Inflection of Nouns and Pronouns - Number

Like the verb, a noun is inflected to show number.

A noun can be singular(only one) or plural (more than one). 'Man' is singular, but we would have to put 'men' if there had been more than one man. 'Men' is the plural of 'man' - the vowel has changed to form the plural.

Look at these singular and plural words:

• dog/dogs,

• table/tables

These plurals are formed by adding 's' to the singular.

Some plurals end in 'es', such as:

• church/churches,

• box/boxes,

• dish/dishes.

Words ending in 'y' can have one of two different endings. If the letter before the 'y' is a consonant then the plural ends in 'ies':

• lady/ladies,

• baby/babies,

• ally/allies.

Note that the letter 'y' is removed before adding 'ies'.

However, if the letter before the final 'y' is a vowel then the plural is formed by simply adding an 's':

• trolley/trolleys

• chimney/chimneys

• toy/toys

• ray/rays

• alley/alleys

More examples of plural nouns

In words ending in 'f', this letter usually changes to 'ves'.

• hoof/hooves,

• loaf/loaves,

• knife/knives.

There are some exceptions to this, such as "roof," which becomes "roofs".

If a noun ends in the letter 'o' and is preceded by a consonant,then we add 'es' to form the plural:

• cargo/cargoes,

• potato/potatoes.

If the singular ends in an 'o' but is preceded by a vowel however, then we only add the letter 's' to form the plural:

• folio/folios,

• cameo/cameos.

Some plurals are formed by changing the vowel, for example:

• man/men

• goose/geese.

The plural of baby is babies