Singular & Plural is a topic asked in Verbal Aptitude Tests. This topic tests your understanding of singular & plural words. A singular is a word which represents a single entity, while a plural is a word that represents multiple of the entity. In this post, we will take you through a few rules and examples to understand how to find the plural of a word in English.
How to Convert from Singular to Plural
Converting words from singular to plural in English involves several rules. Here are the main ones with examples:
Add -s to most nouns:
- Cat → Cats
- Book → Books
Add -es to nouns ending in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, or -z:
- Bus → Buses
- Class → Classes
- Brush → Brushes
- Watch → Watches
- Box → Boxes
- Buzz → Buzzes
For nouns ending in a consonant + y, change the y to i and add -es:
- Baby → Babies
- Party → Parties
For nouns ending in a vowel + y, simply add -s:
- Boy → Boys
- Toy → Toys
For nouns ending in -f or -fe, change the f to v and add -es:
- Leaf → Leaves
- Life → Lives
- Wolf → Wolves (Exceptions include: Roof → Roofs, Chief → Chiefs)
For nouns ending in -o, add -es (but there are exceptions where you just add -s):
- Tomato → Tomatoes
- Potato → Potatoes (Exceptions: Photo → Photos, Piano → Pianos)
For irregular nouns, the plural form changes completely:
- Child → Children
- Man → Men
- Woman → Women
- Tooth → Teeth
- Foot → Feet
- Mouse → Mice
These rules cover the majority of cases, but English also has many exceptions and irregularities.
Some Exceptional Cases to keep in mind
Here are some examples of exceptions and irregular plural forms in English:
Irregular Plural Forms:
- Child → Children
- Man → Men
- Woman → Women
- Tooth → Teeth
- Foot → Feet
- Mouse → Mice
- Goose → Geese
- Person → People
- Ox → Oxen
Same Singular and Plural Forms:
- Sheep → Sheep
- Fish → Fish (though Fishes can be used when referring to different species)
- Deer → Deer
- Moose → Moose
- Aircraft → Aircraft
- Species → Species
- Series → Series
Foreign-Origin Words:
- Crisis → Crises
- Thesis → Theses
- Nucleus → Nuclei
- Fungus → Fungi
- Cactus → Cacti
- Focus → Foci
- Syllabus → Syllabi
- Bacterium → Bacteria
- Datum → Data
- Phenomenon → Phenomena
- Criterion → Criteria
Special Cases with Different Plural Endings:
- Mouse → Mice
- Louse → Lice
- Die → Dice (for gaming), but Dies (for tools used in manufacturing)
- Penny → Pennies (when referring to individual coins) or Pence (when referring to the monetary amount)
Irregular Compound Nouns:
- Brother-in-law → Brothers-in-law
- Passer-by → Passers-by
- Attorney General → Attorneys General
- Commander-in-chief → Commanders-in-chief
These exceptions highlight the complexities and irregularities of English pluralization.
Practice with Meritstore
Meritstore provides free online tools for you to practice Singular & Plural questions and answers and to improve your Verbal Aptitude.
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