Plural of nouns

THE NOUN

SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF NOUNS

Rebecca Lake Huron

a tree an idea glass love

a house an offer iron fear

NOTE: Both common and proper nouns can be animate (e.g. a lady, Miss Brown) and inanimate (e.g. a feather, Newcastle)

PLURAL OF NOUNS

1. REGULAR FORMATION

a jacket – jackets; a book – books if the noun ends in a sibilant

a watch – watches; a box – boxes

ENDING -S is pronounced as:

· [s] after voiceless consonants a desk-desks;

· [z] after voiced consonants and vowels – a dog – dogs, a boy-boys;

· [iz] after sibilants (шипящие и свистящие звуки)in nouns ending in --s,-ss,-xx, -z,-sh, -ch,-tch, e.g .a bus – busses,a match-matches.

2. NOUNS ENDING IN “–Y”

if preceded by a vowel - y+S changes into -i + es, if it

a toy – toys; a day –- days is preceded by a consonant

a lady – ladies, a city - cities

3. NOUNS ENDING IN “–TH” = Noun + th + s, e.g.

a bath – baths; a moth – moths; a mouth – mouths; cloth – cloths

NOTES:

· Do not confuse clothes (одежда) and cloths (тряпки, куски ткани)

· In standard English –th before the ending –s is pronounced as [ðz] after long vowels and diphthongs and [θs] after short vowels, e.g.

a youth – youths [ju:θ] – [ju:ðz]; a smith – smiths [smiθ] – [smiθs]

4. NOUNS ENDING IN “- O”

pianos potatoes

If a noun ends in - o, it is necessary to decide whether it is a foreign word, abbreviated word like piano or neither of these.

a) Noun + o + s = If it is a foreign word or an abbreviated word, the ending –s is added to –o. It is true for:

· musical terms of Italian origin, e.g.

a solo – solos; a soprano – sopranos; a concerto-concertos; a piano - pianos

· proper names, e.g.

an Eskimo – Eskimos; a Philippino - Philippinos

· words of Greek origin, e.g.

a photo – photos; a radio - radios

· abbreviations, e.g.

a kilo (from kilogram) – kilos;

a memo (from memorandum) – memos;

· when the final letter –o is preceded by a vowel letter or sound, e.g.

a kangaroo– kangaroos; a cuckoo – cuckoos; a zoo – zoos

b) Noun + o + es = If it is supposed to be of British origin, the ending –es is added, e.g.

a potato - potatoes; a cargo – cargoes;

an echo- echoes; a hero- heroes;

a Negro – Negroes; a tomato- tomatoes;

a torpedo – torpedoes; a motto – mottoes;

a veto – vetoes

c)The letter “e” is optional in the following words:

commandoes; grottoes; haloes; mosquitoes; tornadoes; volcanoes.

5. NOUNS ENDING IN “–F ”

Some nouns change –f into – ves, while others don’t. To be on the safe side just remember 13 nouns that have these changes and don’t bother about the rest – treat them as regular nouns. The fact that some of these words rhyme may help you.

a wife – wives a life – lives a knife – knives a shelf – shelves an elf – elves a self – selves a leaf – leaves a thief – thieves a sheaf – sheaves a loaf – loaves a wolf – wolves a half – halves a calf – calves