Irregular Plural Nouns
Plural noun markers with other endings
Mid-Vowel Changes
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| foot |
feet /fit/ |
| tooth |
teeth /tiθ/ |
| goose |
geese /gis/ |
| louse |
lice /laɪs/ |
Same as Singular Form
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| deer |
deer |
| sheep |
sheep |
| shrimp |
shrimp (Amer. English does not use -s) /ʃrɪmp/ note |
| offspring |
offspring |
| series |
series /ˈsɪər-iz/ |
| species |
species /ˈspi-ʃiz, -siz/ |
| means |
means |
| grapefruit |
grapefruit "fruit" – plural form (next page) |
aircraft |
aircraft |
Borrowed Words (from other languages)
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|---|
|
|
| woman |
women /ˈwɪ-mɪn/ |
| child (chaild) |
children /ˈtʃɪl-drən/ |
| phenomenon |
phenomena /fɪˈ-nɒ-mə-nə/ |
| criterion |
criteria |
| bacterium |
bacteria |
| curriculum |
curricula |
| datum |
data /ˈde-ɪtə, ˈdæ-tə, ˈdɑ-tə/ |
| medium |
media |
| memorandum |
memoranda |
| cactus |
cacti |
| 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/ |
| formula /ˈfɔrmyələ/ |
formulas / formulae /ˈfɔrm-yə-li/ |
| vertebra |
vertebrae |
| appendix /əˈpɛn-dɪks/ |
appendices /appendixes /əˈpɛn-də-siz/ |
| indices / indexes |
|
| analysis |
analyses |
| basis |
bases |
| crisis |
crises |
| hypothesis |
hypotheses |
| oasis /oʊˈeɪsɪs/ |
oases /oʊˈeɪsiz/ |
| parenthesis /pəˈrɛn-θə-sɪs/ |
parentheses /pəˈrɛn-θə--siz/ |
| thesis /ˈθi-sɪs/ |
theses /ˈθi-siz/ |
man 
men
Plural
Discussing Varieties
| PLURAL – ONE KIND | PLURAL – VARIETIES | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
We bought fish. |
|
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"
|
|
We have fruit. |
|
We have different kinds of fruit. We have fruits. (error) 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)
|
|
The market sells shrimp. |
|
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)
|
|
We tasted cheese. |
|
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 |
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.