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Make It Plural: 's' or 'es'— Let's Practise!

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Understanding Plural Nouns – Definition

A noun names a person, place, thing or idea. When a noun names just one, it is called a singular noun. When a noun names more than one, it is called a plural noun.

Examples:

  • Singular: cat → Plural: cats
  • Singular: dog → Plural: dogs
  • Singular: house → Plural: houses
  • Singular: tree → Plural: trees
  • Singular: flower → Plural: flowers

Rules for Forming Regular Plural Nouns

Adding -s:

Most nouns form their plural by simply adding an -s to the end of the word.

  • Example: book → books
  • Example: car → cars
  • Example: apple → apples
  • Example: pen → pens

Adding -es:

Nouns ending in s, x, z, ch or sh form their plural by adding -es to the end of the word.

  • Example: box → boxes
  • Example: church → churches
  • Example: bush → bushes
  • Example: quiz → quizzes

Changing -y to -ies:

If a noun ends in a consonant followed by a -y, change the -y to -ies.

  • Example: baby → babies
  • Example: story → stories
  • Example: city → cities
  • Example: puppy → puppies

Understanding Irregular Plural Nouns – Explanation

Some nouns don't follow the regular rules when forming their plural. These are called irregular plural nouns - they do not follow any specific pattern, and therefore we need to memorise them.

Examples of Irregular Plural Nouns:

  • Child → children
  • Foot → feet
  • Mouse → mice
  • Tooth → teeth

Make it Plural – Example

Let's look at some examples of forming plural nouns:

Regular Plural Nouns

Singular Plural
car cars
dish dishes
city cities

Irregular Plural Nouns

Singular Plural
man men
woman women
tooth teeth

Make it Plural – Guided Practice

Make it Plural – Application

Make it Plural – Summary

Key Learnings from this Text:

  • A noun names a person, place, thing or idea.
  • Singular nouns name one, while plural nouns name more than one.
  • Regular plural nouns typically add -s, -es or change -y to -ies.
  • Irregular plural nouns do not follow standard rules.

Continue exploring more content on our website, such as interactive practice problems, educational videos and printable worksheets to support your learning journey!

Make it Plural – Frequently Asked Questions

Make It Plural: 's' or 'es'— Let's Practise! exercise

Would you like to apply the knowledge you’ve learnt? You can review and practice it with the tasks for the video Make It Plural: 's' or 'es'— Let's Practise!.
  • Hints

    Is the word flags singular or plural? What does it end with?

    Is the word foxes singular or plural? What does it end with?

    Solution

    To make a word plural, add es or s to the ending.

    For example:
    We flew one flag.
    We flew many flags.

    One fox ran fast.
    Many foxes ran fast.

  • Hints

    If a word ends with x, s or ch, we need to add es.

    For example:

    • sock becomes socks
    • switch becomes switches

    Solution

    Here are the correct suffixes for each word.

  • Hints

    The plural of car is cars.

    The plural of batch is batches.

    Solution

    To make a word plural, add the suffix -s or -es.

    1. Our watches tell us the time.
    2. There are two hands on a watch.
    3. One is for the minutes and the other is for the hours.
    4. With a watch, you'll be able to be in places on time!
  • Hints

    The plural of the word hat is hats.

    The plural of the word bunch is bunches.

    Solution
    • The plural of bush is bushes.
    • The plural of sunflower is sunflowers.
    • The plural of rose is roses.
    • The plural of patch is patches.
    • The plural of stem is stems.
  • Hints

    If a word ends in t, add an s to the end to make it plural.

    The sentence below is an example of a correct plural form of the word kitten:

    My cat had a litter of seven kittens.

    Solution

    None of the words above end in s, ch, x or s. Therefore, to make them plural, we just add s.

    1. balloons
    2. baskets
    3. tigers
    4. lemons
  • Hints

    The plural of the word cat is cats.

    The plural of the word fox is foxes.

    Solution

    To make a word plural, add the suffix -s or -es.

    Uncle Ted's farm is between two mountains. There are cows, ducks and chickens. Every morning we go and collect the eggs.

    We have to get up before the sun! We gather the eggs into cartons, then put the cartons into boxes. We also collect bunches of flowers. It is lots of fun at the farm!