replaced with 'i' and es is added to make the noun plural.
If there is a vowel before 'y' only s is added.
for eg ray - rays. There is a vowel 'a' befoer y. So we only add s
to the noun.
- In the case of compound nouns, s is added to the principal word.
eg mother-in-law mothers-in-law.
- To singular nouns ending in f or fe, the 'f' / 'fe' is replaced
with the 'v' and es is added to the noun.
for eg leaf-leaves.
- Some nouns don't change in the plural
forms. for eg hair-hair.
- Some nouns have irregular plurals. for eg tooth-teeth.
- Some nouns which do not have plurals always take a singular verb.
for eg The luggage was lifted by the porter.
- Some plural nouns take singular verbs. for eg The news
is heard by all of us.
- Some singular nouns take plural verbs. for eg Those cattle are
mine.
Click on the following links to download the exercises : (
requires Adobe Acrobat reader )
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