Feb 5 / Rebecca

Mastering Plurals in English – Rules, Exceptions & Common Mistakes

mastering plurals in english
Plurals are an important part of English grammar, helping us talk about more than one person, place, or thing. While forming plurals is usually straightforward, there are plenty of irregular words and tricky rules to remember. In this lesson, we’ll explore the different ways to form plurals, including regular and irregular nouns, common mistakes, and some fun exceptions!

1. Regular Plural Forms
Most English nouns follow a simple rule: just add -s at the end.
📌 Examples:
Car → Cars
Dog → Dogs
Book → Books

However, when a word ends in -s, -x, -ch, -sh, or -z, we add -es instead:
📌 Examples:
Bus → Buses
Box → Boxes
Church → Churches

If a noun ends in a consonant + y, we change y to i and add -es:
📌 Examples:
Baby → Babies
City → Cities

But if the noun ends in a vowel + y, we just add -s:
📌 Examples:
Boy → Boys
Toy → Toys

2. Irregular Plurals
Not all words follow the simple -s or -es rule! Some change completely in their plural form.

📌 Examples:
Man → Men
Woman → Women
Child → Children
Tooth → Teeth
Foot → Feet
Mouse → Mice

And some words stay the same in both singular and plural:
📌 Examples:
Sheep → Sheep
Deer → Deer
Fish → Fish (though "fishes" is used in scientific contexts)

3. Plurals of Words Ending in -f or -fe
For many nouns ending in -f or -fe, we change f to v and add -es:
📌 Examples:
Leaf → Leaves
Wolf → Wolves
Knife → Knives

However, some just take -s normally:
Roof → Roofs
Cliff → Cliffs

4. Foreign Plurals
Some English words come from Latin or Greek and have unusual plural forms.
📌 Examples:
Cactus → Cacti
Analysis → Analyses
Criterion → Criteria
Index → Indices (but "indexes" is also used in some cases)

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid
❌ Incorrect: "I have two childs."
✔ Correct: "I have two children."

❌ Incorrect: "The sheeps are in the field."
✔ Correct: "The sheep are in the field."

❌ Incorrect: "There are many mouses in the house."
✔ Correct: "There are many mice in the house."


📚 Practise Time!
Here is an exercise to reinforce what you’ve learned:
A. Fill in the blanks with the correct plural form:
One baby, two _______.
One loaf, two _______.
One person, many _______.
One tomato, several _______.
One fish, three _______.

B. Choose the correct sentence:
a) The childs are playing outside.
b) The children are playing outside.

a) I saw three sheeps in the field.
b) I saw three sheep in the field.

a) There are many deers in the forest.
b) There are many deer in the forest.

🎉 Great job!

Keep practising, and soon you’ll be using plural forms correctly without even thinking about it. 🌟





Answers
A. Fill in the blanks with the correct plural form:
One baby, two babies.
One loaf, two loaves.
One person, many people.
One tomato, several tomatoes.
One fish, three fish.
B. Choose the correct sentence:
b) The children are playing outside. ✅
b) I saw three sheep in the field. ✅
b) There are many deer in the forest. ✅

📚 Join The Basics of English Course! 🚀

€119

  • Lifetime access
  • 14-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Created with