Making nouns plural

1. Making nouns plural

2. Troublemakers • house – houses box - boxes • mouse – mice ox - oxen • hero – heroes safe - safes • banjo – banjos knife - knives • cupful – cupfuls foot - feet • passerby – passersby tooth - teeth

3. Nouns that stay the same • moose • deer • species • sheep • series • swine

4. Weirdos • basis – bases • crisis – crises • criterion – criteria • nucleus – nuclei • stimulus – stimuli • datum - data

5. Rule 1 • Usually add s: • wave – waves • hat - hats

6. Rule 2 • If the word ends in o, usually add es: • hero – heroes • potato - potatoes

7. Rule 3 • If the word ends in s, x, z, ch, or sh, add es: • glass – glasses • church – churches • box – boxes • bush - bushes

8. Rule 4 • If the word ends in y and there’s a vowel before the y, add s: • play – plays • monkey - monkeys

9. Rule 5 • If the word ends in y and there’s a consonant before the y, change the y to I and add es: • party – parties • candy - candies

10. Rule 6 • If a proper noun ends in y, just add s: • the Kennedy family – the Kennedys • the Finley family – the Finleys

11. Rule 7 • If a compound noun has a main noun in it, add the s to the main noun: • one father-in-law – two fathers-in-law • one chief of police – two chiefs of police

12. Rule 8 • If a compound noun has no main noun in it, add the s at the end: • one follow-up – two follow-ups • one trade-in – two trade-ins

13. Practice Another game uses marshmallowes and toothpicks. He spends hours watching the gorillas and monkies. Little daisys grow beside the stream. Eating our lunchs outdoors, we could hear the bees. My grandfather plays dominoes on his friends’ patios.