Singular and Plural Nouns

Count Nouns: Most nouns name something you can count; for example, if
Irregular Plural Nouns
you buy a bag of peanuts, you can count each peanut in the bag--one 1. Several nouns have irregular plural forms:
peanut, two peanuts, three peanuts, and so on. We call nouns like peanut child/children foot/feet goose/geese
count nouns, and usually we add an -s ending to show more than one. woman/women mouse/mice ox/oxen
person/people man/men tooth/teeth
Singular count nouns refer to one person or thing while plural count nouns
refer to more than one person or thing. We have several ways of making
count nouns plural. 2. A few nouns, mostly of Latin origin, have irregular plural forms: us/i
alumnus/alumni cactus/cacti focus/foci/ ˈfəʊsʌɪ |
1. For most nouns, add –s to the singular noun.
 desk/desks toy/toys nucleus/nuclei stimulus/stimuli syllabus/syllabi
car/cars book/books
2. For nouns ending in –s, –z, –sh, or –ch, add –es to the singular noun. 3. sis / ses
class/classes; quiz/quizzes; wish/wishes; watch/watches etc. analysis/analyses axis/axes crisis/crises diagnosis/diagnoses
oasis/oases hypothesis /hypotheses synthesis /syntheses
3. For nouns ending in –f, change –f to –v and add –es. parenthesis/parentheses thesis/theses
wife/wives leaf/leaves scarf/scarves knife/knives
loaf/loaves wolf/wolves thief/thieves calf/calves 4. ix / ices
(Note: There are several exceptions to this rule: beliefs, appendix/appendices index/indices
roofs, cliffs, cuffs, chiefs)
5. um / on and a / i
4. For nouns ending in a consonant + y, change the –y to –i and add –es. curriculum / curricula bacterium / bacteria criterion / criteria
story/stories fry/fries bully/bullies pony/ponies spy/spies datum / data memorandum / memoranda
phenomenon / phenomena
5. For nouns ending in a vowel + y, just add –s.

delay/delays day/days toy/toys survey/surveys play/plays 6. Several nouns do not change in the plural.
species/species
6. Some nouns ending in –o form their plural by adding –es. deer/deer
fish/fish
Tomato /tomatoes hero/heroes potato/potatoes offspring/offspring
sheep/sheep
Word with ending –o, just simply add –s for Plural Nouns
zoo/zoos zero/zeros radio / radios piano/pianos

Ms. Sue’s additional Material 1

Exercise#1 32. Alumnus _____________
Write the plural of these following nouns. 33. Deer ________________
1. Army __________ 34. Half _________________
2. Navy __________ 35. Criterion _____________
3. Key _____________ 36. Baby ________________
4. Raspberry _________ 37. Salesman _____________
5. Decoy ____________ 38. Hypothesis ____________
6. Party ____________ 39. Hero _____________
7. Friday ____________ 40. Belief _____________
8. Query ____________ 41. Cliff ______________
9. City ______________ 42. Tomato ________________
10. Monkey ___________ 43. Oasis _________________
11. Volcano __________ 44. Calf __________________
12. Child ____________ 45. Shelf _________________
13. Mouse ____________ 46. Knife ________________
14. Zoo ______________ 47. Focus ________________
15. Wolf _____________ 48. Stimulus ______________
16. Species ___________ 49. Syllabus _______________
17. Thief ____________ 50. Match _________________
18. Witch ____________
19. Foot _____________ Exercise 2:
20. Cactus ____________ Fill in the blanks. Use the plural form of the nouns in the list. Use each word only
21. Bacterium _________ once.
22. Man ______________ calf deer baby child man fish diagnosis sheep radio knife
23. Louse ____________
24. Sheep ____________ 1. Baby cows are called ___________________.

25. Woman ___________ 2. It is dangerous to play with very sharp _________________.

26. Ox _______________ 3. Mrs. Ng has three boys and three girls, all in all six _________________.

27. Smile _____________ 4. Mr. Winchester is a collector of old _____________. He loves to listen to them.
28. Goose ____________ 5. I saw three ________ trying to cross the highway. They should be in the woods.
29. Offspring _____________ 6. _________________ are animals that produce wool. They also give milk.
30. Library ______________ 7. The doctor made two _____________ after analyzing the patient for two
31. Roof ________________ hours.

