Plural nouns

A. Regular Plurals

The plurals is regularly formed by the addition of suffix -(e)s, which is pronounced:

• /z/ for the words end in / b g d v ð m n ŋ r l ə y w h/

cub /kΛb/ ==> cubs /kΛbz/

key /ki:/ ==> keys /ki:z/

• /s/ for the words end in / p t k f θ /

cup /kΛp/ ==> cups /kΛps/

cat /kæt/ ===> cats /kæts/

• /iz/ for the words end in /s z ž š č ĵ /

glasses /glæ:s/ ==> glasses /glæ:sis/

• /iz/+ a change of final consonant of the stem
  -/s/ ==> /z/ in one word only:

house /haUs/ ==> houses /haUzIz/

-/f/ ==> /v/ in about a dozen words

knife /naif/ ==> knives /naivz/

wife /waif/ ==> wives /waivz/

• /θ/ ==> / ð/ in about eight words

path /pǽθ/ ==> /pǽðz/

growth /grouθ/ ==> /grouðz/

B. Irregular Plurals

1. Vowel Change

man – men

woman – women

foot – feet

goose – geese

2. adding -(r)en

child – children

ox – oxen

3. Consonant change

calf – calves

knife – knives

shelf – shelves

Some words ending in -f take -ves in the plural, as shown above. The majority, including all nouns ending in -ff, take regular plural endings:

beliefs, chiefs, puffs, reefs, roofs, cliffs, etc

There is variation with a few forms:

dwarf – dwarf/ dwarves

hoof – hoofs/ hooves

wharf – wharfs/ wharves

4. Latin and Greek Plurals

a. Latin nouns ending in -us

alumnus – alumni

calculus – calculi

locus – loci

terminus – termini

b. Latin nouns ending in -um

aquarium – aquaria

stratum – strata

memorandum – memoranda

millenium – millenia

c. Latin nouns ending in -a

alga – algae

antenna – antennae

larva – larvae

d. Latin nouns ending in -ex/ -ix

appendix – appendices

index – indices

There is variation with the plural of index, usually correlating with a difference in meaning: the bibliographical meaning takes -es, while the mathematical meaning takes -ces:

- Citation indexes are a widely used method of tracking down other, later papers relevant to a query.

- The algebraic indices would be relatively easy to apply.

e. Greek nouns ending in -is

axis – axes

crisis – crises

oasis – oases

thesis – theses

f. Greek nouns ending in -on

automaton – automata

criterion – criteria

phenomenon – phenomena

ganglion – ganglia

Criteria and phenomena are occasionally used as singular forms:

The criteria is that the songs have to have a character.

However, criterion and phenomenon are the preferred singular forms.

C. Zero Plurals

Some nouns have a zero plural, i.e. they have no overt plural ending, though they have plural meaning and concord. It usually happens to the words for some animals.

Sheep, deer, buffalo, trout, fish, salmon, grouse.

The zero plural is also regularly used for dozen, hundred, foot, mile, thousand, million preceded by numerals:

two dozen people, five thousand dollars, 40 million ants, two foot square strips, a three-mile-square area

but:

dozens of people, millions of share

references:

-Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, 1999, Doughlas Biber, et.al, Person Education Limited, England

-An Introduction of Descriptive Linguistics