Plural nouns
Regular -s/-es plurals, spelling rules (city→cities) and the key irregulars (children, men, feet)
I can form regular and the most frequent irregular plurals with correct spelling.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
Two coffees and three sandwiches, please.
Two coffees and three sandwiches, please.
The children lost their teeth — both feet of the problem, as grandma jokes.
The children lost their teeth — both feet of the problem, as grandma jokes.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Most nouns add -s; the rest follow small rules:
| Rule | Examples |
|---|---|
| + s | dog→dogs, book→books |
| -s/-sh/-ch/-x → + es | bus→buses, watch→watches |
| consonant + y → ies | city→cities (but day→days) |
| -f/-fe → ves | knife→knives, leaf→leaves |
| irregular | man→men, woman→women, child→children, foot→feet, tooth→teeth, mouse→mice, person→people |
No change: sheep, fish. Pronunciation: /s/ after p,t,k (books), /z/ after vowels and voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s-sounds (buses).
- *childs → children, *mans → men
- *citys → cities
- people IS plural: people are, not *people is
Common Error Patterns
Irregulars regularized
children, men, women, feet, teeth, mice, people
-ys instead of -ies
consonant + y → ies: cities, babies
Two coffees and three sandwiches, please.
Two coffees and three sandwiches, please.
es-plural after the ch-sound: sandwiches.
The children lost their teeth — both feet of the problem, as grandma jokes.
The children lost their teeth — both feet of the problem, as grandma jokes.
Three irregular plurals in one family scene.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises