Singular and plural

Most plurals are formed by adding -s:
• "I don't like all dogs, but I like your dog."
• "She has so many different hats! I haven't even got one hat."

After -s / -sh / -ch / -x, we add -es to form the plural:
• "About 20 buses have passed in the last ten minutes — just not my bus!"
• "Who took the last box? There were five boxes here yesterday."

Words that end in -y change to -ies in the plural:
• "What a cute baby! I love babies."
• "As far as dictionaries go, this is a great dictionary!"

Words ending in -f or -fe change to -ves in the plural:
• "I've never seen so many knives! He must have a knife fetish."
• "Do you like my new shelves? The only problem is I can't reach the top shelf."

Just to make life more difficult, some plurals are not formed using -s:
child – children · man – men · woman – women
foot – feet · tooth – teeth · mouse – mice
person – people · sheep – sheep · fish – fish

You can check irregular and special plural forms in a good dictionary.

Some words are always used in the plural form:
glasses · jeans · pyjamas · scissors · shorts · tights · trousers
• "I like your new glasses."

Now try the exercise on the next page.

Dagmar Taylor