Singular Noun and Plural Noun

What is meant by Number of Nouns and Pronouns?

The number refers to the count of a noun or pronoun.

What is Singular Number or Singular Noun?

• It refers to the count of only one of a noun or pronoun.
• Example:
  

1. One cat,
2. One apple,
3. One boy

What is Plural Number or Plural Noun ?

• It refers to the count of more than one of a noun or pronoun.
• Example:

1. Many cats,
2. Many apples,
   
3. Many boys

 Rules for changing Singular Noun to Plural Noun

1) Most nouns change from singular to plural by adding (s) to the singular.

Singular	Plural
house	houses
tree	trees
cow	cows
boy	boys
pencil	pencils
eye	eyes
book	books
horse	horses
shoe	shoes
toe	toes
nose	noses
window	windows
dog	dogs
mobile	mobiles
friend	friends
girl	girls

2) Nouns that end in ‘ch’, ‘ss’, ‘sh’, and ‘x’ form their plurals by adding ‘es’ to the singular.

Singular	Plural
bench	benches
fox	foxes
branch	branches
ass	asses
dish	dishes
match	matches

 3) There are some nouns ending in ‘o’ that make their plurals by adding ‘es’ to the singular.

Singular	Plural
potato	potatoes
tomato	tomatoes
mango	mangoes
mosquito	mosquitoes
zero	zeroes
hero	heroes

 4) There are some nouns ending in ‘y’ such that y is preceded by a consonant, they form plurals by changing ‘y’ into ‘ies’.

Singular	Plural
baby	babies
fly	flies
diary	diaries
lady	ladies
hobby	hobbies
puppy	puppies
lorry	lorries
pony	ponies
city	cities
story	stories
sky	skies
army	armies

 5) There are some nouns ending in ‘y’ such that y is preceded by a Vowel, they form plurals by simply adding 's' at the end after alphabet y.

Singular	Plural
monkey	monkeys
donkey	donkeys
day	days
toy	toys
holiday	holidays
valley	valleys
way	ways
ray	rays
play	plays

 6) Some nouns form their plurals by a change of the inside vowel.

Singular	Plural
foot	feet
man	men
tooth	teeth
louse	lice
goose	geese
mouse	mice
woman	women
policeman	policemen

 7) Some nouns form their plurals in –en or –ren.

Singular	Plural
child	children
ox	oxen

8) Some nouns have the same form for the Plural as for the Singular.

Singular	Plural
sheep	sheep
dozen	dozen
series	series
deer	deer
fish	fish
species	species

 9) Some nouns end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’. They make their plurals by changing ‘f’ or ‘fe’ into ‘ves’.

Singular	Plural
leaf	leaves
loaf	loaves
calf	calves
wolf	wolves
knife	knives

 10) There is no specific rule for changing the number of pronouns.

Singular	Plural
I	We
My	Our
Mine	Ours
Me	Us
You	You
He/she	they
Him/her	Them
Your	Your
This	These
That	Those
It	They
His/her	their

Practice Exercise

Q1) Fill in the blanks with words given in the brackets:

•       They are beautiful ___________. (lady/ladies)

•       Books are good ___________. (friend/friends)

•       She is a smart ___________. (girl/girls)

•       These ___________ belong to that girl. (plant/plants)

•       The ___________ is not in the box. (pencil/pencils)

•       Are these ___________ hungry? (boy/boys)

•       The ___________ are in the bag. (tomato/tomatoes)

•       The ___________ are under a tree. (sheep/sheeps)

•       The ___________ are falling from the tree. (leaf/leaves)

•       These ___________ are sweet. (mango/mangoes)

•       The ___________ are in the kitchen. (knife/knives)

•       We need a ___________ for our books. (box/boxes)

•       The ___________ are playing in the pond. (elephant/elephants)

 
Q2) Write the plural form of each singular noun given below.

house        _______________________

bench        _______________________

diary         _______________________

day           _______________________

cow           _______________________

policeman  _______________________

branch       _______________________

mango       _______________________

shoe          _______________________

dog           _______________________

pencil        _______________________

potato       _______________________

book         _______________________

dish          _______________________

nose         _______________________