XXX - GRAMMAR Forming the plural

THE PLURAL OF NOUNS

Most nouns form the plural by adding -s.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
boat	boats
hat	books
river	rivers

If a word ends in ch, x, sh, s or ss, then we add es rather than just s to make a plural.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
beach	beaches
fox	foxes
chess	chesses

A noun ending in -y preceded by a consonant makes the plural with -ies.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
A cry	cries
a fly	flies
a nappy	nappies
a poppy	poppies
a city	cities
a lady	ladies
a baby	babies

Some words make their plural in a different way. 

Examples of irregular plurals:

Singular	Plural
woman	women
man	men
child	children
tooth	teeth
foot	feet
person	people
leaf	leaves
half	halves
knife	knives
wife	wives
life	lives
loaf	loaves
potato	potatoes
cactus	cacti
focus	foci
fungus	fungi
nucleus	nuclei
syllabus	syllabi/syllabuses
analysis	analyses
diagnosis	diagnoses
oasis	oases
thesis	theses
crisis	crises
phenomenon	phenomena
criterion	criteria
datum	data

Some nouns have the same form in the singular and the plural.

Examples:

Singular	Plural
sheep	sheep
fish	fish
species	species
aircraft	aircraft

Some nouns have a plural form but take a singular verb.

Examples:

-          news --> The news is on at 6.30 p.m.

-          athletics -->  Athletics is good for young people.

-          linguistics -->  Linguistics is the study of language.

-          darts -->  Darts is a popular game in England.

-          billiards -->  Billiards is played all over the world.

Some nouns have a plural form and take a plural verb.

Examples:

-          trousers -->  My trousers are too tight.

-          jeans -->  Her jeans are black.

-          glasses -->  Those glasses are his.

others include:

savings, thanks, steps, stair, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits