Irregular Plural Nouns
Plural noun markers with other endings
| CHANGE MIDDLE VOWELS | |
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In a few words, the mid-word vowels are changed to form the plural. |
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SINGULAR
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PLURAL
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mouse |
mice /maɪs/ |
foot |
feet /fit/ |
tooth |
teeth /tiθ/ |
goose |
geese /gis/ |
louse |
lice /laɪs/ |
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| SINGULAR FORM (NO CHANGE) | |
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In a few words, the singular form is used for both singular and plural. |
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SINGULAR
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PLURAL
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fish |
fish |
deer |
deer |
sheep |
sheep |
shrimp |
aircraft |
offspring |
offspring |
series |
series /ˈsɪər-iz/ |
species |
species /ˈspi-ʃiz, -siz/ |
means |
means |
grapefruit |
grapefruit "fruit" – plural form (next page) |
aircraft |
shrimp /ʃrɪmp/ note (Amer. English does not use -s) |
Irregular Plural Nouns
Borrowed words
| LATIN WORDS | |
|---|---|
In words borrowed from Latin, the Latin plural forms are used. |
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SINGULAR—US cactus |
PLURAL – i cacti cactuses |
fungus /ˈfʌŋ-gəs/ |
fungi /ˈfʌn-dʒaɪ, ˈfʌŋ-gaɪ/ |
nucleus /ˈnu-kli-əs/ |
nuclei /ˈnu-kli-ˌaɪ/ |
stimulus |
stimuli |
syllabus /ˈsɪl-ə-bəs/ |
syllabi /ˈsɪl-ə-baɪ/ |
SINGULAR—ON, —UM phenomenon Greek / Latin |
PLURAL –A phenomena /fɪˈ-nɒ-mə-nə/ |
criterion Greek / Latin |
criteria |
bacterium Latin |
bacteria |
curriculum Latin |
curricula |
datum Latin |
data /ˈde-ɪtə, ˈdæ-tə, ˈdɑ-tə/ |
medium Latin |
media |
memorandum Latin |
memoranda |
SINGULAR—A formula /ˈfɔrmyələ/ Latin |
Plural –AE formulas / formulae /ˈfɔrm-yə-li/ |
vertebra Latin |
vertebrae |
SINGULAR—IX, —EX appendix /əˈpɛn-dɪks/ Latin |
Plural –ICES, –ES, appendices / appendixes /əˈpɛn-də-siz/ |
index Latin |
indices / indexes |
| OLD ENGLISH WORDS OR GREEK WORDS | |
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In some words, the plurals are derived (come) from older language forms. |
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SINGULAR *man /mæn/ from Middle English |
PLURAL –EN men /mɛn/ |
**woman /ˈwʊmən/ |
women /ˈwɪmɪn/ |
child /tʃaɪld/ |
children /ˈtʃɪl-drən/ |
ox |
oxen /ˈɒksən/ |
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SINGULAR –IS from Greek analysis Greek |
PLURAL –ES analyses |
basis Greek |
bases |
crisis Greek |
crises |
hypothesis Greek |
hypotheses |
oasis /oʊˈeɪsɪs/ Greek > Egyptian |
oases /oʊˈeɪsiz/ |
parenthesis /pəˈrɛn-θə-sɪs/ Greek |
parentheses /pəˈrɛn-θə--siz/ |
thesis /ˈθi-sɪs/ Greek |
theses /ˈθi-siz/ |
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*man— before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English man ( n ); cognate with German Mann, Dutch man, Old Norse mathr, Gothic manna; (v.) Middle English mannen, Old English mannian to garrison
**woman— before 900; Middle English womman, wimman, Old English wīfman, equivalent to wīf female + man human being; see wife, man1
Plural
Discussing Varieties
| PLURAL – ONE KIND | PLURAL – VARIETIES | ||
|---|---|---|---|
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We bought fish.
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We bought several kinds of fish at the market. *We bought fishes at the market. (error) Scientific context: Coral reef fishes, catalog of fishes, "all the fishes of the sea"
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We have fruit.
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We have different kinds of fruit. *We have fruits. (dialectal variation) Scientific context: Fruits of South America, fruits that are rich in anti-oxidants, "the fruits of our labor"; we bought fruits and vegetables (parallel plurals)
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The market sells shrimp.
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The market sells different kinds of shrimp. *The market sells shrimps. (uncommon usage in Amer. Eng.; dialectal variation exists) Scientific context: "The Secret World of Shrimps", Freshwater Shrimps, "shrimps and prawns" (parallel plurals)
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We tasted cheese.
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We tasted several kinds of cheese. We tasted several cheeses. (ok - noncount noun) Scientific context or topics: "The Cheeses of Greece"; Aging Cheeses; a list of cheeses |
*Yellow highlighted words are examples of incorrect usage.
Pop-Q – "Fishes"
Practice
Using Irregular Plural Forms
- Select the word from each menu that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button to the right.