As a general rule, nouns in English do not have a gender. As a result, the form of nouns is changed
depending on whether they are singular or plural. We use plurals of nouns to show when we have more than one thing, animal, person, or place. Now let us take a look at these singular and plural nouns, and notice the main difference between them:
| Singular | Plural |
| one pen | two pens |
| one girl | two girls |
| one officer | two officers |
| one book | two books |
| one prize | two prizes |
| one cat | two cats |
| one skirt | two skirts |
| one idea | two ideas |
| one book | two books |
| one cup | two cups |
| one spoon | two spoons |
As you notice from the examples illustrated above, the method for making nouns plural is quite simple, we add an “-s” at the end of the given noun.
However, This is not always the case, some nouns follow a different pattern. Let us check out these singular and plural nouns:
What is The Plural form of Words ending in “-s,” “-x,” “-z,” ?
| Singular | Plural |
| one brush | two brushes |
| one coach | two coaches |
| one witch | two witches |
| one loss | two losses |
| one bus | two buses |
| one box | two boxes |
| one match | two matches |
| one bush | two bushes |
| one tax | two taxes |
The rule for these words is pretty easy: If a noun ends in “-s,” “-x,” “-z,”, or with a cluster of consonants, like “-sh,” “-ch,” or “-tch” (as in “watch”), we add the letters “es” to form the plural noun.
What is The Plural of Words ending in “-y” ?
When we want to form the plural of a word that ends with the letter y, should pay
attention to this important remark. If the letter before the “y” is a vowel, that is “a”, “e”, “u”, or “o” we add an “s” to the end of the word to form the plural. For Example:
| Singular | Plural |
| one tray | two trays |
| one key | two keys |
| one essay | two essays |
| one way | two ways |
| one toy | two toys |
| one boy | two boys |
Nevertheless, if the noun ends in a “-y” and it is preceded by a consonant, we change “y” to “i” and add “-es.” For example:
| Singular | Plural |
| one penny | two pennies |
| one baby | two babies |
| one country | two countries |
| one butterfly | two butterflies |
| one city | two cities |
| one university | two universities |
| one enemy | two enemies |
| one gallery | two galleries |
What is The Plural of? Irregular plurals
In the English language, There exist some nouns that are irregular and thus do not adhere to the already mentioned spelling rules. These typical plurals need to be memorized.
This is a list of the most common irregular plurals:
- one man – two men
- one child – two children
- one woman – two women
- one goose – two geese
- one person – two people
- one foot – two feet
- one mouse – two mice
- one tooth – two teeth
Research or Researches: Is There a Plural for Research?
It appears to be a lot of argument around the fact that which is correct: research or researches? as most people approach this topic the wrong way.
As a general rule, Research can be a countable and an uncountable noun. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word Research is usually used as an uncountable noun. For example, we could say, I have conducted some research to find out the most appropriate way of traveling to that country. The word Researches on the other hand is rarely used. Its plural form is used in British English, so we could say for instance: what have their researches shown?
However, we should bear in mind that most native speakers of English might think that the word “Researches” is incorrect.
“Research” is generally treated by many native speakers as an uncountable noun, like “milk” or “air,” and should not be pluralized.
Native English speakers would rather say “some research,” “research projects” or “research studies” rather than “researches”. The plural noun “Researches” as a term is considered wrong or as an archaic word.
To make research or to do research?
We never say “make research.” Instead, we say,” undertake research”, “conduct research,” “do research,” “carry out research” or “perform research.”
Sentence Examples of the word Research:
- The medical research has focused only on the virus development.
- Annabelle conducted Three pieces of research last two months.
- Her brother did a lot of research before buying his dirt bike.
- New research shows that the virus is caused by poor nutrition.
- His study is an essential piece of research.
- Our governement pours millions of dollars into development and research.
What Is The Plural of Zero? Zeros vs. Zeroes
As a whole, both “zeros” and “zeroes” are correct plural forms of the term “zero”. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, we can form the plural of “zero” by adding either “s” or “es” to it. Hence, both “zeros” and “zeroes” are correct and valid. In addition, “zeroes” can also function as the third person singular form of the verb “to zero.”
In English, words that end in “-o” are a special case. Some form their plural by adding -s, and others form their plural by adding -es. Let us consider the following examples:
| Singular | Plural |
| hero | heroes |
| cargo | cargoes |
| potato | potatoes |
| zoo | zoos |
| echo | echoes |
| auto | autos |
| solo | solos |
Obviously, for nouns ending in “-o,” the plural is usually formed by adding “-es.” If the noun ends in vowel
plus “-o,” the plural is formed by adding “-s.”. Nevertheless, there exist some exceptions when some words can take either an “s” or an “es” at the end. so we might want to check a dictionary to know exactly which plural ending to use with words that end in -o.
What is The Plural Form of “Ex”? Plural of “Ex”
Generally, the plural of ex is “exes”. According to Oxford Learners Dictionaries and Collins Dictionary, The word “Ex” is a countable noun. It means someone’s former partner, husband, or wife. So, it is proper to say for example Anna was one of his exes. Nevertheless, when we consider the plural form of “ex” in writing, it is better to refer to it as an ‘ex’ :
- if it is wives, then we write ex-wives
- if it is husbands, then we write ex-husbands.
What is The Plural of? “Millions of dollar” or “Millions of dollars”
The word dollar is a countable noun. We could say for example I have a dollar, or Jim gets paid five dollars an hour. In this situation, there are many dollars is correct. so, we can also say one dollar. two dollars. hundreds of dollars. millions of dollars. tens of millions of dollars. On the other hand, we add “s” to million as in the phrase “millions of…” only if there is no number before it. For instance: The government is spending millions of dollars on new research projects.
Which words only exist in the plural form?
There are some words that can be either singular or plural, depending upon how the word is used. Some nouns do not change in the plural. Examples of these words are species, sheep craft, fish, and deer.
In the same way, words that describe a pair (That is to say two parts of a thing) are only used in the plural:
- trousers
- pants
- binoculars
- jeans
- pliers
- shorts
- scissors
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