{"id":254,"date":"2014-04-11T22:56:34","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T22:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english-language\/?page_id=254"},"modified":"2014-04-11T22:56:34","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T22:56:34","slug":"singular-and-plural-nouns","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/parts-speech\/the-basics\/the-noun\/singular-and-plural-nouns\/","title":{"rendered":"Singular and Plural Nouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

A noun<\/strong> is the name of a person, place, thing <\/strong>or idea<\/strong>. Because of the high volume of words which fall under the part of speech of “noun” in the English language, many kinds<\/em> of nouns exist.<\/p>\n

In this article we will look at singular and plural nouns. The word singular<\/em> means “one” and plural<\/em> means “more than one”. Most obviously, a singular noun is a noun that names one person, place, thing or idea, and a plural noun is a word which names more than one person, place, thing or idea.<\/p>\n

A singular noun is an English word or phrase in its original form. The plural form of any noun is formed by changing the original word form slightly.<\/p>\n

There are some rules to follow when changing nouns from singular to plural. We will look at that in a moment; first, let’s give some examples of singular and plural nouns side by side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Singular Noun<\/b><\/td>\nPlural Noun<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dog<\/td>\nDogs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Desk<\/td>\nDesks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tree<\/td>\nTrees<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Duck<\/td>\nDucks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mango<\/td>\nMangoes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wife<\/td>\nWives<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fly<\/td>\nFlies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
King<\/td>\nKings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Car<\/td>\nCars<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Country<\/td>\nCountries<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now let’s try to use some of these nouns in sentences.<\/p>\n

1. The dog<\/strong> barked at the man. (singular noun)<\/p>\n

2. The dogs<\/strong> ate the food. (plural noun)<\/p>\n

3. We have one desk<\/strong> in our office.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

4. They have five desks<\/strong> in their office.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

5. We planted a tree<\/strong> in the front yard.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

6. They planted some trees<\/strong> in the backyard.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

7. A duck<\/strong> flew over the house.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

8. Some ducks<\/strong> are swimming in the pond.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

9. I ate a mango<\/strong>.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

10. John ate ten mangoes<\/strong>.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

11. The man bought a ring for his wife<\/strong>.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

12. The men bought presents for their wives<\/strong>.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

13. The boy swatted the fly<\/strong>.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

14. The girl chased the flies<\/strong> with her hands.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

15. Very long ago, a King<\/strong> was the ruler of almost every nation.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

16. Nowadays, Kings<\/strong> are very scare as head of a nation.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

17. My brother bought a car<\/strong>.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

18. I like spacious cars<\/strong>.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

19. I live in a beautiful country<\/strong>.\u00a0(singular noun)<\/p>\n

20. There are many countries<\/strong> in the world.\u00a0(plural noun)<\/p>\n

There are some rules to follow when changing a noun from the singular to plural form:<\/p>\n

1. If the singular form of the noun ends with\u00a0s<\/strong><\/em>, z<\/strong><\/em>, ch<\/strong><\/em>, sh<\/strong><\/em>, or x<\/strong><\/em>, add es<\/strong><\/em><\/span> to form the plural. Examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: bus, church, flash, box<\/p>\n

Plural: buses<\/strong>, churches<\/strong>, flashes<\/strong>, boxes<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. If the singular form of the noun ends o<\/strong>, AND the second-to-last letter is a vowel, add s<\/strong><\/em><\/span> to form the plural. Examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: stereo, radio, video<\/p>\n

Plural: stereos<\/strong>, radios<\/strong>, videos<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. If the singular form of the noun ends in o<\/strong>, AND the second-to-last letter is a vowel:<\/p>\n

a) USUALLY add es <\/strong><\/em><\/span>to form the plural, examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: tomato, potato, mosquito<\/p>\n

Plural: tomatoes<\/strong>, potatoes<\/strong>, mosquitoes<\/strong><\/p>\n

b) SOMETIMES add s <\/strong><\/em><\/span>to form the plural, examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: avocado, photo, piano<\/p>\n

Plural: avocados<\/strong>, photos<\/strong>, pianos<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. If the singular form of the noun ends in y<\/strong>, AND the second-to-last letter is a vowel, add s<\/strong><\/em><\/span> to form the plural, examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: day, tray, turkey<\/p>\n

Plural: days<\/strong>, trays<\/strong>, turkeys<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. If the singular form of the noun ends in y<\/strong>, AND the second-to-last letter is a consonant, you\u00a0USUALLY change the y<\/strong><\/em> to i<\/strong><\/em> and add es<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. Examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: fly, ability, mummy,<\/p>\n

Plural: flies<\/strong>, abilities<\/strong>, mummies<\/strong><\/p>\n

6. If the singular form of the noun ends in f<\/strong> or fe<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

a) USUALLY change f<\/strong> to v<\/strong> and add s<\/strong><\/em><\/span> OR es<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. Examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: wife, leaf, loaf<\/p>\n

Plural: wives<\/strong>, leaves<\/strong>, loaves<\/strong><\/p>\n

b) SOMETIMES add s<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. Examples:<\/p>\n

Singular: roof, chief, belief<\/p>\n

Plural: roofs<\/strong>, chiefs<\/strong>, beliefs<\/strong><\/p>\n

More on the noun:<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

[related-articles-by-tag]<\/p>\n

Article location: Patrickcarpen.com >> English >> English Language >> Grammar >> Parts of Speech >> The Noun<\/p>\n

Keywords: singular nouns, plural nouns, singular and plural nouns, the noun, parts of speech, English, language<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing or idea. Because of the high volume of words which fall under the part of speech of “noun” in the Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":866,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-254","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-the-noun"],"yoast_head":"\nSingular and Plural Nouns - English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patrick Carpen defines and explains the use of singular and plural nouns\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/parts-speech\/the-basics\/the-noun\/singular-and-plural-nouns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Singular and Plural Nouns - English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Patrick Carpen defines and explains the use of singular and plural nouns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/english\/parts-speech\/the-basics\/the-noun\/singular-and-plural-nouns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/english\\\/parts-speech\\\/the-basics\\\/the-noun\\\/singular-and-plural-nouns\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/english\\\/parts-speech\\\/the-basics\\\/the-noun\\\/singular-and-plural-nouns\\\/\",\"name\":\"Singular and Plural Nouns - 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