Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Noun-Number



-----Noun-Number-----

Q. : What is Number?
Ans. : Number is that form of a word that tell us whether person, place or thing denoted by the word is one or more than one.
In English numbers are divided into only two groups.

1). SINGULAR NUMBER :-

A Noun that denotes a single person, place or thing is called to be in the “SINGULAR NUMBER”.

2). PLURAL NUMBER :-

A Noun that denotes two or more than two persons, places or things is called to be in the “PLURAL NUMBER”.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Boy Boys Girl Girls
Man Men Woman Women
Pen Pens Book Books
Goose Geese Mouse Mice
Foot Feet Tooth Teeth
Brother-in-law Brothers-in-law Sister-in-law Sisters-in-law
Dictionary Dictionaries Baby Babies
Photo Photoes Piano Pianoes
Wife Wives Knife Knives
Gulf Gulfs Chief Chiefs

The table shows singular and plural.

Rules for Changing Singular to Plural :-


If you want to learn how to change the “Singular Noun” into “Plural Noun” the following rules will help you.

Rule 1 :-

Some Nouns form their “PLURAL” by having “s” at the end.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Boy Boys Girl Girls
Pan Pans Pen Pens
Hand Hands Book Books
Computer Computers Blog Blogs
Table Tables Chair Chairs
Brother Brothers Sister Sisters
Cat Cats Dog Dogs
Animal Animals Mind Minds
Owl Owls Hack Hacks
Student Students School Schools


Rule 2 :-

Nouns ending with “s”, “sh”, “ss”, “ch” and “x” form their “PLURAL” by having “es” at the end.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Gas Gases Bus Buses
Ass Asses Class Classes
Fox Foxes Box Boxes
Watch Watches Church Churches
Apex Apexes Index Indexes
Canvas Canvases Yes Yeses
Coach Coaches Switch Switches
Fix Fixes Tax Taxes
Dish Dishes Brush Brushes
Match Matches Peach Peaches


Rule 3 :-

Nouns in which the ending consonants “c & h” both are pronounced as “/ k /” instead of “/ tʃ /” form their “PLURAL” by having “s” at the end. Basically these words are added to English language from other languages such as “Scottish”, “Latin” and “French”.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Clarsach Clarsachs Cromlech Cromlechs
Triptych Triptychs Diptych Diptychs
Epoch Epochs Eunuch Eunuchs
Hemistich Hemistichs Loch Lochs
Matriarch Matriarchs Patriarch Patriarchs
Czech Czechs Monarch Monarchs
Oligarch Oligarchs Pibroch Pibrochs
Sassenach Sassenachs Stomach Stomachs
Tech Techs

This table shows all the Nouns in which the ending consonants “c & h” both are pronounced as “/ k /” not as “/ tʃ /”.

Rule 4 :-

Nouns ending with “o” and the ending “o” is preceded by any consonant form their “PLURAL” by having “es” at the end.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Hero Heroes Go Goes
Potato Potatoes Tomato Tomatoes
Echo Echoes Embargo Embargoes
Torpedoes Torpedoes Veto Vetoes
Jingo Jingoes No Noes
Bubo Buboes Dingo Dingoes
Domino Dominoes Fatso Fatsoes
Gusto Gustoes Stomach Stomachs
Tech Techs

Exception :Babygro Do(A party/A social event)
1 We add (S) to the common nouns ending
with (O).
2. We add (S) to the short forms
Nouns ending with (O).
3. We add (S) to the LOAN WORDS ending with (O).
(Loan words are those words that have come from another languages with no change of spelling.)
4. We add (S) to the words that are newer to English and end with (O).


Rule 5 :-

In the Nouns ending with “y” preceded by a consonant we replace “y” with “ies”to form their “PLURAL”.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Cry Cries Pony Ponies
Family Families City Cities
Country Countries Box Boxes
Dictionary Dictionaries Reply Replies
Fly Flies Lady Ladies
Army Armies Enemy Enemies
Baby Babies Story Stories
Cherry Cherries Navy Navies
Bevy Bevies Body Bodies
Envy Envies Duty Duties


Rule 6 :-

In the Nouns ending with “y” preceded by a vowel we add “s” to that Noun to form the “PLURAL”.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Boy Boys Toy Toys
Way Ways Day Days
Ray Rays Key Keys
Monkey Monkeys Donkey Donkeys
Journey Journeys Valley Valleys
Army Armies Enemy Enemies
Bay Bays Storey Storeys
Prey Preys Tray Trays
Buoy Buoys Guy Guys


Note :-

In English there are three Nouns ending with “quy”. To make the “PLURAL” of these three words we remove the “y” in the end and add “ies”. These three words are :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Colloquy Colloquies Obloquy Obloquies
Soliloquy Soliloquies ------- -------


Rule 7 :-

In the Nouns ending with “double vowel” we add “s” to that Noun to form the “PLURAL”.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Tree Trees Radio Radios
Bee Bees Sea Seas
Studio Studios Tattoo Tattoos
Zoo Zoos Stereo Stereos
Cuckoo Cuckoos Cameo Cameos
Portfolio Portfolios Woe Woes
Bamboo Bamboos Queue Queues
Antique Antiques Cheque Cheques
Canoe Canoes Flea Fleas


Rule 8 :-

Nouns ending with “f” or “fe” are made “PLURAL” by adding “s” at the end of that Noun or by replacing “f” with “ves”. The next question is, “Where to use “s” and where to use “ves” to form the plural.” For this we can follow some helpful steps given below.


Rule 8 a :-

Nouns ending with “ff” are made “PLURAL” by adding “s” at the end of that Noun.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Bailiff Bailiffs Buff Buffs
Cliff Cliffs Cuff Cuffs
Rebuff Rebuffs Sniff Sniffs
Tariff Tariffs Plaintiff Plaintiffs

Rule 8 b :-

Nouns ending with “lf” are made “PLURAL” by replacing “f” at the end of that Noun with “ves”. The only exception to this rule is Gulf = Gulfs.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Bookshelf Bookshelves Calf Calves
Elf Elves Half Halves
Shelf Shelves Self Selves
Werewolf Werewolves Wolf Wolves

Rule 8 c :-

Nouns ending with “mf” are made “PLURAL” by adding “s” at the end of that Noun.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Bumf Bumfs ------ ------

Rule 8 d :-

Nouns ending with “of” or “oof” are made “PLURAL” by adding “s” at the end of that Noun. The only exceptions to this rule are :-
1).Hoof = Hoofs/Hooves
2). Yoof = Yooves

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Goof Goofs Hoof Hoofs
Poof Poofs Prof Profs
Proof Proofs Roof Roofs
Spoof Spoofs Woof Woofs

Rule 8 e :-

Nouns ending with “rf” are made “PLURAL” by adding either “s” or “ves” at the end of that Noun.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Plural Noun
Dwarf Dwarfs Dwarves
Scarf Scarfs Scarves
Turf Turfs Turves
Wharf Wharfs Wharves

The only exceptions to this rule are :-
1).Serf = Serfs
2). Surf = Surfs
3). Headscarf = Headscarves

Rule 9 :-

The following 8 Nouns form their “PLURAL” by a change of the inside vowel.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Man Men Woman Women
Foot Feet Goose Geeese
Mouse mice Louse Lice
Dormouse Dormice Tooth Teeth

Rule 10 :-

The following 4 Nouns form their “PLURAL” by adding “ren” “en” “ne”.

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Child Children Brother Brotheren
Ox Oxen Cow Kine

Rule 11 :-

Compound Nouns generally form their “PLURAL” by adding “s” to the head word (main word about which we are talking).

As :-

Singular Noun Plural Noun Singular Noun Plural Noun
Brother-in-law Brothers-in-law Sister-in-law Sisters-in-law
Step-mother Step-mothers Step-father Step-fathers

Exceptions to this rule are :-
1).Man servant = Men servants
2). Woman servant = Women servants
3). Lord justice = Lords justices
4). Knight Templar = Knights Templars

But Compound Nouns written without a hyphen form their “PLURAL” by having “s” at the end.

As :-

1).Handful = Handfuls
2). Mouthful = Mouthfuls

Plural of Foreign Words

1). If the word ending in “a” is Latin in origin, the plural ending tends to be -ae.
Words that always take the Latin plural :-

Larva = Larvae
Alumna = Alumnae
Vertebra = Vertebrae

Some other Latin words ending in “a” take either Latin or English plurals:-

Amoeba = Amoebas / Amoebae
Formula = Formulas / Formulae
Cicada = Cicadas / Cicadae
Tibia = Tibias / Tibiae
Trachea = Tracheas / Tracheae
Verruca = Verrucas / Verrucae


2). Greek words ending in “es” do not change in the plural. To express their plural we use the following way :-

One Series = Two Series/Several Series
One Species = Two Species/ Several Species

3). If the word ending in “ix” or “ex” is Latin in origin, we change the ending “ix” or “ex” with “ices”.

Matrix = Matrices
Codex = Codices
Index= Indices

4). Some Greek words ending in “on” always take the English -s ending in the plural:-

Electron=Electrons
Lexicon=Lexicons
Neutron=Neutrons
Proton=Protons
Skeleton =Skeletons

5). Some take either the English “s” plural or the Greek “a” plural :-

Automaton = Automatons/Automata
Phenomenon = Phenomenons/Phenomena

6). Some can take only the Greek “a” plural :-

Criterion = Criteria
Ephemeron = Ephemera

7). Some words ending in “um” always take the Latin “a” ending in the plural :-

Addendum = Addenda
Erratum = Errata
Ovum = Ova
Bacterium =Bacteria

8). Other words ending in “um” take either English “s” or Latin “a” ending in the plural :-

Memorandum = Memorandums / Memoranda
Stratum = Stratums / Strata
Forum = Forums / Fora
Gymnasium = Gymnasiums / Gymnasia

9). Some words ending in “um” always take the English “s” ending in the plural :-

Album = Albums
Asylum = Asylums
Museum = Museums
Pendulum = Pendulums
Premium = Premiums

10). Many words ending in “us” always take the English “es” ending in the plural :-

Census = Censuses
Circus = Circuses
Hiatus = Hiatuses
Prospectus = Prospectuses
Sinus = Sinuses
Virus = Viruses
Apparatus = Apparatuses

11). While with some words ending in “us”, the Latin “i” is usually preferable in the plural:-

Cactus = Cacti
Narcissus = Narcissi
Radius = Radii
Alumnus = Alumni
Bacillus = Bacilli
Fungus = Fungi
Stimulus = Stimuli

MISCELLANEOUS

Axis = Axes
Crisis = Crises
Analysis = Analyses
Basis = Bases
Hypothesis = Hypotheses
Madame (Madam) = Mesdames
Curriculum = Curricula
Synopsis = Synopses
Thesis = Theses
Agenda = Agendas
Medium = Media
Datum = Data(Now a days DATUM is rarely used as singular.)

Some Other Rules

Rule 1 :-

Some nouns have two plural forms. Both the plural forms have a different meaning :-

As :-

Brother

1). Brothers = Sons of the same parents.
2). Brethren = Members of a society or community.

Cloth

1). Cloths = Kinds or pieces of cloth.
2). Clothes = Garments.

Die

1). Dies = Stamps for coins .
2). Dice = Small cubes used in a game.

Staff

1). Staves = Walking sticks or the lines used in music.
2). Staffs = Employees of an organization .

Penny

1). Pennies = Number of coins
2). Pence = Sum of money


Some nouns have different meanings in their singular and plural forms :-

As :-

Singular Meaning Plural Meaning
Advice = Counsel Advices = Information
Air = An invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth Airs = Annoyingly affected and condescending manner

2 comments:

  1. This blog is very Useful for the learners of English As well as Computer.
    Well wishes for Mr. Ashok Rathee.

    ReplyDelete

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