Irregular Plural Noun
Irregular plural nouns are those nouns which do not have any specific rules for making plural forms. For that reason students often find it difficult to remember all irregular plural nouns. We have provided irregular plural nouns with examples as we believe students will find it easier to remember with their regular usage.
There are some irregular plural nouns which are not changed at all in plural forms. Some nouns are changed based on definite rules of changing.
Examples.
Man- men, woman- women, mouse- mice, louse- lice, tooth- teeth, foot- feet, goose- geese, ox- oxen, child- children etc.
We see children playing in park every day.
We should brush our teeth regularly for keeping germs away.
We had severe pain on our feet for some days after the long journey.
Women should be respected in any form and any aspect for their roles.
Like regular plural nouns irregular nouns also have certain rules of changing. Specific rules for each noun are difficult to remember. Formation of some nouns is easy but others seem tricky. For that purpose we have given here detail explanation about all common rules that are followed for making plural forms of irregular nouns.
i) Some nouns are not changed in plural forms. Both singular forms and plural forms are same for these nouns. We can find the names of animals in majority of the cases for this rule.
Ex.
Salmon- salmon, moose- moose, deer- deer, sheep- sheep, fish- fish, trout- trout, offspring- offspring, series- series, species- species etc.
ii) For some nouns plural forms are changed in spelling by changing the vowel sound within it. This type of nouns is called mutated plurals. There are many compound words for man and woman for which plural forms are made in the same way.
Ex.
Ox- oxen, person- people, child- children, penny- pence, tooth- teeth, policeman- policemen etc.
iii) There are several rules for changing Latin and Greek words into plurals.
a) Singular nouns ending with ‘ae’ becomes only ‘s’ at the end of plural nouns.
Ex.
Formula- formulae, alumna- alumnae etc.
b) Nouns ending with ‘ix’ and ‘ex’ takes ices for changing into plural forms.
Ex.
Vertex- vertices, index- indices, matrix- matrices, appendix- appendices etc.
c) Words ending with ‘is’ in singular forms become ‘as’ in plural forms.
Ex.
Crisis- crises, genesis- geneses, axis- axes, testis- testes etc.
d) Singular nouns ending with ‘um’ are changed into plural forms by adding ‘a’ or ‘s’ at the end of the words.
Ex.
medium- media, datum- data, spectrum- spectra, corrigendum- corrigenda, addendum- addenda, forum- for a etc.
e) Singular nouns ending with ‘us’ takes ‘era’, ‘ora’, ‘I’ and ‘es’ at the time of changing into plural forms.
Ex.
radius- radii, alumnus- alumni, campus- campuses, census- censuses, syllabus- syllabi, terminus- termini, fungus- fungi etc.
f) Words ending with ’us’ in singular forms remain unchanged in its plural forms.
Ex.
status- status, meatus- meatus etc.
g) Singular nouns ending with ‘on’ are changed into plural forms by adding only ‘a’ at the end of words.
Ex.
Criterion- criteria, automaton- automata, phenomenon- phenomena etc.
h) Nouns ending with ‘ma’ for specific Greek words take ‘mata’ at the end of plural forms of noun.
Ex.
Stoma- stomata, stigma- stigmata, dogma- dogmata, schema- schemata etc.
i) For some French words singular nouns ending with ‘eau’ takes only ‘x’ in maing its plural forms.
Ex.
Tableau- tableaux, beau- beaux, bureau- bureaux etc.
j) For some Japanese words singular nouns and plural nouns are used in the same form.
Ex.
Otaku- otaku, samurai- samurai, benshi- benshi etc.
k) Words of other origins except Greek, Latin, and Japanese are changed into plural by following the rule of regular nouns which means by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’.
Ex.
Pizza- pizzas, kayak- kayaks, canoe- canoes, kangaroo- kangaroos, igloo- igloos, kindergarten- kindergartens etc.
FAQs:
1.) From where can students get proper study resources of irregular plural noun?
Answer. Students can rely on this article for enhancing their deep knowledge about irregular nouns where all rules are explained well in easy language with adequate examples.
2.) When do students start to learn irregular plural noun?
Answer. Students start learning irregular plural noun in the early stage of learning grammar when they come to know numbers of nouns deeply.
3.) How will students remember al irregular nouns properly?
Answer. We are advising students to follow all significant rules along with its examples regularly. They should practice using these nouns in their daily life examples for remembering in effective way.