Plural Noun - Rules, Types and Examples

In the English language, nouns are divided into singular and plural nouns based on their number. This division is applicable only to common nouns as all proper nouns refer to a particular place or person; in fact, that is why they are called proper nouns. Read on to learn about plural nouns, their definitions, rules and examples in detail.

Table of Contents

• Definition of a Plural Noun
• Changing a Singular Noun to a Plural Noun
  • Adding ‘s’
  • Adding ‘es’
  • Adding ‘ves’ for nouns ending with an ‘f’ or ‘fe’
  • Adding ‘oes’ to nouns ending with an ‘o’
  • Adding ‘ies’ to words ending with a ‘y’ preceded by a consonant
  • Adding ‘s’ to words ending with a ‘y’ preceded by a vowel
  • Changing ‘us’ to ‘i’
  • Changing ‘is’ to ‘es’
  • Changing ‘on’ to ‘a’
  • Nouns with a common singular and plural form
  • Irregular nouns
  • Plural form for hyphenated nouns and relationships
• Plural Noun Examples
• The Golden Rule of Using Plural Nouns in Sentences – Subject-Verb Agreement
  • Plural Nouns and Tense Forms
• Test Your Knowledge
• Frequently Asked Questions on Plural Nouns

Definition of a Plural Noun

The word plural is defined as ‘relating to or constituting a class of grammatical forms usually used to denote more than one or in some languages more than two’ and ‘relating to, consisting of, or containing more than one or more than one kind or class’, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. So a noun that consists or relates to more than one person, place or thing can be defined as a plural noun.

Changing a Singular Noun to a Plural Noun

A common noun can be made plural by adding an ‘s’, ‘es’, ‘ies’, ‘ves’; by changing ‘us’ to ‘i’, ‘is’ to ‘es’, ‘on’ to ‘a’ and so on. There are some common nouns that remain the same in the singular and plural forms. A few others do not fall under any other category of plural nouns. They are termed irregular nouns. These common nouns can be made plural by a change in the spelling or by the addition of a suffix to the root word.

Check out the following examples of plural nouns for a better understanding.

Examples:

• • Adding ‘s’
    • Dog – dogs
    • Pen – pens
    • Chair – chairs

• • Adding ‘es’
    • Box – boxes
    • Tax – taxes
    • Bus – buses

• • Adding ‘ves’ for nouns ending with an ‘f’ or ‘fe’
    • Wolf – wolves
    • Calf – calves
    • Knife – knives
    • Wife – wives

• • Adding ‘es’ to nouns ending with an ‘o’
    • Mango – mangoes
    • Potato – potatoes
    • Tomato – tomatoes
    • Mosquito – mosquitoes
    • Volcano – volcanoes

• • Adding ‘ies’ to words ending with a ‘y’ preceded by a consonant
    • City – cities
    • Strawberry – strawberries
    • Puppy – puppies

• • Adding ‘s’ to words ending with a ‘y’ preceded by a vowel
    • Ray – rays
    • Toy – toys
    • Boy – boys

• • Changing ‘us’ to ‘i’
    • Alumnus – alumni
    • Syllabus – syllabi
    • Cactus – cacti
    • Fungus – fungi
    • Nucleus – nuclei

• • Changing ‘is’ to ‘es’
    • Crisis – crises
    • Analysis – analyses
    • Diagnosis – diagnoses
    • Thesis – theses

• • Changing ‘on’ to ‘a’
    • Criterion – criteria
    • Phenomenon – phenomena

• • Nouns with a common singular and plural form
    • News – news
    • Scissors – scissors
    • Furniture – furniture
    • Deer – deer
    • Fish – fish
    • Police – police
    • Sheep – sheep

• • Irregular nouns
    • Man – men
    • Woman – women
    • Ox – oxen
    • Goose – geese
    • Child – children
    • Tooth – teeth
    • Foot – feet
    • Mouse – mice

• • Plural form for hyphenated nouns and relationships
    • Mother-in-law – Mothers-in-law
    • Father-in-law – Fathers-in-law
    • Brother-in-law – Brothers-in-law
    • Daughter-in-law – Daughters-in-law
    • Son-in-law – Sons-in-law
    • Grandmother – grandmothers
    • Grandfather – grandfathers
    • Grandson – grandsons
    • Granddaughter – granddaughters
    • Cousin – cousins
    • Brother – brothers
    • Sister – sisters
    • Uncle – uncles
    • Aunty – Aunties
    • Aunt – Aunts

Plural Noun Examples

• Plural noun of child – children
• Plural noun of fox – foxes
• Plural noun of loaf – loaves
• Plural noun of ship – ships
• Plural noun of school – schools
• Plural noun of door – doors
• Plural noun of sister-in-law – sisters-in-law
• Plural form of baby – babies

The Golden Rule of Using Plural Nouns in Sentences – Subject-Verb Agreement

When using plural nouns, take care to change the verb accordingly so that the sentences do not look grammatically incorrect. The verbs forms used along with a plural noun include, are (simple present tense), were (simple past tense), are+verb+ing, were+verb+ing, have+past participle, have+been+past participle, will+have+verb+ing and will+have+past participle.

Examples:

• None of the students has completed their homework. (Group of people)
• All the rescued animals have been returned to their natural habitats safely. (Group of different animals)
• The textbooks and notebooks are kept on the shelves. (Objects)
• All schools in the city are shut down due to the political protests carried out in and around the city.

Plural Nouns and Tense Forms

Here are some examples to show you how everyday nouns can be used in different tense forms.

Please note that the words in bold are the plural nouns and the words in italics are the appropriate tense forms.

Test Your Knowledge

Change the highlighted nouns in the following sentences into the plural form and use the appropriate form of the verb:

1. That girl plays the piano.
2. I bought a mango.
3. The teacher will be here in a few minutes.
4. The scholar has been working on the thesis for five months now.
5. Teena brought home a puppy.
6. The boy was playing cricket.
7. The cat was adopted.
8. Sadie had an orange for breakfast.
9. Dave picked up a flower for his mom.
10. Tom likes having fruit for dinner.

Check your answers here:

1. Those girls play the piano.
2. I bought some mangoes.
3. The teachers will be here in a few minutes.
4. The scholars have been working on the thesis for five minutes now.
5. Teena brought home puppies.
6. The boys were playing cricket.
7. The cats were adopted.
8. Sadie had oranges for breakfast.
9. Dave picked up flowers for his mom.
10. Tom likes having fruits for dinner.