8. Rob says that he needs three strong __________ to help him carry the
refrigerator upstairs.
9. Rosa is a very talented outdoors person. Yesterday, she caught six _________ in
the river.
10. Fourteen ____________ were born yesterday at St.Antonius Hospital.
Ms. Sue’s additional Material 2

Exercise#3. Error Analysis Notice that the articles a and an and the are all used before singular nouns--a
Correct the mistakes in the following sentences. society, a wolf, an essay, the woman. But only the article the can be used before
plural nouns.
1. Six childrens in Ms. Thompson’s class had head louse yesterday. The article a is used before words beginning with a consonant sound:
 a dog a
2. The doctors conducted many analysises before they made their two university a car a house
The article an is used before words beginning with a vowel sound:
 an octopus an
diagnosi.
old man an umbrella an awful movie.
3. Henrietta’s beliefes are very conservative.
4. Nancy cut both her foots on two large cactuses. ** The following is a list of commonly used nouns which are almost
5. George caught six fishes on the trip. always non-count (Selalu dianggap TUNGGAL)
6. Are you mens or mouses? Non-count nouns do not have plural -s endings and cannot be used with a or an;
7. We cut the oranges in halfs and then ate it. they can be used with the.
8. Rain is a rather rare phenomena in the Sahara region.
Admiration Fusion Rain
9. We have many datum concerning the four crisis facing the government. Advice Leisure Recreation
10. Volcanos are very common in Iceland. Air Literature Relaxation
Architecture Luck Reliability
Complete the following sentences, making any underlined singular nouns plural. Assistance Luggage Research
Notice that: modifiers like many, most, and two, signal the plural form of count Blame Machinery Rice
nouns. Example: The student studied for the history midterm. Boredom Mail Sadness
Bravery Math
Safety
Bread Mathematics
Many students studied for the history midterm. Butter Merchandise Salt
Chemistry Momentum Scenery
1. I watched a film while I was sick. I watched several _______ while I was sick.
Cheese Money Shopping
2. The library has a collection of rare books.
 Most have of rare books.
 Clothing Music Significance
Comprehension News Slang
3. The photographer took shots of a wolf traveling in a pack.
 A team
Conservation Nonsense Sleet
of took shots of traveling in . Correspondence Oxygen Snow
Courage Participation Software
4. The woman ran a daycare center. The three _______ran a daycare center Darkness Patience Status
Economics Pay
together. I wrote an essay for my history class. Superiority
Electricity Peace
Enjoyment Permission Survival
5. I wrote many for my history class.
Entertainment Physics Traffic
6. Maria ate a stuffed tomato for dinner.
 Maria ate two stuffed for Estimation Poetry Transportation
Equipment Precipitation Violence
dinner.
Ethics Precision Wealth
Evidence Prestige Weather
Evolution Pride Wisdom
Excitement Productivity Work
Ms. Sue’s additional Material 3 Fame Progress (but art works/karya seni)
Foolishness Propaganda
Furniture Psychiatry
Psychology

For example, we can say: Notice the important difference between Pattern #1and Pattern #2:

e.g., The advice he gave me was helpful. / He gave me some good advice. #1: If the single word another, one, every, each, either, or neither comes
I asked him for advice. before the count noun, the noun is singular and does not have an -s ending.

BUT NOT (SALAH) #2: If the words one of, every one of, each of, either of, or neither of come
The advices he gave me was helpful. / please don’t give me an advice. before a count noun, the noun is plural and must have an -s ending. 
 An
important sign of the difference is the word of.
Special Patterns

Special Pattern #1: The following one-word modifiers modify singular count
nouns. When they come in front of nouns, the nouns do not have plural -s endings. Exercise: Please underline or circle the best answer!

another one every each either neither Schindler’s List

Special Pattern #2: Schindler’s List is a (1movie / movies ) made in 1993. It’s an American historical
Examples: period drama (2film / films) directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and
written by Steven Zailian. It’s based on the novel Schindler’s Ark by Austalian
Henry ordered another hamburger.
 She owns one car.
 Every student in the class novelist Thomas Keneally. The film relates a (3period /periods) in the life of Oskar
is a freshman.
 The teacher learned the name of each child. You can choose either
Schindler, a Sudeten German (4businessman / businessmen). He save the lives pf
movie to watch. Neither boy brought his book to class.
more than a thousand, mostly Polish Jewish (5 refugee / refugees) from the
one of__ ; every ___ ; one of___ ; each of___ ; either of___ ; neither of ___ Holocaust by employing them in his (6 factory / factories) during World War II.

One of my sisters lives in Texas.
 Every one of my friends is coming to the party. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler. Ralp Fiennes as SS officer Among Goth, and
Each of my aunts has two children.
 Either of the two books is worth Ben Kingsley as Schindler’s Jewish (7 accountant / accountants) Itzhak Stem.
reading.
 Neither of the two films sounds worthwhile to me.
(8 Ideas / Idea ) for a film about the Schindlerjurden (9 Schindler Jews) were
In Pattern #2, the nouns following of have -s endings because they refer to more proposed as early as 1963. Poldek Pfefferberg, one of the Schindlerjuden, made it
than one--two or more sisters, several friends, two or more aunts, two books, and
his life’s mission to tell the story of Schindler. Steven Spielberg became interested
two films.
in the story executive Sidney Sheinberg sent him a book (10 review /reviews) of
Schindler’s Ark. Universal Pictures bought the rights to the novel, but Spielberg
was unsure if he was teady to make a (11 film/films) about Holocaust, tried to pass
the project to several other (12 director / directors) before deciding to direct the
(13 film / films) himself.

Ms. Sue’s additional Material 4