Plural Rules
Plural Rule 1
●Most words add ‘s’ to make the plural.
●one apple two apples
●desk → desks month → months
●book → books train → trains
●pen → pens name → names
●shop → shops friend → friends
●chair → chairs teacher →teachers
Try these…
●pencil →pencils ●window
●road →roads →windows
●flower → 2 flowers ●door → 4 doors
●girl →girls ●cake →cakes
●plant →plants ●banana
→bananas
●shoe →shoes
Plural Rule 2
● Add ‘es’ to words ending in ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘s’, ‘ss’,
‘x’ or ‘z’ to make the plural.
● one box many boxes
● wish → wishes beach → beaches
● cross → crosseswaltz → waltzes
● bus → buses church → churches
● dish → dishes loss → losses
● fox → foxes bunch → bunches
Try these…
●watch →watches ●glass →glasses
●pitch →pitches ●dress →dresses
●wax → waxes ●bush →bushes
●class →classes ●hutch →hutches
●gas →gases ●quiz →quizes
Plural Rule 3
● When the letter before a ‘y’ is a consonant,
change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ before adding an ‘es’.
● one baby two babies
● city → cities berry → berries
● pony → ponies family → families
● reply → replies lady → ladies
Try these…
●daisy → daisies ●diary → diaries
●ferry →ferries ●cherry → cherries
●army → armies ●belly → bellies
●party → parties ●jelly → jellies
●fly → flies ●filly → fillies
Plural Rule 4
● When words end in ‘ay’, ‘ey’, ‘iy’, ’oy’, and ‘uy’
add an ‘s’ to make the plural.
● one donkey two donkeys
● day → days boy → boys
● key → keys delay →
delays
● play → plays guy → guys
Try these
●quay → ●monkey →
●valley → valleys ●trolley →
●tray → trays ●buoy →
●pulley → ●relay →
●toy → toys ●holiday →
Plural Rule 5
●When words end in ‘f’ or ‘fe’ change the
‘f’ or ‘fe’ to a ‘v’ before adding ‘es’.
●one knife two knives
●leaf → leaves life → lives
●half → halves hoof → hooves
●wife → wives thief → thieves
Try these
●wolf → wolves
●elf → elves
●loaf → loaves
●self → selves
●calf → calves
●shelf → shelvs
●Exceptions → cliffs, chiefs, roofs, dwarfs
and handkerchiefs.
Plural Rule 6
● When a word ends in an ‘o’ and comes after a
consonant, add ‘es’ to make the plural.
● one tomato two tomatoes
● cargo → cargoes mango → mangoes
● echo → echoes hero → heroes
● volcano →volcanoes torpedo→ torpedoes
Try these
●potato → potatoes
●avocado → avocadoes
●mosquito →
●domino →dominoes
●buffalo →
●dingo →
●Exceptions → pianos, banjos, solos,
radios and Eskimos.
Plural Rules 7
●Sometimes a word may completely
change its form when a plural is made.
●one child two children
●person →people goose → geese
●man → men woman →
women
●cactus →cacti
Try these
●tooth →teeth ●mouse →mice
●foot →feet ●Goose -geese
●Luggage-luggage
●Sheep - sheep
●Fish - fish
