As anyone who has studied English grammar knows, English is full of exceptions to its rules. There are several different plural rules that explain how to pluralize nouns. Usually, nouns become plural by taking one or more extra letters at the end of the word, usually an -S but often others. English words never become plural by putting letters at the start of the word. The rules for how to make something plural depend on how a word is spelled, how it is pronounced, and sometimes its etymology. Sometimes, nouns simply take one letter to make them plural; other times, the whole word changes dramatically. There are some rules that can be helpful when learning to pluralize nouns, but they all have exceptions and should be thought of more as guidelines.
Regular Nouns
A regular noun in English is one that pluralizes according to the simplest, most common rule: adding an -S. Many, many English words go from singular to plural with the addition of a word-final -S. A handful of examples include:
- cat, cats
- dolphin, dolphins
- college, colleges
- telephone, telephones
- photograph, photographs
- mountain, mountains
- jacket, jackets
- train, trains
- bowl, bowls
- farm, farms
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There is a slight but noteworthy phonetic difference in how some of these plurals are pronounced. Words that end with a voiced letter, meaning a letter that, when pronounced, makes the throat vibrate (like N, L, B, R) have a plural S that sounds like a Z. Words that end with a voiceless letter, meaning one that does not make the throat vibrate (like T, H, K, P), have a plural S that sounds like an S.
Different Endings
There are several other ways to pluralize nouns that are less common than simply adding -S, but nonetheless follow reasonably straightforward rules. Some words take an -ES, rather than just an -S, which is usually to do with how the word is pronounced -ES endings are common when a word ends in -CH, -SH, -X, or -S. Examples of these words include:
- box, boxes
- bush, bushes
- watch, watches
- glass, glasses
- bus, buses
- eyelash, eyelashes
There are some cases where a word that ends in a vowel like -O will also take an -ES ending, like ''mosquitoes'' or ''tomatoes.'' However, there is no rule for when this happens: other words like zoo, avocado, and solo all simply take an -S. Another common way of ending words in English is to change a -Y ending to -IES. Typically, this change only happens when the -Y is preceded by a consonant, not a vowel. If the -Y is preceded by a vowel, the word usually just takes an -S. Some examples include:
- city, cities
- baby, babies
- curry, curries
- tray, trays
- monkey, monkeys
- ploy, ploys
A final common form of pluralization in English applies to words that end in -F or -FE. Rather than taking an -S, these words will change the F to a V and ad an -ES ending. Examples include:
- shelf, shelves
- dwarf, dwarves
- scarf, scarves
- wife, wives
- life, lives
Again, there are exceptions to this rule, though they are less common. ''Cafe'' becomes ''cafes'', ''chief'' becomes ''chiefs'', and so on. Usually, -F or -FE words that do not take a -VE ending are loanwords from other languages.
Irregular Nouns
While most nouns in English follow one of the patterns listed above, there are some English nouns that pluralize in entirely unexpected ways. Some, like ''deer'' and ''fish,'' are the same in both singular and plural. Others have irregular spellings, including the following:
There are no rules to learn when it comes to nouns like these; there are words with similar spellings that pluralize differently, like ''mouse'' vs. ''house.'' As with many elements of English grammar, it is necessary to simply learn these words and how to spell them.
Some words in English are controversial when it comes to pluralizing them. There are several words that have multiple accepted plurals, particularly words that come from Latin or Greek, or words that are spelled similarly to Latin and Greek words. Some examples of words with multiple accepted spellings include:
- flamingo: flamingos or flamingoes
- volcano: volcanos or volcanoes
- millennium: millennia or millenniums
- cactus: cacti or cactuses
- vortex: vortices or vortexes
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Perhaps the single most controversial noun when it comes to English pluralization is ''octopus.'' There are currently three plural forms that are all in use to varying degrees; some sources will argue that one is more correct, but the truth is that all have some merit. The plurals are ''octopuses,'' which patterns with the regular English pluralization; ''octopi,'' which is how many words that come from Latin are pluralized if they end in -US, and ''octopodes,'' which is how Greek words with similar spellings are pluralized. ''Octopus'' does have a Greek origin, but ''octopodes,'' while etymologically grounded, is not commonly used.
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