Irregular Plurals of Nouns

Types of irregular plural

There are many types of irregular plural, but these are the most common:

Noun type
Ends with -fe

Forming the plural

Change f to v then Add -s Change f to v then Add -es Add -es

Example
knife knives life lives wife wives half wolf loaf halves wolves loaves

Ends with -f

Ends with -o

potato potatoes tomato tomatoes volcano volcanoes cactus cacti nucleus nuclei focus foci analysis analyses crisis crises thesis theses phenomenon phenomena criterion criteria man men foot feet child children person people tooth teeth mouse mice sheep deer fish (sometimes)

ends with -us

Change -us to -i

ends with -is

Change -is to -es

ends with -on

Change -on to -a Change the vowel or Change the word or Add a different ending Singular and plural are the same

ALL KINDS

Unchanging

Irregular plural exercice 1. A. B. The plural of "buffalo" is ? buffalos ? buffals

C. D. 2. A. B. C. D. 3. A. B. C. D. 4. A. B. C. D. 5. A. B. C. D. 6. A. B. C. D. 7. A. B. C.

? ?

buffalose buffaloes

The plural of "bus" is ? bi ? ? ? buss buses busa

The plural of "phenomenon" is ? phenomena ? ? ? phenomenons phenomeni phenomenon

The plural of "woman" is ? womans ? ? ? womanes women woman

The plural of "child" is ? children ? ? ? childs cheeld child

The plural of "stimulus" is ? stimuluses ? ? ? stimuli stimula stimules

The plural of "deer" is ? deers ? ? deeres door

D. 8. A. B. C. D. 9. A. B. C. D. 10. A. B. C. D. Plural Nouns

deer

The plural of "calf" (a baby cow) is ? calfs ? ? ? calves calf celf

The plural of "thesis" is ? thesises ? ? ? thesies thesi theses

The plural of "shelf" is ? shelfs ? ? ? shelves shelvs shelfe

Plural nouns are nouns which have been changed into their plural form by adding an -s or -es. Remember, there are also irregular plural forms such as geese and mice.

Nouns They have a singular form and a plural form. The plural usually ends in -s:
singular plural car cars plan plans dollar dollars piece pieces apple apples dot dots

Most nouns ending in s, sh, o, or ch require an -es suffix to be plural:

singular bus plural buses latch latches wish wishes potato potatoes hero heroes echo echoes

Nouns ending in a consonant followed by y become plural by changing the y to i and adding -es:
singular plural worry worries story stories apology apologies spy spies mystery mysteries

Irregular count nouns do not form their plurals using the rules stated above:

Plurals picture quiz geese plural men

singular

man

goose

mouse mice

crisis crises

child children

ox oxen

In the space underneath each picture, write in the correct plural form of Mass Nouns the word given in the singular. Mass nouns refer some of the words in this counted. They do you You will have met to entities which cannot besection. For others,not usually have a plural form. Examples: bus wine, money, justice, time, money sandwich potato pony will have to apply the rules.

fox

knife

sheep

roof

Your name

A Fishy Tale
by Loren Jones

Read the story. Then use it to complete the next page.

Our school doesn't have many parties, but this year Ms. Cipriano said we could have a masquerade party. The fourth grade wanted the theme to be "Under the Sea," but the fifth grade wanted it to be " Outer Space." After much debate, it was decided the theme would be "Under the Sea." Everyone had to be on a team, and everyone had to help. My team was in charge of special effects. Gary came up with a great idea. He got two big, old fishing nets from his father, which we used to cover the ceiling of the cafeteria. Gary, Jemma, and I used rope to tie the nets to the pillars, and it looked really great. Then we cut out fish shapes from colored paper and stuck them on the net. Everyone seemed to dress in one of three costumes: some kind of fish, a mermaid, or Neptune-the "King of the Sea." Gary came as an electric eel, Jemma was a goldfish, and Carmen and I arrived as mermaids. The cafeteria looked great. Jemma's father had put up colored lights for us. They made a wavy pattern like rippling water on the floor as they shone through the fishing nets. We were admiring our work when disaster struck. The netting fell down. We were all caught in the fish nets. We were laughing so hard we couldn't get up. We truly felt as if we were "under the sea." Jemma's father turned on the regular lights while we got untangled. This wasn't the effect we imagined, but it sure was special!

1. Our school doesn't have many parties, but...

2. The fourth grade wanted the theme to be "Under the Sea" but..

3. Everyone had to be on a team...

4. The cafeteria looked great...

5. My team was in charge of

6. What did Gary, Jemma and I used to tie the nets to the pillars?

7. What did Gary came costumed in?

8. What was Jemma costumed in?

If you compare two things you tell how they are alike. If you contrast two things you tell how they are different. If you compare and contrast two things you tell how they are alike and how they are different. It is important to organize your thoughts and information before you do so. Here are two different ways to organize information. As an example, we will look at the Smilodon, and the Caribou - two animals that lived during the Ice Ages. The T-Chart: Characteristic Smilodon environment diet weapons teeth animal group When it lived arctic meat teeth, claws mammal Ice Ages Caribou arctic plants antlers, hooves mammal Ice Ages/Present

sharp,pointed blunt, rounded

The Venn Diagram: