Singular and Plural Nouns

A noun names a person, place, thing, or idea.

Usually, the first page of a grammar book tells you about nouns. Nouns give names of concrete or abstract things in our lives. As babies learn "mom," "dad," or "milk" as their first word, nouns should be the first topic when you study a foreign language.

 

For the plural form of most nouns, add s.

    bottle – bottles
    cup – cups
    pencil – pencils
    desk – desks
    sticker – stickers
    window – windows

For nouns that end in ch, x, s, or s sounds, add es.

    box – boxes
    watch – watches
    moss – mosses
    bus – buses

For nouns ending in f or fe, change f to v and add es.

    wolf – wolves
    wife – wives
    leaf – leaves
    life – lives

Some nouns have different plural forms.

    child – children
    woman – women
    man – men
    mouse – mice
    goose – geese

Nouns ending in vowels like y or o do not have definite rules.

    baby – babies
    toy – toys
    kidney – kidneys
    potato – potatoes
    memo – memos
    stereo – stereos

A few nouns have the same singular and plural forms.

    sheep – sheep
    deer – deer
    series – series
    species – species


[Quiz 1.1]

Choose the correct form of the noun in each sentence.

1)I have three (child, children).
2)There are five (man, men) and one (woman, women).
3)(Baby, Babies) play with bottles as toys.
4)I put two big (potato, potatoes) in the lunch box.
5)A few men wear (watch, watches).
6)I put a (memo, memos) on the desk.
7)I saw a (mouse, mice) running by.
8)There are few (bus, buses) on the road today.